Upper Austria - Austria - page 347

HIGH ABOVE THE TREETOPS
Never has the phrase 'bird's-eye view' been more appropriate than at the Baumkronenweg
( www.baumkronenweg.at ; Knechtelsdorf 1, Kopfing; adult/child €8.50/5; 10am-6pm Mar-early Nov). At
this canopy boardwalk in Kopfing, 21km east of Schärding, you can take a head-spinning walk above the tree-
tops. The 2.5km trail is billed as one of the longest in the world and it's certainly a stunner - snaking high above
misty spruce trees and comprising lookout towers, hanging bridges and platforms that afford exhilarating per-
spectives of the forest. For a peaceful room with a (very green) view, check into the 10m-high Baumhotel (
07763-22 89; per adult/child €62/51), six pine-built tree houses elevated on stilts.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Geinberg
07723 / POP 1400
A Caribbean-style lagoon fringed by palm trees is maybe not quite what you expect in
the heart of the rural Innviertel, but that's precisely what you'll find at Therme Geinberg
( www.therme-geinberg.at ; Thermenplatz 1; 4hr ticket adult/child/family €17.50/13/45.50; 9am-10pm Sat-Thu, to
11pm Fri; ) , one of Austria's top spas. St Lucia it isn't, but it is easy to quite forget where
you are when sipping a daiquiri on the beach, being massaged with coconut oil on a
cabana bed and bathing in thermal, salt- and freshwater pools. The Vitalzentrum offers a
huge array of pampering treatments, from goat's milk baths to stimulating Tui-Na mas-
sages to get the energy flowing. The massive complex also comprises a fitness centre,
sauna area and a Mediterranean restaurant.
Geinberg is between Braunau am Inn and Schärding. Trains operate roughly every
hour between Braunau am Inn and Geinberg on weekdays, less frequently at weekends
(€3.80, 20 minutes). There are roughly hourly trains daily between Schärding and Gein-
berg (€11.80, one hour).