frequently asked questions

Kids Camp: The starter camp for children aged 6 to 11. The supervision ratio is extra high at 1:5, and the counselors are experienced in helping children with homesickness—perfect for the little ones.

English Action Camp: For children and teenagers aged 8 to 16 who want to improve their English skills and make international friends.

Goethe German Camp: For children and teenagers aged 12 to 17 who want to improve their German skills while making international friends.

Outdoor Adventure Camp: For active children and teenagers aged 10 to 16 who love nature adventures and want to try out a variety of outdoor activities. There’s plenty of fun and exciting challenges here.

Multi Activity Camp: For children aged 9 to 16 who love variety. Sports, creative workshops, and team games guarantee action-packed days outdoors in nature.

Multimedia Camp: Perfect for creative children aged 10 to 16 who are interested in photography, film, social media, or digital design.

Horse Riding Camp: For horse lovers aged 9 to 13 who want to learn to ride or improve their skills. Exciting leisure activities at the riding stable are included.

Italy Summer Camp: For everyone between the ages of 10 and 15 who wants to spend the summer at the beach. The summer camp in Lignano Sabbiadoro offers sun, beach, sea, sports, and fun on the Italian Adriatic coast.

The easiest way to book a camp is via our homepage. On each camps page you will find the button “book online”. A booking is binding for us as soon as we confirm it.

Please note that if you fill in only one booking for multiple participants, you will receive only one invoice for all of them. 

Overnight stays between dates are possible for an additional fee of €80,- and include supervision and meals.  Please note that there may be no / few other participants on site during the additional night.  

Some of our camps are offered on a 2-week basis anyway. We strongly recommend to choose these camps and dates if possible, because there are other participants on site. 

If it is necessary to change houses between 2 camps, your child will spend the extra night in the house of the first camp.

No. Please make a separate booking for all participants. 

Yes! Many of our camp participants book without friends or siblings. It doesn't take long for new friendships to develop.

Normally, illnesses such as epilepsy or ADHD are not a problem and participation is still possible. However, this is always a case-by-case decision and we ask you to contact us at office@camps.at before booking.

Basically, our programmes are perfectly adapted to the specified age groups. Slightly falling below these limits is usually not a problem. However, you know your child best and should consider whether your child can handle it or not. Exceeding the age limit is unfortunately not possible.

In addition to the cancellation fees according to item 7.1.c. GTCP 1992, we have to charge a cancellation fee of 100% if you do not arrive (No Show). Your cancellation must be communicated to us in writing by registered letter or e-mail.

We recommend that you take out cancellation protection insurance. young austria offers very attractively priced cancellation protection. 
You can find further information under: insurance packages

You can pay either by bank transfer or credit card. If you wish to pay by credit card, you will receive a credit card payment link with the first payment request (all common credit cards, such as VISA, MasterCard, AMEX).

A deposit of 20% of the tour price is due 2 weeks after booking. The balance is to be paid at the earliest 20 and at the latest 14 days before arrival.

Please note that when paying by credit card, the remaining amount will not be debited automatically.

We recommend that all Austrian citizens bring along at least one copy of their passport or ID. Citizens of the Schengen area will need their original passport or ID card. Children from all other countries in the world must bring along their original passport. In addition, we recommend bringing a valid passport when participating in the camp in Italy.

Please inquire as to entry requirements and visa requirements specific to your home country prior to booking.

Taking out insurance is at your own discretion. Nevertheless, we recommend that all participants take out travel cancellation insurance and that all non-EU citizens take out health insurance. Please note that our insurance offers are only available for participants who are resident in Austria or an EU country. You can find our insurance offers here.

If you live outside the EU and need an insurance recommendation, we will be happy to help you.

You will find the travel documents at the costumer center approx. 2 weeks prior to the start of camp. In it you will find the emergency card, , a suitcase packing list, the exact address of the youth hostel and other important information.

Please contact us if you do not receive the link for the costumer center (2 weeks before the camp starts).

The emergency card is a form which you receive with your booking confirmation. You will also finde it in the costumer center 2 weeks befor the camp starts. The entered information is intended for your child’s camp counsellors. The information will of course be handled confidentially. Please fill out this form completely and have your child bring it to camp. Please also inform us of any allergies (such as food intolerances), illnesses, prescriptions or the like at the time of booking!

Please note that our camp counsellors will only administer medications to your child that are indicated on the emergency card (name, dose). Our counsellors are prohibited from administering any other kind of medication to your child!

