Vorderer Gosausee

Vorderer Gosausee, the lower of the Gosau lakes in the Salzkammergut of Upper Austria, owes its fame to a single view. Looking up the lake, across about 1.8 kilometres of water, you see the glaciated summit of the Hoher Dachstein, at 2,995 metres the highest peak of the massif, rising at the head of the valley, with the jagged limestone ridge of the Gosaukamm beside it. On a calm morning the whole scene is doubled in the lake, and this picture of ice, rock and reflected forest has become one of the classic mountain motifs of Austria.

The lake lies at 933 metres at the northern foot of the Dachstein massif and is unusually deep for its size: up to about 75 metres. It is also partly a work of engineering. A rock-fill dam was built at its outlet in 1910–1911, and the water level was raised by about twelve metres for hydroelectric power; much of the lake's supply and drainage runs underground. In winter, when water is drawn off for power generation, the level falls sharply and the shoreline changes, so the lake looks quite different from season to season. In summer the water is clear enough to attract divers, and the cliffs on its eastern side are crossed by climbing routes.

A level path of about four and a half kilometres runs right around the lake, and it is worth walking the full circuit for the changing angles on the Dachstein and the Gosaukamm. From the far end, a further walk leads up the valley to the smaller Hinterer Gosausee, quieter and closer to the mountains, while the Gosaukammbahn cable car lifts walkers from near the lake to the high trails along the ridge. The Gosau valley belongs to the Hallstatt–Dachstein/Salzkammergut cultural landscape, inscribed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

Getting there

The lake lies in the mountains above the village of Gosau. Salzburg is about 46 km away by straight line, and Salzburg Airport (SZG) about 48 km. Bus line 541 runs from Bad Ischl via Bad Goisern and Gosau directly to the lake.