Pilgrimage route on Lake Wolfgangsee

Hike along the shores of Lake Wolfgangsee to pilgrimage sites

Starting point

Sankt Gilgen, or nearby Fürberg. In St. Gilgen, most of the car parks are pay and display and it is a well-known tourist destination. In Fürberg, there is no paid parking.
 

Description of the hike

Lake Wolfgangsee and the town of Sankt Wolfgang are named after St. Wolfgang, Bishop of Regensburg (Reich) in Bavaria, who was active in the area in the 10th century. The Wolfgangweg, a 300 km long pilgrimage route, leads to Sankt Wolfgang from Reims. The last stage from Sankt Gilgen via Mount Falkenstein is said to be one of the most beautiful sections. The views of the blue lake and the surrounding mountains also make it a relaxing mountain hike. A nice alternative is to return to Sankt Gilgen by one of the boats that regularly cross the lake. You can either take the route directly from Sankt Gilgen along the water on the Seepromenade, or shorten the trip a bit and start in nearby Fürberg, where there is a dock and free parking. From Gilgen, allow about 5 hours for the route, from Fürberg 3 hours.

From the car park there is a marked hiking trail that follows the old pilgrimage route and the more modern Stations of the Cross. After a few hundred metres we turn at the signpost towards the "Gschma Platzl", a beautiful viewpoint a few hundred metres above the blue water of the lake. Opposite us is the dominant feature of this part of the lake, the Zwölferhorn (1521 m). In its name, the numeral zwölf - twelve - is audible. Like several other hills in German-speaking countries, the mountain was named after the noon time when the sun was directly above it. On the right hand side there is a wide view of Sankt Gilgen and the Salzburg part of the lake, on the left the so-called Abersee (local name Wolfgangsee) - the Upper Austrian half of the lake.

Continue along the edge of the cliff towards Sankt Wolfgang. There are more viewpoints here, usually with benches or even comfortable wooden loungers. On the benches there are educational boards with interesting facts about the region in German and English. After the Aberseeblick viewpoint we start to descend back to the pilgrimage path. Here stands one of the chapels of the Wolfgangweg - Hackelwurfkapelle. It is said that St. Wolfgang threw his axe from this spot and built a church where it landed. But the axe fell on the rock and Wolfgang had to ask the devil to help him build the church and promise him the first soul to enter. Fortunately, the first living thing in the church was not a pilgrim, but a wolf, and the devil flew away in a rage. In the chapel there is an ovoid stone which, if the pilgrim turns three times on its axis, will make his wish come true.

From Hackelwurfkapelle we return against the direction of the pilgrimage route. Nearby are several other chapels - the first being Schafkapelle, where it is said that Wolfgang's palm prints are in the wall. The devil wanted to stop the pilgrims from going here and block the passage between the rocks, but Wolfgang stretched out his hands and, with God's help, held the rock. There are two other chapels in the meadow nearby - Brunnkapelle with the spring that gushed out of the rock after Wolfgang struck it with his staff, and the Falkenkenstein-Kirchlein church with its carved hermitages, directly below the Falkenstein wall. Last we pass the chapel where sinners lay down a stone as a sign of repentance "Steine gegen Sünden". There are already heaps of stones here.

We descend the unmarked path back to the lake and stop on a rocky outcropping lower down above the lake. There are two crosses and two more stories. Above the water is a white Hochzeitkreuz (Wedding Cross) from 1609. According to legend, Mrs. Marthe of Gilgen was marrying her daughter in winter. But the day before the wedding, a disaster struck and her house burned down. Marthe cursed God and the whole world, but the wedding was to take place anyway, right on the frozen lake. They were playing, dancing and having fun on the ice when suddenly the frozen surface broke and the wedding guests, including Mrs. Marthe, drowned in the icy water. They were left alive by the husband and wife-to-be and the band, who remained on the shore. The last stop was the Ochsenkreuz (Ox Cross, dating from 1576) on the islet of Metzgerinsel (Butcher's Island). Here too a thrilling story took place. The butcher led an ox to slaughter on the opposite shore of the lake. The animal stampeded and jumped into the lake. The butcher didn't want to lose the ox, so he grabbed it by the tail, but the ox dragged it to the depths. The butcher couldn't swim, he clung desperately to the tail and the ox swam with him across the lake. The poor butcher was eventually dragged to a small island below Falkenstein, where the butcher later built a small chapel out of gratitude for his rescue.

From Ochsenkreuz it is only a few hundred metres back to the car park at Fürberg. If you want, you can walk back along the water along the charming Seepromenade to Gilgen. The centre with its picturesque parish church, town hall and typical painted houses is about one hour away. Two other sights worth mentioning are the Mozarthaus, the birthplace of Mozart's mother, which is now a museum, and the Zwölferhorn Seilbahn, a cable car that climbs thousands of metres to the top of the Zwölferhorn in a matter of minutes. The original cable car was built in the 1950s, but was converted to modern operation in 2020.
 

Difficulty

This is the last stage of the Wolfgangsweg pilgrimage route. The route follows marked trails, there are no dangerous sections. Even a child used to walking on mountains can manage. Educational boards with stories and legends from the surrounding area add variety to the route.
 

Water availability

Sankt Gilgen restaurant and shops, Fürberg restaurant, kiosk. However, it was not open in the low season.
 

Sleeping options

Tourist area, plenty of options from campsites to luxury hotels.
 

Mountain peaks

The route leads through the rocky spur of Falkenstein above Wolfgangsee. Falkenstein is the foothills of the Schafberg, a mountain with a cog railway. Views of the mountains of the Salzkammergut - Katrin and Rosskopf above Bad Ischl, the pointed Rinnkogel, the Sparber, the Zwölferhorn above Sankt Gilgen and the perpendicular rock of Plombergstein.
 

Danger

The route is mostly on marked trails and is not dangerous.
 

Food

Food at the start of the trip, not many places open in the off season.