• You will find a packing list at least two weeks before arrivel in the Customer Centre. For all camps we recommend sporty clothes, rain gear, sun protection, good shoes, slippers and at least a warm jumper, as well as long trousers. Please label your child's clothing.
• Towels & Bedding: Please bring your own towels for daily use, as well as a bath towel (please do not forget to label it). Bed linen will be provided by the youth hotel.
• Emergency card filled out and signed

The ya! adventure guest house will gladly honour special food requests (vegetarian diet, pork-free diet, and the like). In case of food allergies we kindly ask you to note this on the emergency card. Please inform us of any such requests also at the time of booking.

Please consult your doctor about necessary vaccinations and be sure to list them on the emergency card.

Please note that the arrival should be between 15-18 clock and departure no later than 11 clock!

You are welcome to book a transfer with the camp bus from/to Salzburg for arrival and departure days. 
 

There is a meeting point (Salzburg Central Station) where you can entrust your child to us. The bus departs at approximately 3:00 p.m. We will provide you with exact information about the meeting point and times approximately two weeks before arrival with your travel documents.

The ya! adventure guesthouses are located approximately 100 km from Salzburg Central Station; the journey time by coach is approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes.

You are welcome to book a transfer with the camp bus from/to Salzburg or from/to Villach for your arrival and departure days to Italy. 

There are two meeting points: Salzburg Central Station and the meeting point in Villach, where you can entrust your child to us. You will receive detailed information about the meeting points and exact departure times approximately two weeks before arrival, together with your travel documents. 

Further information on arrival and departure options for the Italy Summer Camp can be found here.

As we only offer supervised train travel to/from Germany on selected dates, we provide a pick-up service from the platform at Salzburg Central Station. Certain trains run from Germany to Salzburg (without changing trains). If you feel confident that your child can travel alone, we will be happy to pick them up directly from the platform and accompany them to the shared transfer that takes the children to the camps. We do not charge an extra fee for the pick-up service – only the cost of the collective transfer from Salzburg to the camp must be paid. The ticket for the train journey must be organized independently. 

The escort service to/from the platform must be booked in advance! Please note that the group transfer from Salzburg leaves at around 3:00 p.m., so arrival should ideally be between 2:00 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. For the return journey, the train should not leave before 12:00 p.m. or after 1:00 p.m.

If the train is significantly delayed, there may be additional costs for an individual transfer to the camp.

How does the accompanied train journey work?

A ya! travel guide will meet you and your child at the departure station at the platform of the given train. He/she looks after the group, takes care of the children joining at a later station and hands over the children in Salzburg to the ya! team. From here, the children will travel on to the summer camps with the other participants in buses. You will receive detailed information on train times, train numbers, etc. with your travel documents.

Your child will be met by a ya! supervisor in the arrivals hall on the day of arrival and looked after from that point onwards. Games, craft materials, and snacks are included! 

On the day of departure, your child will be taken to the airport and, depending on the departure time, accompanied to the check-in counter/passport control. If there is a waiting time at the airport on departure, your child will of course be looked after by our team. 

The service at the ya! adventure guest house ends after breakfast at the latest; the children are taken to the airport together.

The distance from our ya! adventure guest houses to Munich Airport (Germany) is approximately 250 km; travel time is approximately 3.5 hours. Due to increased traffic on departure days, some airport transfers start very early so that we can reach the airport on time and allow sufficient time for check-in and security checks. This may result in longer waiting times at the airport. We will look after the children until they reach security! 

The ideal arrival and departure time for your child is between 11:00 am and 2:00 pm. 

For arrivals and departures before 9:00 a.m. and after 4:00 p.m., we have to charge additional transfer and supervision costs: €20 per hour or part thereof. Arrivals and departures between 6:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. cannot be supervised.

The airport transfer is offered on the following dates:

• 28.06.-11.07.26
• 12.07.-25.07.26
• 26.07.-08.08.26

We are happy to organize an individual transfer to the camp on request. Contact us in advance at office@camps.at to receive a quote.

Please note that arrival should be between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. and departure by 11 a.m. at the latest! 

The exact meeting point and time will be announced in time before arrival. 

We offer our airport transfer service on selected dates. Children should arrive/depart between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. If you have booked a flight outside these times, there will be an additional charge of €20 per hour of childcare. Please note that arrivals and departures between 6:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. cannot be accommodated.

