Five lakes near to Salzburg that you have to visit

Five lakes near to Salzburg that you have to visit

Hello, hello! Today, I am bringing you an entry chock-full of nature, as I want to talk to you about and show you the different lakes in Austria that I visited during our trip this April in 2019 in the Salzburg area. Together with their mountains, the Austrian lakes are maybe one of the things that most characterise this country. Not just for their frozen waters, but for their great beauty since they are surrounded by immense mountains: the Alps. The truth is that if you are a little curious and you get a map, you can see that there are an infinite amount of them. If you want to visit them, it's a matter of choosing one or two at random, since all of them have their own charm. In summer 2018, I was lucky enough to visit some of them, from all over the country I liked them so much that during this new trip that we did at Easter, it was essential to visit these landscapes and take some dips in the lakes. Therefore, today I want to talk about Achensee, Hallstättersee, Attersee, Mondsee and Zell am See. Let's go!

Attersee

If you look, most of the names of these Austrian lakes end with the word "See", which means "lake" in German. Thus, "Attersee" can be translated as "The lake Atter", which is located near a town which shares the same name. This lake was the first one that we visited on our route through Austria and we started off really strong, because in my opinion, it was the one that I liked the most. It is incredible when you leave the motorway behind and suddenly, this wide lake with blue and crystal-clear water appears, surrounded by snowy mountains. We went around it with the car and we wanted to stop at so many points of the lake as they all seemed incredible. Finally, we came across a car-park where we could leave the car; we got out, took our towels, bikinis, sun-cream and food and we went to a wooden boardwalk where we could sit down, sunbathe and also dive into the water from it.

To be honest, lots of the lake areas in Austria are private. In fact, lots of little houses with gardens have a wooden walkway that overlooks the lake, surrounded by a fence, which is ideal for getting up in the morning and having a dip in the lake. We were lucky enough to find this public walkway, which you can see in the photographs, and we stayed there for a couple of hours. We were amazed by the colour of the water. It really reminded us of the crystal-clear and blue water beaches that we had experienced the year before in Pula, Croatia. The colour of the water was exactly the same. I was invited to spend some hours swimming and diving, but I didn't because I was frozen. In the end, some of the brave ones went in the water for a minute or two, which was around 8 degrees Celsius, and they got out quickly by going up the stairs with red legs but accompanied with a fresh feeling for the next half an hour.

We were there for a decent amount of time, relaxing, eating and tanning, wetting our feet. We were able to take some photos of the beautiful surroundings, such as the ones that I have put in this post. Just in front of us, there was a bar that was closed with the tables and chairs all stacked up; so we assumed that in the summer this place would be full of people having a drink whilst enjoying views of the lake. Being the end of April, during Easter, we were lucky enough to be completely alone in this place.

Something strange about this lake is that there is an alpaca farm there. We thought that you find alpacas in places with warmer climates, but we were wrong. In Austria, there are quite a lot of places which are full of alpacas and llamas. On this farm, you can find lots of them and they use their wool to make clothes. It shows that they take good care of them and that they enjoy quite a lot of freedom. You can visit this little farm, although the opening hours are quite short, since I think it only opens on Saturdays and Sundays in the morning.

When the sun was already setting, we decided to make a move and go towards the next lake, Mondsee, before going to our finally destination of the day, Salzburg: which you can read some information about here.

Mondsee

It was only 20 minutes away from where we were in Attersee. The truth is that we wanted to go to Schaberg, which is a very famous peak which is situated between Mondsee and Attersee, but we realised that it was about 45 minutes away and that you could get there by cable car which cost around 27 euros, so it was not at all cheap. We decided to not visit this peak and to continue on with our journey. As we had time, Mondsee was a good option for stopping and relaxing at for an hour.

Like all of the parking at the lakes, it was free because April is considered low-season, so we could park there for free. All the lakes follow the same design. Surrounding the lake, there are mountains. And around the lake, there are different supermarkets, cafes, hotels, restaurants with typical Austrian food, parking and rest areas. We bought tupperware with us with our own food inside so we didn't stop at any of them, even though the food looked really good. In addition, all the hotels that are around the lake seem to have, only due to the location, three stars. It seems like it would be a great plan for the summer, although I think that I would prefer to stay in one of the campsites with my tent and have a slightly more rural stay.

Finally, we parked at a random point of the lake and again went to the wooden piers, from which we can see the riverbank opposite and a small jetty with sailboats and motorboats. The truth is that after seeing Attersee, Mondsee left us a little disappointed, but also because we had not found the best area because we had seen photos of both and we found them both incredible. Here I will leave you some photos so that you can judge for yourselves. The good thing about this area is that there were trees and if we fancied some shade to escape from the sun for a bit, we could relax here.

Near to Attersee and Mondsee is Wolfgangsee, a lake which is much loved by the Austrians. We jokingly named it "Hallstatt for the poor" because it also had a very cute little town on one of the banks with a church as the main feature, but obviously, it is not as well-known or as touristy. Finally, we wanted to go to Salzburg, so we took the car and headed towards the city of music, where we spent the night to rest and continue on with our route through nature.

Achensee

The lake Anchen is the biggest lake in Tyrol, which already makes it special. It is also surrounded by mountains and an enormous glacier, there are lots of hiking trails. We thought about doing one in particular, which went to a point from which you can see the whole lake from a great height. To our surprise, the route lasted about five hours so we didn't have time to do it. It was a shame because the views from that point seemed incredible. We needed a plan B, so we simply decided to park the car and lay on the riverbank to enjoy the water, which came down directly from the snow-covered mountains.

