Pyramidenkogel Tower

The Pyramidenkogel stands on a hill south of Worthersee, a spiral of curved larch beams around a steel core, about a hundred metres tall and open at the top. A lift runs up to the viewing decks, or you can take the stairs inside the timber lattice and watch the structure from within. From the platforms Worthersee is visible end to end, with Klagenfurt to the east, the Carinthian basin spread out below and the wall of the Karawanken along the southern horizon. The tower is best known for the covered slide that spirals down inside it, around a hundred and twenty metres of tube that returns you to the base in seconds.

What to look for

• The timber spiral - curved larch ribs winding around the core, best appreciated from directly underneath.
• The open top deck - the highest platform, uncovered and exposed, with the whole lake visible in one sweep.
• The Karawanken view - the long mountain wall on the southern skyline, with the Carinthian basin between.
• The slide - an enclosed spiral tube dropping through the tower, with height and age limits and a separate charge.

When to go

May to October covers the reliable weather, though the tower opens year-round with shorter hours. Late afternoon and early evening give the best light over the lake and thinner crowds. Clear days after rain beat hazy summer afternoons for distance. Weekend middays are the busiest slot for both the lift and the slide.

Before you go

You drive up, pay for parking and then pay again to go up. The top deck is exposed and genuinely windy, and it closes in storms. Summer haze often flattens the mountain view to grey layers. The slide costs extra and has restrictions, which children discover only after queuing for it.

Nearby

Worthersee lies directly below to the north, with Klagenfurt twenty minutes east.