On average, the airport transfer starts 7h before departure on the day of departure. This is only a rough estimation and may vary. Your child will be well looked after and cared for until the security check is passed, however, if this is outside our core times, additional childcare costs may apply.

Most airlines require this status for children up to 12 years of age travelling alone. Please clarify this with your airline before booking the flight. Please fill in the necessary documents and give them to your child to take with him/her to the camp! If your child is travelling as an "unaccompanied minor", please inform us immediately when booking. As the UM service means a considerable additional effort for us in terms of planning and staff, there is an additional cost contribution of €50.

ln case of an emergency, you can reach young austria 24/7 while summer camp is in session! This phone number will be included in your travel documents, which you will receive in plenty of time before the start of the trip! Please only use this phone number in case of an emergency so as to not unnecessarily tie up the line!

Please inform your child of this prior to his or her stay:

• Alcohol and tobacco products are strictly forbidden to all participants as well as e-cigarettes.
• The camp area is to be left only with the camp director's permission and only at certain times and in small groups.
• Rooms are to be kept tidy and clean.
• Camp participants are to treat each other with respect.
• There is to be no violence or indecent behaviour toward other people at camp.
• Participants are to follow the instructions of the care team at all times! 
• Carrying dangerous objects such as (pocket) knives, lighters etc. is not permitted!

A participant may be expelled if he or she has a contagious or otherwise serious illness or handicap upon arrival that was kept from us and that would stop him or her from taking part in daily activities; this also applies to indecent behaviour, criminal offences or any other behaviour for which our counsellors cannot be held responsible (also see 'Camp Rules'). ln the event of expulsion, parents/legal guardians will be responsible for the costs of picking up their child and will have to make their own pick up arrangements. We cannot reimburse travel fees.

Children and teenagers are supervised by young austria's team of camp counsellors. Our camp counsellors are mostly students in the fields of physical education, education, psychology, as well as prospective or current teachers. ya! CAMP counsellors and directors attend several days worth of training seminars and are thoroughly prepared for their employment at our summer camps. They are required to pass courses on first aid, legal aspects, program planning and organisation in order to be able to work with us. They undergo a background check which must of course, reveal the absence of any criminal record! Supervising and chaperoning our under-aged participants is our highest priority!

Since we attach great importance to creating a safe place for our participants where they feel comfortable, we have developed our own child protection concept for the young austria camps & project weeks.

Our camp counsellors and directors are not liable for any disorderly, prohibited conduct on the part of individual camp participants. ln the case of such an event, neither camp counsellors, directors nor young austria will assume liability.

Our team of camp counsellors will allocate the rooms: girls and boys are assigned separate rooms. Also they will try to have a good mixture of different nationalities and they will put kids with more or less the same age together in a room. You are welcome to make a room request at the time of booking.

You can contact the camp manager on site or our 24/7 emergency telephone at any time. You will find both contacts in your travel documents.

We recommend approx. € 30,– per week: participants use their packet money to buy souvenirs, post cards, ice cream, additional beverages, etc.. Please note that we strongly recommend giving the pocket money to the counselor team for administration. The pocket money will then be paid out in small amounts.

Our team of counsellors holds onto pocket money and important documents for participants. Please be sure to put any important documents in an envelope with your child's name written on it. Participants will be given portions of their packet money at specific times. Participants are responsible for any personal items not placed in the care of our team of counsellors. We also recommend labelling any valuables.

The children are allowed to bring their mobile phones to the camp. When checking in, we collect the mobile phones, because Digital Detox is part of our philosophy. The children are given their mobile phones every day for about one hour after lunch or before dinner to make phone calls, send Whatsapp messages or take photos. In addition, the counsellors can decide at their own discretion (depending on the activity) whether the mobile phones should be given out for day trips, for example. Please note that this policy also applies to smartwatches/tablets.

Please leave notebooks, gameboys, playstations and other devices at home!

We have learned from experience that generally visits from parents and relatives can lead to stronger cases of homesickness in some of our participants. If you will need to pick your child up from camp for an important appointment, we ask that you will make an arrangement with the ya! office in Salzburg ahead of time. Additionally, we will require a written legitimation from parents/relatives/friends!

Please make sure you pack plenty of clothes and hand towels for your child to bring to camp. lf your child stays for 3 weeks or more we offer a washing service.

Should your child have to leave early/arrive later, this is generally not a problem. Unfortunately, we cannot offer a separate airport transfer or accompanied train ride except on Saturdays. Please inform us at office@camps.at if an early departure is necessary.