© by Kärnten Werbung, Photo: Franz Gerdl

Its many lovely lakes draw the bulk of tourists to Carinthia. However, Austria’s southernmost state also has excellent winter sport regions.

The warm climate, predominantly influenced by the Adriatic and Mediterranean, raises air and water temperatures in the state to very pleasant levels during the summer. Even though not belonging to the natural flora in Austria, you should not be surprised if you see palm trees along water fronts or in parks in Carinthia.

Lovely lakes

Around 70 % of the tourists that visit Carinthia, visit during the summer months (June – August). Not solely, but primarily attracted to the state’s lovely lakes. You will not find a defined lake district, as the lakes are spread out. Notwithstanding, choosing which ones to visit can be difficult, since they all have their own appeal. From the largest, Wörthersee to one of the smallest such as Tigringer See, they are all great bathing lakes. Furthermore, you can spend time on the water on cruise boats or renting your own. Many of them also offer water sports and scuba diving. Or simply find a tranquil spot lake side, relax and enjoy the scenery.

Mountainous state

Carinthia’s lakes come with the Alps as a splendid backdrop. Whereas the Klagenfurt basin low lands, that take up about one-fifth of the state, Carinthia is dominated by mountains. Except for on the main Alpine ridge in the north west, there are not as many ski slopes in the state, as compared Tyrol or SalzburgerLand. Plenty of sunshine and warmer weather tends to melt to the snow earlier in this part of Austria. Nevertheless, there are plenty of slopes where you can unfold on snow.

Winter sports

Carinthia’s 24 ski areas offer more than 800 kilometres of pistes. From the Mölltaler Gletscher (Glacier) at 3100 metres above sea level where you can ski all year to Weissensee where you can cross country ski or ice skate. The state’s winter sport areas are spread out from east to west, from north to south. There are also plenty of opportunities to enjoy the winter wonderland without skis. Many of the winter sport areas also offer their visitors marked winter wandering trails and guided snowshoe walks.

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Short distances

Despite being relatively mountainous, the roughly rectangular shape of Carinthia, makes getting around fairly easy. The state (between the tiny US states of Delaware and Connecticut in size) stretches about 180 km (110 mi) in east-west and 70 km (43 mi) in north-south direction. Hence, you can visit many of its different regions without wasting too much time on travel. Via roads and rail lines radiating from the state capital Klagenfurt, that also has an airport, you can reach most parts within a couple of hours.


The state capital has only about 100.000 inhabitants. Thus, Klagenfurt is too big to be a town, but on other hand it doesn’t really have a big city feel to it either. Its suburbs stretch out in all directions, and reaches the shores of lake Wörth (Wörthersee). Thus, Klagenfurt can boast of having one of Europa’s largest fresh water bathing beaches. After a day on by the water, head inland to the centre of town. Klagenfurt has a small but interesting historical centre. The basics of the almost square lay-out and the rectangular streets of the old town stems from the 15th century. After a fire destroyed most of the town in 1514, it was rebuilt with a defensive wall and moat (Stadtgraben).


Roman Empire to modern Austria

After the decline of the Roman Empire, the lands located within the modern state Carinthia were divided between Germanic tribes and Slavic tribes. Carinthia had a long stint as a Duchy that started in 889 AD. First as part of the Holy Roman Empire, and between 1335 and 1918 as part of the Austrian Empire. In the same manner, as other parts of Austria, the lands that before the Treaty of Saint-Germain, belonged to Carinthia, were annexed by its neighbours. As part of the post WWI peace settlement, 445 km² (172 mi²) became part of Italy, and 331 km2 (128 mi²) ended up in the newly created Yugoslavia, and today belongs to Slovenia.


As a consequence of a turbulent history and changing borders, Carinthia’s population is made up by fair share of nationalities other than Austrian. 2.5 % of the state’s population have Slovenian as their native language. Travelling in the southern part of Carinthia, near the Slovenian border most road signs are bi-lingual, German and Slovenian. Nonetheless, Carinthia is no less Austrian because of its multiethnicity. You will still get Wienerschnitzel and Apfelstrudel everywhere in the state. It’s multiethnic composure ads falvour to the state.

For more info, check out Carinthia’s (Kärnten) Tourism website.