Leisure Pursuits In Bramberg – Neukirchen
1. TOY MUSEUM IN SALZBURG:
What do children of all ages love most in the world? Toys, of course! Therefore, when visiting Salzburg with a child, you should definitely pay a visit to the local Toy Museum, which is located in an old hospital building. Upon entering the museum, your little one will immediately find himself in his native element. A large number of the most varied fun and adventures await him. First, change into comfortable bright slippers, which you will be kindly offered at the cloakroom, and go ahead, into the magical world of toys!
There are several interesting exhibitions on the first floor: “balancing”, “balls” and “surprise”. In each room, a child can not only examine the exhibits, but also touch, roll, swing, move, throw. “Play”, “experience” and “surprise” are the three main themes of the Toy Museum in Salzburg, to which all the exhibitions are subordinated. All children who have visited the Spielzeugmuesum at least once, remember the Percussion Haus with delight. The noise that can be produced here can drive any adult crazy, but not a child. Big and small rascals ring bells and chimes, whistle music on a special organ made of bottles, beat drums and do a whole range of other things that create a real cacophony in the hall. Parents cover their ears, and the children have tremendous fun! Not a single little visitor to the museum is indifferent to the opportunity to slide down the slide from the second to the first floor. The large safe slide is always full of excited children.
If you need a break, go up to the second floor and watch a short film in the children’s cinema. Also, visit the railway exhibition with the whole family, test out several schemes on a model railway more than 12 meters long and test your talents as a railway engineer. Since 2015, the museum has housed a children’s library with many fascinating books. Of course, what kind of museum would it be without old toys that our grandparents played with? In a separate room behind the glass of the museum display cases, many interesting things are presented at children’s eye level. For example, a fire engine from the 19th century or an old toy carousel. Large dollhouses with full equipment delight little visitors to the historical exhibition, and boys are very interested in looking at cars, railways and soldiers from the past. The evolution of horses, teddy bears and dolls over the past few centuries is presented here!
It is important to note that the collection of toys in the Salzburg Museum is recognized as the largest in the country. The exhibits are made of various materials: papier-mâché, wood, tin, plastic, paper, fabric, plush. Everyone enjoys visiting the Toy Museum: both adults and children. Moms and dads walking through the museum halls with their little ones indulge in nostalgia and are surprised to notice that there are even the toys they played with in their barefoot childhood. By the way, just a three-minute walk from the museum is the House of Nature, which is also definitely worth visiting with children.
2. RECREATION CENTER “AQUARENA”
The Aquarena water center can be a great option for a family vacation after an active skiing holiday in winter or for recuperation and escape from the heat in summer. This is an indoor complex offering vacationers several swimming pools, a Finnish sauna, a steam room, an infrared cabin, heated loungers, a hammam, massage services (classic massage, therapeutic massage, sports massage, lymphatic drainage massage and foot reflexology massage) and mud treatments.
In the summer (on Tuesdays) aqua fitness lessons are held for everyone. Conventionally, the “water area” can be divided into two parts. The first is a spacious pool for recreation and relaxation with waterfalls and a jacuzzi area, a children’s section with a small slide for the youngest visitors of the center. Comfortable loungers are installed around the pool.
For older children, two long indoor water slides are offered. They are not very fast, but they lift your spirits. The second part is a 25-meter-long pool, which is available to anyone who wants to swim. The sports pool area has a new infrared cabin Physiotherm-Pro2. The center has spacious changing rooms, including for families, and you can use powerful hair dryers. In the warm season, most visitors enjoy the sun on the terrace and lawn.
In addition, such a service as rental of swimwear and towels is offered. And if you are hungry, visit the restaurant “Naturtalent”, whose menu includes main dishes of international cuisine, salads, snacks and children’s dishes. By the way, you can enter the restaurant regardless of whether you are a visitor to the center or not. “Aquarena” also has a playroom for young guests and a gambling hall for adults. Since this center belongs to “Bergbahn Kitzbühel AG”, do not forget to take your ski pass with you, thanks to which you can get a small discount on visiting.
3. FAMILY RECREATION CENTER “ELLMI’S MAGIC WORLD”
Fairies, goblins, ghosts and the magical frog Ellmi will be happy to welcome your whole family to the magical land of Elmau. The “Magic Express” will take you to the mystical and mysterious Hartkaiser mountain in just 7 minutes. Ellmi’s Magic World has a lot to offer for families and especially children in terms of recreation and even learning.
At an altitude of 1,555 meters, there is a whole play and recreation center with an area of ​​4,000 square meters, offering a lot of activities for all members of the family. The youngest visitors will probably enjoy the spacious playground with carousels, slides, swings, various play structures and constructions. Some people will be interested in climbing a rock-climbing wall or sliding down a wooden tower, while others will be more interested in a trampoline or walking through a labyrinth. The playground also features several types of water games, including a gold panning attraction.
In addition, families with children will be interested in visiting the botanical garden and getting to know exotic and local plant species or looking at animals in the mini-zoo. Many more unusual adventures await both adults and children on the territory of the magical land: you will see an enchanted pond, a magical forest, talk to a talking owl, visit a goblin hut and cave, a forest chapel, see an enchanted stone and a goblin head splashing water. For lovers of walking, we offer a fascinating hike along the 1.5-kilometer Rübezahl-path (Bergstation Hartkaiserbahn – Jägerhütte – Rübezahlalm – Middle Station Hartkaiserbahn), where along the entire route you will be accompanied and shown the right way by huge wooden statues – the Rübezahl family.
