Schafbergbahn Station Schafbergalm — Local services in Sankt Gilgen

We stayed at a campsite on the opposite bank of the lake and got to St. Voltfang on a small boat that goes there and back every 10 minutes, because the distance from one bank to the other is very small. July 5 was very hot. The town is very small. We decided to walk up the mountain to save money. We looked at the map and saw that the hiking trail was very long and winding and it took 4 hours to walk, and we had to get back to the town before 18:00, when the last boat sailed, and we decided to take a shorter route - along the cog railway, along which a small train climbs the mountain. At first it was easy to walk, but then the climb became steeper and steeper, and we had less and less strength. We had to stop and rest often. We found two dry branches in the grass and used them as walking poles, this made the climb a little easier. We reached the first large platform exhausted, and decided not to go any further. There was a great view of the lakes from here. We rested and ate a little, gained strength and decided to continue climbing to the top of the mountain, where the hotel is located. But we didn't have enough strength - we stopped almost close to it, our legs hurt a lot, and it was time to go back in time to catch the boat. Tourists write on the Internet that it is cold at the top and we took warm clothes with us in a backpack, but we dragged them with us in vain - it was very hot and we got sunburned. We went down the same way - along the railway. We thought that the descent would be easy. And so it was at the beginning, but then, because of the too strong downward slope, we had to slow down with our feet, and also helped ourselves with poles. The muscles of the legs hurt more than when climbing, so much so that once at the bottom, we could barely stand on our feet, our legs bent themselves. A very strange feeling. We climbed up in 4 hours and descended in 2. We do not recommend climbing up the mountain this way, it is better to climb up the walking path...

Quite expensive at almost EUR 50.00 per person but worth it if you have never been up to a tall mountain before.

The views were quite spectacular!

If you are going up just to take photos and see the sights (not eating at the restaurant), an hour to an hour and a half should be plenty.

When booking the train, you specify your time up and your time down so if you are set on certain times, book online in advance.

By the time we arrived around noon, several trains up and some trains down were...

Don't go up without enough time or a working connection to the top/peak (Schafbergspitze). The view from the immediate vicinity of the station is blocked by trees and trains get really hot. Also people get seated about 7 minutes before departure time at the top. They let people from other departure times in too....