Subsequently, Ganghofer worked as dramaturge at the Ringtheater in Vienna (1881), as a freelance writer for the family paper Die Gartenlaube and as a feuilleton editor of the Neues Wiener Tagblatt (1886–1891).

In Vienna, Ganghofer was a frequent guest at the salon in the Palais Todesco, where he met with artists like Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Johann Strauss.

In 1917 he and his friend Ludwig Thoma joined the far-right German Fatherland Party which was dissolved in the Revolution of 1918–19, and his political activities ceased.

Heavily criticised by colleagues like Karl Kraus, readings of his militaristic works provided him with an above average income.

His works, which describe the life of simple, competent, honest people, are often seen as kitsch – not least because most of them are staged against the background of an idyllic Bavarian Alps scenery.