Yes, but rarely on the lake you had in mind
The Wolfgangsee below a hotel balcony, the Attersee in July, the Achensee, Tyrol's largest lake. None of the three is open to a motorized board. Neither are the listed lakes of Salzburg and Carinthia, the Danube, Vienna's Danube waters or Lake Constance. We went through the regulations lake by lake in October 2026 and found no permit route for an eFoil.
The exception is in the far east. On the Neusiedlersee, in Burgenland, the provincial ban covers combustion engines only, and two operators run eFoil sessions out of Podersdorf am See. Add a school in Graz and one that travels, and you have everything we found.
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| Water | Rule we checked | eFoil |
|---|---|---|
| Attersee, Traunsee, Mondsee | Oö. Seen-VV 2005, § 2 Z 3 and Z 6 | No, all year |
| Wolfgangsee | Oö. Wolfgangsee-Verordnung 1995; Salzburg LGBl Nr 76/2016 | No |
| Zeller See, Fuschlsee, Trumer lakes, Wallersee | Salzburg lake orders, each § 2 | No |
| Achensee and the Tyrol list | Tirol LGBl. Nr. 56/1998, § 1 | No |
| Wörthersee, Millstätter See, Ossiacher See, Faaker See | Carinthia LGBl. Nr. 53/2016, § 1 | No |
| Neue Donau, Alte Donau | Vienna orders, § 2 Abs. 1 each | No |
| Danube | WVO § 16.02 Z 1 | No |
| Lake Constance | BSO § 6.15 Abs. 7 | No |
| Neusiedlersee | Burgenland LGBl. Nr. 49/2007, § 1 Abs. 1 | Yes, outside the national park zone |
Why Austrian law calls an eFoil a float
Austria's Inland Navigation Act (Schifffahrtsgesetz, BGBl. I Nr. 62/1997) lists a set of lakes in its Annex 1, from the Achensee and Attersee to the Wörthersee and the Neusiedlersee. The SFVO (BGBl. II Nr. 98/2013) sets the traffic rules for those lakes and for public flowing waters (§ 1 Abs. 1). It leaves out the Danube waterway and Lake Constance, which each run on an order of their own.
The word that matters is Schwimmkörper, a float. § 3 Abs. 4 Z 2 SFVO defines floats as constructions, with or without an engine, that are neither vessels nor floating installations, and gives sailboards as the example, “auch maschinengetriebene”, powered ones included. We take that to make an eFoil a motorized float, not a boat. Provincial lake orders tend to deal with motorized floats in a single sentence, and where they draw the line moves as you cross a provincial border. Upper Austria and Salzburg stop at 100 W, Tyrol at 500 W, and Carinthia bans any motor.
Signs bind you on top of the written rule (sign A.17, for instance, closes a stretch to sailboards). § 26 SFVO adds a duty that applies to every rider: watch the storm warning signals and reach a harbor or landing shore in time.
The Salzkammergut lakes say no all year
Upper Austria leaves no room for argument. The Oö. Seen-Verkehrsverordnung 2005 (LGBl. Nr. 68/2005, last amended by LGBl. Nr. 26/2022) covers the Attersee, Traunsee and Mondsee, and its § 2 bans, all year, floats with an engine (Z 3, electric drives up to 100 W excepted) and “Flyboard” and similar devices (Z 6). We read that as a year-round eFoil ban on all three lakes. The summer rule in § 3, no combustion-engine boats from 1 July to 31 August, is about motorboats and gives an eFoil nothing.
The district authority in Gmunden spells it out. Point k of its Traunsee leaflet names eFoils as an example and calls their use “ganzjährig verboten”, banned all year. The Wolfgangsee leaflet repeats it word for word.
That lake is split between two provinces, and both say no. On the Upper Austrian side, § 2 Z 2 of the Oö. Wolfgangsee-Verordnung 1995 (LGBl. Nr. 68/1995) bans motorized floats. The Salzburg order of 12 September 2016 (LGBl Nr 76/2016) bans floats with a combustion engine or an electric motor over 100 W in § 2 Abs. 1 Z 3. Salzburg's other listed lakes keep that 100 W line: the Zeller See (LGBl Nr 75/2016), Niedertrumer See and Mattsee (LGBl Nr 76/2021), and the Obertrumer See, Grabensee, Wallersee and Fuschlsee (LGBl Nr 78/2016). None of them, as far as we can see, is open to an eFoil.
Tyrol stops at 500 W, Carinthia at none
Tyrol draws its line at 500 W. The order of 11 May 1998 (LGBl. Nr. 56/1998, amended by LGBl. Nr. 54/2022) bans, in § 1, vessels and floats with a combustion engine or an electric motor above that output on every lake in its annex, the Achensee first. The lake's administration, run by the city of Innsbruck, is blunter: “eFoils are not allowed on Achensee and in Tyrol!”
Carinthia bans vessels and floats “mit Motorantrieb”, with any motor, on the Wörthersee, Millstätter See, Ossiacher See, Faaker See and the other lakes of its order of 27 July 2016 (LGBl. Nr. 53/2016, last amended by LGBl. Nr. 67/2021, § 1 Abs. 1 lit. a). Its later permissions for electric motors (§ 3 Abs. 4, § 4 Abs. 4, § 5 Abs. 4, § 6 Abs. 3, § 7 Abs. 3) speak of Fahrzeuge, vessels, only. We take that to mean electric boats yes, eFoil boards no.
Small wonder, then, that we found no eFoil school on the Achensee, Attersee, Traunsee, Mondsee, Wolfgangsee, Wörthersee or the Salzburg lakes when we searched in October 2026.
