Carinthia’s third-largest lake — a warm, quiet mirror beneath the Gerlitzen, anchored by a thousand-year-old abbey that still fills with music every summer.

Lakes & Coast2–3 days

Bad Kleinkirchheim

The World Cup ski village of the gentle Nockberge — where Franz Klammer learned to race, thermal water reaches 34 °C, and Europe’s longest flow trail drops 15 km from the Kaiserburg.

Mountains2–4 days

Millstätter See

Carinthia’s deepest, most storied lake — a 141-metre fjord of drinking-quality water beneath the garnet-bearing Millstätter Alpe, crowned by a Benedictine abbey and a “path of love”.

Lakes & Coast2–3 days

Klagenfurt & Wörthersee

Carinthia’s lakeside capital — Renaissance streets, warm turquoise swimming and the southern Alpine good life around Wörthersee.

Lakes & Coast2–4 days

ATTRACTIONS

Sights worth the detour

All attractions

Pastel facades and café terraces on the Hauptplatz in Villach

ATTRACTIONS

Hauptplatz & the Old Town

Villach’s two-hundred-metre main square is eight times longer than it is wide — a medieval proportion designed for sight and sound — and its pastel Renaissance facades shelter arcaded courtyards you can simply walk into. The Paracelsushof at No. 18 grew up the physician-alchemist Paracelsus, whose father practised here; the Trinity Column of 1739 rises mid-square; and cafés spill across the car-free space that locals treat as their living room.

The Gothic parish church of St. Jakob dominating Villach’s old town

ATTRACTIONS

St. Jakob Parish Church

Villach’s skyline is defined by the 94-metre tower of St. Jakob — the tallest church tower in Carinthia. Inside is a rare Gothic hall church, rebuilt after the great 1348 earthquake, with a carved stone pulpit of 1555 from its brief Protestant era; in summer you can climb the 239 steps past the former tower-keeper’s flat to a balcony 49 metres up, with the Drau, the Karawanks and Lake Faak below.

ATTRACTIONS

Faaker See

The fifth-largest of Carinthia’s bathing lakes is its most extraordinary colour: Faaker See glows opaque turquoise in summer, warms to 24–27 °C, and holds drinking-water quality — the water is fully renewed every 1.8 years. An island sits mid-lake, the only Austrian lake island with a village on it, and the southern shore runs beneath the cliffs of the Mittagskogel, the pointed mountain on every postcard of the lake.

Alpine huts on the Rosstratte high plateau of the Dobratsch

ATTRACTIONS

Dobratsch Nature Park

Villach’s house mountain rises to 2,166 m straight from the valley floor, and the Villacher Alpenstraße — one of Austria’s finest panorama roads — climbs 16.5 km of it to the Rosstratte high plateau at 1,732 m. Up here: a barrier-free skywalk hanging over the Rote Wand cliff, an alpine botanical garden with 900 plant species, the geology trail of the giant 1348 rockfall, and two summit paths to the cross at the top with views from the Julian Alps to the Hohe Tauern.

The ruin of Landskron castle on its wooded rock above the Ossiach lake valley

ATTRACTIONS

Burgruine Landskron

The early-14th-century ruin on its rock cone above Lake Ossiach packs four attractions into one hill: the atmospheric castle ruin with a restaurant inside its walls, the Adlerarena eagle flight show (birds bred on site soar on the thermal updraft past the castle walls), and the Affenberg — a forested enclosure where some 180 free-roaming Japanese macaques live on a hilltop you walk through with a guide.

Finkenstein castle ruin above Lake Faak at dusk

ATTRACTIONS

Burgruine Finkenstein & Burgarena

High on the Kanzianiberg above the eastern end of Lake Faak stand the walls of a 12th-century fortress whose view once guarded the Gail valley; today its courtyard is a 1,150-seat open-air arena that hosts a summer concert season against a backdrop of lake and Karawanks. The Burgschenke restaurant in the ruin serves Carinthian classics on the terrace, and the short walk up from Latschach takes 20 minutes.

