Zeller See: A Lake in the Heart of the Austrian Alps

The Alps offer a lot to adventurous travelers, including several lakes where you can dip between hiking or biking. Zeller See, or Lake Zell, is not the largest but still attracts crowds. It is nestled right between popular skiing and biking resorts and has marvelous surroundings. Grossglockner, the highest peak in Austria, is just a stone's throw away—some 30 kilometers—and you can spot its summit topped with a glacier in some of my shots. Speaking of the glacier, you might have guessed the lake is of glacial origin; it is relatively young from a geological perspective, only about 10-15 thousand years old. It was created by a minor glacier that melted towards the end of the last ice age.

If I am not mistaken, the peak in the distance is Grossglockner.

Like many others, my girlfriend and I decided to take a chill day between hikes to explore Zell am See, a town renowned for its typical Alpine architecture. We enjoyed a tasty lunch for a change and took a swim. My regular readers might guess a brewery involved—and they would be right. Alas, Pinzgau Bräu, the local microbrewery in one of the villages around the lake, doesn’t have a taproom; they only sell their brews from a small stall every working day from 8 to 12. Thus, I have no beer story from this part of our vacation. I did sample the local Weissbier in a restaurant, but that's not how I like to write my beer posts.

Here's a beer trivia at least: the lake freezes every winter, and its ice used to be loaded onto wagons and transported to brewery cellars for the aging of lager. Nowadays, no ice-cutting happens; the lake is only for skaters.

You might say the water looks pure—and it indeed was. With a visibility of over three meters, it resembled a sea. That's partly thanks to fresh streams bringing water from the mountains, partly due to the innate Austrian approach to ecology, and also because no fossil fuel motorboats are allowed on the lake—except for the ferries. The ones you see in my pictures are electric.

Still, the beaches were crowded, both the paid and free ones. I recommend the northeastern edge, where we could find a spot without feeling cramped. On the other hand, we were there during the hottest week of the summer, when everyone needed to cool down in the water.

Zell am See

This small town often hosts more tourists than locals, as it is located just at the foot of a minor ski resort. Many people accommodated here ski at the well-reputed Kaprun resort, which often stays open until late May, thanks to its high altitude and the glacier at the top. The more adventurous ones can even take a freezing dip in the lake and ski on the same day. We left our car by the train station and took a short walk along the lake promenade and through the town center, looking for a place to eat.

Ferries cruise the lake all day—you can take a round-trip sail or cross the lake to the village of Thumersbach to the largest beach. When we tried to reach it by car, we encountered cars parked everywhere along the road, so we gave up and looked for another place to swim.

I mentioned the signature Alpen architecture, so here are several examples.

The town council purchased Rosenberg, originally a castle, after several decades of neglect and repurposed as the town hall in 1970. Nowadays, the locals consider it a town symbol, and recommend visiting it at night when it is all lit up. Unfortunately, we spent our evening elsewhere, so I only made a daylight shot.

It takes just a few minutes of walking to reach the edge of Zell am See, where we found our restaurant of choice—Kupferkessel. I can honestly recommend it. By the way, you can spot the ski lifts in the last picture.

Česky

Alpy nejsou jen nekonečné trasy pro cyklisty a horaly, je tu i pár hezkých jezer. Třeba Zeller See. To sice není nijak extra velké, ale stejně je hojně navštěvované. Je nějakých třicet kilometrů vzdušnou čarou od nejvyššího rakouského vrcholu, Grossglockneru, a v podhůří několika lyžařských areálů. A co si budeme namlouvat, když někdo rád lyžuje, české kopečky mu přestanou stačit. Proto tu často zaslechnete i češtinu, v zimě i v létě. Mimochodem, na některých fotkách Grossglockner vykukuje, poznáte ho podle ledovce na vršku. I Zeller See je ledovcového původu, a tak je na jezero dost mladé, je mu jen nějakých deset až patnáct tisíc let. Vzniklo, když tu na konci poslední doby ledové odtál menší ledovec.

Protože jsme v Alpách byli, když teploty zrovna trhaly rekordy (naštěstí to třeba ve dvou tisících metrech nebylo tak hrozné), rozhodli jsme se zařadit do programu i jednodušší den s koupáním, a s dobrým obědem. Možná tušíte, že tu někde bude i pivovar. Máte pravdu, ale Pinzgau Bräu bohužel nemá výčep, prodává jen lahvová piva. A ještě jen ve všední dny od osmi ráno do poledne, takže z toho tentokrát článek nebude. I když jejich pšenici jsem ochutnal alespoň v restauraci v Zell am See.