Independent visitor guide. Not the official website of Casino Hotel Velden.
Book directly at casinohotel.atVelden sits at the western end of the Wörthersee, the largest lake in Carinthia. Everything below is reachable on foot, by bike or by boat from the hotel's door on the Corso.
The Corso is Velden's main lakeside street: hotels, boutiques, cafés and the casino line one side, the water and the bathing lidos the other. In summer evenings it becomes the town's living room, and the walk from the hotel to the castle at the western end of the bay takes about ten minutes.
Velden has been a summer resort since the late nineteenth century, when the railway made the Wörthersee easy to reach from Vienna. The town's reputation as the "Austrian Monte Carlo" dates from the post-war decades, when the casino and a run of lakeside films made it a fashionable place to be seen.
The Renaissance castle at the end of the bay was built around 1600 for the Khevenhüller family and is now a luxury hotel. Television viewers know it from the 1990s series Ein Schloss am Wörthersee. The lakefront in front of it is open to walkers.
A pilgrimage church on a small peninsula on the southern shore, one of the most photographed views in Austria. Reach it by bike along the south shore road or, in season, by passenger boat.
A 100-metre observation tower built of larch on the hill above Keutschach, with views over the whole lake to the Karawanken mountains. A long tube slide runs back down for those who prefer not to take the stairs.
Carinthia's capital lies at the eastern end of the lake, with an old town of arcaded courtyards and the Minimundus model park. Villach, to the west, is a short train ride away and makes an easy half-day trip.
From spring to autumn, scheduled passenger boats link Velden with the other lakeside towns, including Pörtschach, Maria Wörth, Krumpendorf and Klagenfurt. A full crossing of the lake is a relaxed way to spend half a day, and you can return by train along the north shore. Timetables change with the season and some routes run only in July and August, so check the current schedule on the regional tourist board's site before you plan around a departure.
Pedal boats, stand-up paddle boards and electric boats can be hired at several points along the shore in summer. The lake is calm for most of the day, but afternoon thunderstorms do build over the mountains in July; when the storm lights flash at the shore, head back in.
Wörthersee tourist boardCasino Velden, run by Casinos Austria, faces the hotel at Am Corso 17 and is the building that gives the hotel its name. The same building houses the Die Yacht restaurant and a bar, and its congress centre hosts concerts and events through the year. This guide does not cover gaming. Admission to the casino is for adults only and is subject to the operator's own entry rules and identity checks.