Bad Gastein

The Gasteiner Ache drops in three stages straight through the town centre. From the bridge across it the spray reaches your face. Snowmelt swells it most in June, when it roars loudest and rooms in the hotels beside it are noisy all night.

A small square just above the falls, framed by a grand Belle Epoque hotel, the post office and the bathhouse. Long-empty buildings are being restored and reopened, so it changes a little between visits. From the railing at its edge the falls plunge below you.

A small train runs into an old gold-mine gallery at Bockstein, where patients lie in warm, humid air breathing radon. Many come for rheumatism or breathing complaints, and newcomers see a doctor first. It is hot and damp inside; shorts are easiest.

Thermal baths set against the rock slope, indoor and outdoor pools fed by spring water from the mountain. Outside you soak facing the opposite peaks, and in winter steam drifts up into falling snow. Late afternoon, after the ski runs close, is busiest.

A gondola climbs the Stubnerkogel, over 2,000 metres up, where a suspension bridge spans the gap between two summits. Beyond its far end juts a lookout with a glass floor. Wind sets it swaying, which tests anyone afraid of heights.

An old spa guests' walk running level along the mountainside into the forest, named after the Empress Sisi. Benches and viewpoints dot the way, looking down the valley as far as Bad Hofgastein. With hardly any climb, older travellers walk it with ease.

A former gold-mining village where the valley ends, its miners' lodgings and smelting buildings now a mining museum. A domed pilgrimage church crowns the slope above. The museum is open mostly in summer, so check ahead.

High in the Nassfeld valley you walk old mining paths, and in summer you can pan for gold in the stream. Swirl the pan to wash out the sand and tiny flecks stay at the bottom. The approach is a toll road, so driving in costs a fee.

Drive onto a flatcar at Bockstein and the train hauls it through the Tauern Tunnel to Mallnitz on the Carinthian side. Drivers sit in their cars, and the tunnel is pitch dark. It is the short cut south with no pass to cross, so weekend queues run long.

The mountain east of town, with fewer visitors and more forest than the big ski areas, so it stays quiet. In summer you ride the lift up and walk forest paths back down to town. The lift season is short, so check closures between seasons.

A large spa in Bad Hofgastein, down the valley, fed with Gastein's thermal water. With indoor and outdoor pools plus slides, it is busy with families and kids. It is a quick bus ride, so visitors split days between it and the rock spa in Bad Gastein.

A late Gothic 15th-century church amid the old graveyard, older than the spa town around it. Old frescoes survive on its inner walls and vaults. Standing among Belle Epoque hotels as the town's most ancient structure, it has a markedly different mood.

A side valley branching east from Bad Gastein, with a gentle track along its stream deep inside. Sheer rock walls and waterfalls line both flanks. With no cars allowed it stays quiet, and walkers rest at a hut at the end before turning back.