Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Villach is situated on three Austrian IC/EC (InterCity/EuroCity) rail routes, which serve
Salzburg (€31, 2½ hours, every two hours), Lienz (€20, 1¾ hours, hourly) and Klagenfurt
(€7.20, 30 to 40 minutes, two to four per hour).
Direct services run to seemingly everywhere: Munich (€70, 4½ hours, four daily) in
Germany; Ljubljana (€23, 1¾ hours, four daily) in Slovenia; Zagreb (€45, four hours,
four daily) in Croatia; and Belgrade (€82, 11 hours, one daily) in Serbia.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Faaker See & Ossiacher See
Villach is blessed with two major lakes nearby with low-key summer resorts. Both the
Faaker See, 6km east of Villach and close to the Karawanken Range, and the Ossiacher
See, 4km to the northeast, provide plenty of camping, boating and swimming opportunit-
ies.
Above Annenheim and providing a backdrop to the Ossiacher See is
Gerlitzen
(1909m),
a popular ski area. Expect to pay about €40 for a ski pass here.
Browse through the region-wide accommodation brochure obtainable from the Villach
tourist office, or contact the
regional tourist office
(
04242-420 00;
www.region-villach.at
; Töbringer
8am-5pm Mon-Thu, to 4pm Fri)
, near St Ruprecht, for more on the lakes and
Strasse 1, Villach;
skiing.
a criss-cross circuit between St Andrä and Steindorf (adult/child €12.80/6.40, 2½ hours,
approximately hourly from May to October). Boats run by the same company also navig-
ate the Drau River from Villach Congress-Center to Wernberg Bad (one way adult/child
€7.50/3.75, 45 minutes) via St Niklas an der Drau (about 2km northeast of the Faaker
See) up to four times a day between early May and mid-October.
Regular train and Postbus services leave weekdays from the Villach bus station and
train station, running along the northern shore of Ossiacher See via Annenheim (€2, 12
minutes) and Bodensdorf (€3.40, 20 minutes). Regular trains run to Faak am See (€3.40,
30 minutes), and regular buses run to Drobollach (€2, 20 minutes), both on the Faaker
See.
