MH Maps

Funtography –Nº20

Sept. 2026

A Weekend in Wolfgangsee

I spent the last week of August this year at the Complexity Science Workshop. It was a really great experience, and I met many interesting people. The workshop was held in Vienna, and afterwards, over the weekend, I decided to take a short break to make a visit to the towns on the shores of the Wolfgangsee lake. I knew that this charming place sorounded by huge mountains would be a great way to rest, but I ended up very impressed by the beauty of the place, so much that now I also want to share a few maps of the area with things that I really appreciated from Wolfgangsee.

By the way... this is not a paid article promoting tourism in Austria or anything like it. I'm just sharing my experiences through the stuff I enjoy, maps and illustrations. So.. here we go:

From the moment you arrive in the area, the towering mountains leave you awestruck. It was my first time in Austria; I know you can make the trip from Vienna to Wolfgang by train, but the schedules didn't fit my plans, so I decided to rent a car and drive the three or four hours to get there. I don't know if you get the same impression from the train, but seeing the mountains on the horizon while driving is truly breathtaking; suddenly, you find yourself right there, facing that beautiful lake with towering rock faces in the background. In summer, everything is lush and green, and people make the most of it—swimming and soaking up the sun.

I stayed at the eastern end of the lake, in the town of Strobl, the waterfront had a few restaurants, nice hike trails and even a public amphitheater where I enjoyed a concert of a local band playing from classical music to pop with an Austrian twist. The second day I went for a hike around the lake towards St. Wolfgang.

There are many towns around, they are all charming, but the one I liked the most was St. Wolfgang, for its narrow streets and alleys, markets, restaurants and the famous St. Wolfgang Church. Here's some of my quick sketches of that place.

One of the nicest things about this place is the train going up to the 1,700 meter high Schafberg peak, there you can enjoy breathtaking views of the towns and other lakes around. This scenic trip in the SchafbergBahn can take you from the shore to the peak of mountain in about 40min.

You might get a little vertigo depending on where you stand on the peak. There's a sharp edge north of the mountain that can shake your legs a bit if you get too close. Then to the south the great views of the Wolfgangsee unfold. Quite impressive to see the lake from up there, more than a kilometer below if you culd do it on a stright line or on a glider. Here's a strech of about 8km from the top of the mountain down to the bottom of the lake.

It was a really nice weekend break after a few months of intense work and city life. I guess I can describe this summer trip as a combination of Science, Communication, Academics and beautiful scenery.

Thanks for reading my blog!

Funtography –Nº20, Sept. 2026

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Funtography

Because sometimes I like to complicate things more and spend free time that I usually don’t have, here’s a collection of maps that I have created just for fun.

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