Carinthia family holidays and breaks

Carinthia (Kärnten), Austria’s sunniest province, is an excellent place for a family holiday. Bordering Slovenia and Italy, it's renowned for its hot summers and bright crisp winters, breathtaking and varied landscape of rugged mountains, gentle hills and around 1270 lakes (200 suitable for bathing) and family-friendly accommodation.

14.00

Today

20°C
68°F

Flying Time	2 hours
Carbon Footprint	1.08 tonnes CO2
Timezone	GMT +1
Local Currency	Euro

What to do

Ski, skate and enjoy other winter sports and pursuits including snow-shoe walks. Carinthia has 800km of pistes to suit all abilities, good nursery slopes and lots of English-speaking instructors.  

Take part in watersports including windsurfing, water-skiing and sailing, and take advantage of the great terrain for hiking, cycling and rock-climbing.

As a respite from the exertions of your active family holiday, head for Minimundus on Wörthersee lake, a park with 150 scale models of the world’s most famous buildings. 

Where to stay

There are 10 of Austria's famous family-friendly Kinderhotels ('children's hotels') in Carinthia, two with 5 Smileys (the best). See our feature on a family holiday in a Kinderhotel.

When

Winter sees plenty of snow in Carinthia. The above-average hours of sunshine mean that conditions are usually very good, which really helps on family holidays with smaller children.

In summer the beautiful crystal-clear warm lakes with their drinking-quality water are naturally heated to 28°C and hence perfect for watersports.

How

Several low-cost carriers serve destinations in or handy for Carinthia, including Klagenfurt (the capital), Graz, Salzburg, Trieste in Italy, and Ljubljana in Slovenia.

For information on getting to the region by train, see Man in Seat 61.

See our family holiday car-hire page.

Eat

Local specialities worth trying on family holidays include delicious homemade cheese pasta, the famous ‘yellow soup’, and sweet Reindling pastry.

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