After numerous adventures, you can quench your thirst and hunger in the restaurant “Bergkaise”, located right next to the ski lift. From May to October, on certain days (usually on Sundays), various concerts, parties, performances by artists, and organized events for children are held on the territory of the family and children’s recreation park “Ellmi’s Magic World”. You can always find out the schedule of events on the park’s website.
4. HEXENWASSER ADVENTURE PARK:
Many centuries ago, the area around the Hohe Salve was considered a witches’ land, and the women who lived here had supernatural powers and were considered real witches. It was this legend that influenced the concept of the amusement park located at the middle station of the Hohe Salve lift. In the Witch Water Park (that’s how the name of this amazing place sounds in German) in Söll, children can experience all the magic of the water element and go through many exciting tests.
In Hexenwasser, the focus is on nature and its small and large wonders. The stations, paths and chambers of wonders can be explored partly independently, partly under the guidance of an instructor. From a barefoot path through a stream and meadows, singing bowls under witches’ umbrellas to the witches’ staircase and a hike to the sundial on the Hohe Salve. There is something to be amazed, to comprehend and to discover everywhere. Free witchcraft programs, events and demonstrations are held every now and then. There are about 30 water stations on the territory, allowing you to relax and get a lot of useful information related to water.
Here you can see the Witches’ Brook, the Kneipp pool, water paths, mud pools. We recommend that you take your whole family to a separate station called “Blue Miracle”. The Blue Wonder is an attempt to discover the “source of life” in a playful way. In the process, the supposedly understandable suddenly becomes incomprehensible, the familiar – completely alien. Water surprises us at every step. Whether it is a fascinating study of droplets, whirlpools or sand structures formed by water. Even Leonardo da Vinci wrote in his collected works Codex Leicester: “Nature begins with cause and ends with experience: we must take the opposite path, that is, begin with experience and from it investigate the cause!” This station, created as an innovative indoor and refined in collaboration with such experts as marine physicist Erich Bäuerle and Matthias Schenk (Schloss Freudenberg), the “Blue Wonder” has become one of the main attractions in the Hexenwasser ensemble. Water has received its own stage and takes center stage on sunny and rainy days. Austria’s longest barefoot path is very popular with children and adults.
The different types of surfaces not only make this attraction varied and exciting, but also useful, massaging the feet and increasing blood circulation. And everyone is invited to visit the witch’s mill, where witches once turned ordinary stones into real jewelry with the help of water. Be sure to try yourself in the role of a “stone jeweler”, choosing a stone and polishing it. In the Witches’ Forest and at the Witches’ Stream, all children can feel like real witches or sorcerers, dressing up and sitting on a broom, take part in a sabbath and sit by the fire. All the design of the park is done taking into account the theme, so at every step you will come across brooms, wooden or stone sculptures of witches, objects that they used in their everyday magical life. Also in Hexenwasser you will meet a living witch, who is actually very kind to all the little visitors of her domain.
5. RATTENBERG – THE CITY OF GLASSBLOWERS:
On the right bank of the Inn River, in one of the most picturesque places in Tyrol, there is a tiny settlement – ​​Rattenberg, proudly bearing the status of the smallest city in Austria. The population of Rattenberg is only about 400 people, but the atmosphere in the town is extremely pleasant. Local residents are always happy to see guests, especially little travelers, who are distinguished by their special curiosity. This character trait is considered one of the main virtues of a person here, because there is really something to see in Rattenberg. Having found themselves in the smallest city in Tyrol, tourists seem to be lost in time.
It is surprising, but the magnificent architectural ensemble has been preserved almost in its original form. Burgher houses, large city gates in the medieval city center, Nagelschmidholzer buildings with thick marble walls – all this creates that unique spirit of antiquity, for which the last romantics go to the most remote points of the globe. The Tyrolean “Little One” does not require such sacrifices – it is much easier to get to. Fans of medieval architecture will certainly be impressed by the monumental ruins of Rattenberg Castle. This Bavarian fortress in ancient times served several functions at once: it was a prison, a stronghold, and the home of the ruling family.
Today, colorful theatrical productions are staged here in the summer. In the summer, the city with its special flavor is visited by many tourists from all over the world. In winter, Rattenberg celebrates Advent Saturdays in a unique way. Artists from the region and the city itself present theatrical and musical performances to the public, following ancient customs and traditions. But the town of Rattenberg is famous not for its architectural monuments (although, to their credit, they are incomparable here). The whole world knows Rattenberg as a place where skilled glassblowers live and work. The ancestors of modern glass masters came here from Kramsach in the 19th century, when silver mining in the local lands ceased.
Less than two hundred years later, the production of decorative glass became the main source of income for local glassblowers, and the city, thanks to this elegant craft, gained worldwide fame. The medieval pedestrian zone is dominated by unique exhibits of glass craft in numerous shops. Children especially enjoy visiting the glass workshops and shops of Rattenberg. Here they have the opportunity not only to choose and buy incredibly beautiful glass souvenirs, but also to see with their own eyes the process of their production, as they say, from start to finish. Parents, if they wish, can arrange a mini-excursion into the world of decorative glass production for their young inquisitive travelers. Fortunately, there are plenty of workshops in Rattenberg. Seeing glassblowers, glass artists, engravers and grinders at work means gaining invaluable experience and knowledge that will certainly be useful to a child in the future.