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South of Salzburg, most of the attractions in the province that bears its name are of the outdoor variety, providing an alpine counterweight to the urban refinements of the Land capital. Many travellers heading for Innsbruck and the west miss out on this area altogether, following instead the direct route, which cuts through a corner of Germany before re-entering Austria at Kufstein in the Tyrol. An alternative, and worthwhile, road and rail route forges its way south, however, up the Salzach Valley through an area of increasingly rugged mountains. The salt mines and Celtic museum at Hallein , and the ice caves and castle at Werfen are the main destinations here, and both towns' sites can be treated as day-trips from Salzburg. At Bischofshofen , the main Salzach Valley route veers west towards St Johann im Pongau , an important skiing and hiking centre, before continuing to Zell am See , a classic lakes-and-mountains resort that provides the perfect base from which to strike south into the mountains of the Hohe Tauern , home to Austria's highest peak, the magisterial Grossglockner . Bischofshofen also provides the gateway to the southeastern corner of the Salzburger Land: if you're en route to Styria, you might consider stopping off at the ski resort of Radstadt or the sleepy, folklore-rich village of Tamsweg . South of St Johann, the Gasteinertal centres on the evocative nineteenth-century spa resort of Badgastein , ideally placed for explorations of the eastern Hohe Tauern. Accessing the region by rail couldn't be easier: four daily Salzburg-Innsbruck expresses stop at Hallein, St Johann and Zell am See, while an equal number of Salzburg-Villach trains run through the Gasteinertal (otherwise, get a train to Schwarzach-St Veit and change there), and Salzburg-Graz trains go through Radstadt (otherwise, change at Bischofshofen).
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