THINGS TO DO

Experiences across the region

All things to do

THINGS TO DO

Cycle the Drau Cycle Path & Around Faaker See

Villach & Faaker See

Trailhead plateau of the Rosstratte on the Dobratsch

THINGS TO DO

Hike the Dobratsch Summit

Villach & Faaker See

THINGS TO DO

Swim and Paddle on Faaker See

Villach & Faaker See

Pitches under pines on the shore of Lake Faak

THINGS TO DO

Camp Beside the Turquoise Lake

Villach & Faaker See

The view from Finkenstein castle toward Italy and Slovenia

THINGS TO DO

Three Countries in One Day

Villach & Faaker See

Sunny winter slopes of the Gerlitzen above Lake Ossiach

THINGS TO DO

Winter on the Gerlitzen

Villach & Faaker See

FOOD & DRINK

Where and what to eat

Stadtwirt Villach — Carinthian and Friulian classics in a vaulted old-town hall, 180 seats and a shaded garden

Restaurant Lagana — Hauptplatz institution for wood-fired pizza and alpine-Adriatic seafood with a terrace on the square

Gasthof Brauhof — Villacher Bier brewery tap in a side lane off the Hauptplatz, Kasnudeln and schnitzel in a courtyard

Fruhmann — butcher-gasthaus serving Carinthian home cooking (Reindling, Kasnudeln) with its own smokehouse, just off the centre

Burgschenke Finkenstein — Carinthian classics on the castle-ruin terrace above Lake Faak

Almgasthaus Rosstratte — hearty alpine fare at the top of the Villacher Alpenstraße after your summit walk

Landgasthaus Berghof — traditional Carinthian kitchen in the historic house on the southern shore, open all year

Gasthof zur Post (Ossiach) — classic guesthouse by the abbey with a beer garden, Kasnudeln and trout

PLACES TO STAY

Where to sleep

Voco Villach — 4-star superior directly on the Drau riverside, walkable to the old town

Hotel Goldenes Lamm — boutique 4-star in a Renaissance house right on the Hauptplatz

Karnerhof — 4-star superior wellness hotel on its own lagoon bay at Egg am Faaker See

harry’s home Villach — modern budget hotel-apartments directly at the main station

Hotel SeeRose — 4-star wellness hotel directly on the shore at Bodensdorf

Seehotel Hoffmann — modern 4-star on the eastern bay in Steindorf with lake sauna

Apart Hotel Legendär — upscale lakefront apartments with spa and private beach in Steindorf

Hotel Ossiacher See — family-run 4-star with panorama indoor pool above Steindorf

ITINERARIES

Day-by-day routes

All itineraries

1 day

Villacher Alpenstraße & Faak Loop

The Dobratsch panorama road, the turquoise lake circuit and two castles in one compact day from Villach.

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1 day

Three Countries Day: Tarvisio & Kranjska Gora

From Villach into Italy before lunch and Slovenia by afternoon — the Dreiländereck loop through the Karawanks.

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1 day

Ossiacher See Round Trip

The full lake circuit by bike or car — abbey, moor, lidos and the Gerlitzen panorama in one relaxed loop.

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NEARBY REGIONS

Explore neighbouring regions

Austria

Vienna

1 destinations

Lower Austria

1 destinations

Upper Austria

1 destinations

Salzburg

1 destinations

INTERESTS

Explore by what you love

All interests

Hiking Camping Motorcycle Mountaineering Cycling Kayaking Climbing Beaches Wildlife Photography History Food & Wine Family Winter Skiing Rafting

ROUTES

Routes through here

Atlas

multi-day

The Alpe Adria Trail — the Millstätter See stages

The long-distance trail’s lake stages — from Millstatt’s abbey over the Millstätter Alpe to the Nockberge high pastures, the deep water below the whole way.

17 km · 6 h · moderate

VIEW ROUTE

cycling