This lake, or at least the part that we were at, was a lot busier, perhaps due to its good reputation. There were lots of people running, cycling or even walking. Near to where we sat, there were a group of people who had started a bonfire and were cooking some meat on it. It smelt incredible. It was a quite well-equipped area, there were even a few bathrooms nearby that you had to pay for to enter. The "bad" part is that where we were, there was no wooden walkway and the floor was full of quite big white stones. You had to walk with comfortable shoes on because doing it barefoot you would definitely end up with some fair wounds on your feet. In the end, I don't know how, we came across a fairly flat area to put our towels down on and lay down. I even had a nap for quite a while, what a joy.

We ate, we had a dip in the freezing-cold water, we walked, sunbathed and enjoyed the scenery. An interesting fact is that the water from some Austrian lakes is so clean that is is suitable for human consumption.

Opposite, there was the tourist area with all the possible accommodation options. From apartments to the most luxurious hotels with a spa included, with views of the mountains. These spas are very famous, especially for the winter season. The jacuzzi was in the open air so that you could go in the warm waters whilst being surrounded by the biting cold and snow. The views of the lake were worth it. This plan is very common in the winter, especially after skiing.

You had to pay for the car-park where we left the car, but we were really lucky that a good Samaritan gave us his ticket because he was leaving, and it was still valid for two or three hours. After being there for a couple of hours, we left for Innsbruck, a city that I talked about in my last post that you can read here. We loved this lake, honestly. I recommend that you definitely go and visit it. Let's move on to the next one!

Zell Am See

This lake wasn't on our itinerary, but it was on our way between the Krimml waterfalls and our Airbnb apartment. I have to say that our apartment was in the middle of nowhere, next to a milk farm, so as soon as we passed through here and saw the lake and its corresponding town, we thought that it would be a good idea to stop and eat there; since we thought that there would be nowhere to eat nearby our accommodation.

The sun was already beginning to go and disappear behind the mountains, so there is not too much light in the photos. To do something different, we took a pedalo (what do you call them?) to have a different perspective from the one that we had of the previous lakes that we visited. It was a great idea because we could see the mountains completely, as well as being able to touch the water, which was not as cold as we had expected. The pedalo cost 16 euros for half an hour, which between 5 people worked out super cheap.

After docking the pedalo, we decided to look for a restaurant to have something to eat, having walked through the town beforehand. In the town, there were a multitude of restaurants and hotels, especially this one which seemed super elegant and therefore expensive.

We saw expensive cars on the road and we knew that Zell Am See was a place to disconnect and be able to enjoy a few days surrounded by nature. The mountains that you can see in the background were covered in snow, they looked like they were drawn by a professional artist. Parking was also free because we found a free spot on a random street. As an unanticipated visit, we really liked this lake and the atmosphere in the town. It was definitely a success to stop off here. Let's move on to the last lake!

Hallstätter See

This lake is one of the most well-known ones in the country, just because it is located in the town of Hallstatt, which we also visited, but I will dedicate an entry solely to this town in the future which you can read in a couple of days time. We visited this town on our last day of the trip, just a couple of hours before heading back to Bratislava again. After visiting the town, which was full of people, we decided to find a relaxing place to eat, sunbathe and have a dip. We went around the lake to an area where there were some bathing areas, with slides and typical sunbeds. We parked for free in front of a restaurant and went into nature a little, leaving the areas behind where there were the small ports, restaurants and accommodation areas. Parallel to us were train tracks, but you could not hear the sound of them at all, fortunately. The train is one of the routes that a lot of tourists opt for to visit the lake when they don't have access to a car. They are usually visitors who have come from Salzburg to spend a day visiting the town of Hallstatt and only a few, the most curious ones, visit the lake.

We were at the lake for a long time, enjoying the last bit of sun, because we knew that the weather would get worst in the upcoming days. We ate from our tupperwares: chickpeas, salad, couscous and red beans with tuna. Everything was very basic but really yummy. Also, we came across a little wooden table with really soft grass in the surrounding area to lie down on and relax. These last hours were bittersweet because despite the fact that we had a great time, we knew that it would soon be other and the next day we would have to go back to our routine of waking up early, working and waiting for the weekend to have some free time.

I have to say that the water in Hallstatter See was warmer, which doesn't mean that it was good, because it still took me 15 minutes to get into the water properly. Saying that, I have visited this lake before in the summer and the water was good. Surprisingly, a lot of lakes in Austria like this one, Attersee or Fuschlesee reach 21 degrees Celsius, which ideal for a dip, staying there and a bit and cooling off. Obviously, it was still too early for the lake to reach that temperature, but that didn't prevent us from having our last dip of the trip. Finally, we went back to the car, put our things away and went back to Bratislava.

And that is everything I wanted to tell you. The truth is that after this tour of Austria and its lakes and mountains, I fell even more in love with this country than I already was. Without a doubt, it is in my list of top 5 places. The people are very kind, the nature is incredible and it is not overly expensive, especially if you know how to plan ahead and organise yourself well.

As a conclusion, I will say that I am very happy that I was able to go around the lakes so well and with so much time. Despite the fact that all the lakes may seem similar and maybe some may think it could become boring, that isn't true. Each one has its own shape and each one is unique for different aspects. Of all of these, my favourite is Attersee for sure, but all of them have their own charm. As a conclusion, if you are lucky enough to visit this country, do it because you won't regret it. And with that I'm finished. I hope that you have liked the photos and my comments and explanations. Thank you for reading and I will see you soon in the next entry. Bye.

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