History, mysticism, bathing pleasures and its often underestimated versatility

The desire for the 7.75 km long, maximum 2.3 km wide and up to 125 m deep Lake Hallstatt has already gripped many. The travel writer Christoph Wagner enthuses:

"At first glance, the lake looks like a larger sister of the underground mountain lake, which has erroneously moved from Hades into the open air and its dark waters are of a bizarre beauty, which develops its power at depth".

He was called the "melancholic lake", "quiet fjord" or "the sight of an ideal mountain lake".For many, only Lake Gosau surpasses this imposing sight - and Gosau is also the fourth place around which the World Heritage Region spans. Lake Hallstatt is a classic relic of the ice age and lies between the steeply sloping Obertraun's and Hallstatt's mountains. After Bad Goisern, it has more room to spread out its 8.55 km². With this area it is the fifth largest Salzkammergut lake.

For the early settlers on Hallstatt's "Salzberg" (salt mountain), the scenic beauty of Lake Hallstatt may have been relative, but for them it was initially a transport route, a waterway for the most valuable of the mountain, salt.

The lake also carried wood patiently, washed out of the Gosau valley and laboriously pulled into Hallstatt's Saline, later floated to Ebensee. Today he carries, for example, the excursion and liner ships of the "Hallstättersee Schifffahrt" (ship company in Hallstatt). They also make sure that rail customers come to their trains and back to Hallstatt across the lake. Many do not approach the old miner's village via the road, which only allows a relatively late view of the world-famous townscape, but come by train and ship, leisurely - contemplative.