Nothing in Vienna, on the Danube or Lake Constance
A city break in Vienna will not end on a board. The Neue Donau order (as amended by LGBl. Nr. 55/2010) bans vessels and floats “mit Maschinenantrieb” on sections I and II in § 2 Abs. 1. On the Alte Donau, the ADVO (LGBl. Nr. 51/2025, amended by 9/2026) bans vessels, floats of all kinds and motorized sports devices, excepting only engine-free craft up to 4.50 m.
The Danube itself is shut. WVO § 16.02 Z 1 bans the use of floats, subject only to §§ 11.08 and 11.09, which, we believe, leaves no stretch of the river anywhere in Austria open to an eFoil.
Lake Constance runs on its own navigation order, the BSO. Since 1 April 2022 its § 6.15 Abs. 7 has banned personal watercraft “oder ähnlichen Schwimmkörpern jeglicher Antriebsart”, or similar floats with any kind of drive. Counting an eFoil among those floats is our own interpretation, and if it holds, the lake in the photo at the top of this page is closed to you.
Booking a ride at Podersdorf
Burgenland wrote its lake rule against fuel, not motors. The order LGBl. Nr. 49/2007, as amended by LGBl. Nr. 69/2022, bans in § 1 Abs. 1 only vessels and floats with a combustion engine on the Neusiedlersee. An electric eFoil is not caught. That seems to make it the one large lake we checked where eFoiling does not fail on a provincial ban.
Two limits still apply. Nobody may enter or stay in the national park's Naturzone (§ 5 Abs. 1 Bgld. NPG 2026, LGBl. Nr. 19/2026), and motor vessels keep 200 m from the shore or from the reed belt in front of it (§ 102 Abs. 1 SFVO).
Podersdorf am See, on the east shore, is where the bookings are. Kite2Fly, part of Wing2Fly at the Nord-Nord-Strand, sells an “E-FOIL EXPERIENCE” of about two hours: briefing, boat transfer out and back, and one hour of water time, for €199. A second rider adds €50 and a third €100, so three friends on one board pay €299; extra half hours are €100. Sessions run only in light wind or calm, and you get a new date otherwise. Battery time is usually two hours at most, depending on weight, riding style and chop.
Free-Foiler's “e-Foil Starter-Paket” in Podersdorf costs €250 for about 1.5 hours (roughly half an hour of briefing, then a full hour on the water with a SUP or boat alongside) and unlocks later rentals. Riders must swim, weigh 95 kg at most and be at least 14, with a parental waiver. Dates are agreed by contact.
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| Operator | Where | Entry offer |
|---|---|---|
| Kite2Fly | Podersdorf am See | €199, 1 h on the water |
| Free-Foiler | Podersdorf am See | €250, about 1.5 h |
| SUPXperience | Stausee Grünanger, Graz | €129, 1.5 h course |
| Wake Up Events | Changing places | €199, 2 h course |
One school in Graz, one on the move
Away from Podersdorf, the one school we found with a home water is in Graz. SUPXperience uses the Stausee Grünanger there, or a location you choose: €129 for 1.5 hours with equipment, then rental at €49 per 30 minutes with the course code. We found nothing on how the rules treat that reservoir; the school should be able to tell you.
Wake Up Events has no base. It sets sessions on request at changing places, naming Lower Austria, Tragöss in Styria and Malcesine on Lake Garda among them. A two-hour course is €199 with no more than two pupils, and rental afterwards €99 per 30 minutes. For any Austrian venue, ask which water and under which rule. Our eFoil price guide covers the cost of owning a board instead.
Bring a wing to the closed lakes
Every lake order above goes after the motor. A wing foil has none, and it is the legal way onto the lakes that ban an eFoil.
The Achensee, more than nine kilometers long, wants a weekly, monthly or seasonal license from kitesurfers, surfers and wingfoilers, issued only against a surfing diploma or a sailing license. 3Style Kitesurfing runs the Wingfoil School Achensee from the SEE-Bad of the Atoll Achensee in Maurach. Mornings bring a light southerly of 1 to 2 Beaufort, afternoons a northerly of 3 to 5.
SUP & WING BOX has its Lakebase Traunsee at Rindbach in Ebensee, the entry for the north wind on what the school calls the deepest lake of the Salzkammergut (191 m), with stations at the Mondsee and Fuschlsee. On the Attersee it describes the Rosenwind, a thermal north-easterly of up to 4 Beaufort from late morning in stable fair weather. At Podersdorf, Mission To Surf (Südstrand) and Kiteriders (Nordstrand) can fill the windy days that ground the eFoils.
Across the border: Garda and Como
For a big lake and a legal eFoil, look south to Italy, and mind one catch on Lake Garda. Its Trentino tip, Riva and Torbole, is closed. Art. 105 para. 3 of regional law 11/2009 bans “la navigazione delle unità a motore” on Trento's waters. The nearest bases we found to Riva are LakeRiders in Malcesine, which works with E-Surfer, and Planet Allsports at the Hotel Capo Reamol, about 7 km away by the operator's count. Prices are on our Lake Garda eFoil guide.
Lake Como names the eFoil in its rulebook. Ordinanza n. 1/2026 of the Autorità di Bacino del Lario (Menaggio, 20 February 2026) lists it among the small craft, and art. 4 allows it from one hour after sunrise to sunset in good visibility, with an approved life jacket, 10 m between riders and never on the line ship routes. Water Experience Center in Faggeto Lario starts from €160 for a private hour, and EFOIL.FUN in Colonno charges €200 per person for its 90-minute Flite Experience (list prices read 24 October 2026). The other bases are on our Lake Como page.
This is how we understand the rules published as of 20 to 25 October 2026, not legal advice. The authority for each lake has the final word.
