Bad Gastein: waterfall, Kaiser-Wilhelm-Promenade and Wasserfallweg

The walk starts at Bad Gastein railway station and goes down through the town streets to the south end of the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Promenade, a path along the slope above the town. It runs north-east past the monument to Kaiser Wilhelm to a viewpoint looking down the Gastein valley towards Bad Hofgastein. A track and a path then drop to the north end of the Wasserfallweg, which leads back south beside the Gasteiner Ache on footways and steps, past information boards on the waterfall and the thermal springs, to the falls in the middle of Bad Gastein and the station.

It is 5.3 km round with 213 m of ascent; allow about 2 hours. The grade is Easy: it is short, but all of the climb comes at once on the way back, up the stepped Wasserfallweg from the Ache at about 876 m to the station at 1,084 m; about a third of the line is on town streets, and 700 m of the Wasserfallweg is marked as mountain hiking (SAC T2) in OpenStreetMap, so wear good shoes. The steps and paths beside the falls are wet and slippery with spray.

Gasteinertal Tourismus gives the fall as 341 m in three steps through the town centre, and says of the Wasserfallweg: 'The path is closed in winter!' It gives no dates, so ask at the tourist office or look at gastein.com in late autumn and spring. The Wanderdörfer page for the longer version of this loop (8.5 km, about 2½ hours, 222 m of ascent) goes on to the golf course; this one keeps to the promenade, the viewpoint and the falls.

Bad Gastein railway station is the start and the finish, a few hundred metres from the falls.

Route drawn by Global Adventurer along OpenStreetMap paths (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), with figures worked out from it. Check the forecast and the ground on the day: paths change.