Small Lakes of Salzburg

When the last ice age ended some 10,000 years ago, the withdrawing glaciers left huge chunks of ice behind. When these melted, several of them gave rise to lakes, ponds, bogs and marshes. Over the course of millennia, many of these moist phenomena have disappeared. However, there are still dozens of small lakes left all over the state of Salzburg. In this article, we have highlighted a few for each region (Flachgau, Tennengau, Pongau, Pinzgau and Lungau) and supplemented them with a very short description.

Flachgau Lakes

Autobahnsee Viehhausen: Artificial lake that was created in the course of building the motorway. Now popular for fishing and swimming. The water quality is not particularly high, though. Private property, swimming is allowed. The municipality is Wals-Siezenheim just outside of the city of Salzburg.

Bürmooser See: Artificial lake that developed in areas where peat was industrially collected. Reasonable, but not very high water quality. Swimming and other water sports are allowed. The municipality is Bürmoos.

Krottensee: A natural lake that is private property. High water quality. Municipality is St. Gilgen. Very scenic location, spoilt only by a 19th century chalet.

St. Georgener Badesee: Artificial lake that was made a lido years ago. The water quality is alright, but not all that high. Municipality is St. Georgen.

Tennengau Lakes

Bürgerausee: Artificial lake with good water quality. Swimming is allowed. In the municipality of Kuchl.

Seewaldsee: Natural lake in 1070 metres, very high water quality, surrounded by swamps - which adds a distinct colour. In the municipality of Scheffau am Tennengebirge.

Pongau Lakes

Böndlsee: Natural lake with reasonably high water quality. In the municipality of Goldegg.

Badesee Eben: Artificial lake that was made for swimming and water sports. Good, but not perfect water quality. In the municipality of Eben im Pongau.

Gasteiner Badeseen: Who said there are only thermal spas in the Gasteinertal? This artificial aquifer lake with very high water quality proves you wrong. In the municipality of Bad Gastein.

Goldegger See: Scenic with a castle in the background, a natural lake with marshland around it. The Goldegger See can offer even more, though: Very high water quality. The municipality is unsurprisingly Goldegg.

Reitecksee: This artificial lake is eutrophic, meaning that the water quality is not very high. It lies within the municipality of Flachau.

Pinzgau Lakes

Badesee Hollersbach: Artificial lake with good, but not perfect water quality. Created for swimming and other water sports. Lies within the municipality of Hollersbach.

Badesee Niedernsill: Also an artificial lake, similarly created for swimming / water sports. Within the municipality of Niedernsill. Water quality good, but not perfect.

Ritzensee: Natural lake surrounded by swamps and marshes. Eutrophic, meaning that you can expect rather poor water quality. Within the community of Saalfelden am Steinernen Meer.

Badesee Uttendorf: The same things can be said about this lake as we did about the Badeseen of Hollersbach and Niedernsill - only that this one can be found in Uttendorf.

Lungau Lakes

Prebersee: A natural lake with great swimming and hiking opportunities. Famous for the rifle customs of the region. Furthermore, the Prebersee has top-notch water quality. Within the municipality of Tamsweg.

Rotgüldenseen: Great for alpine hiking - the Rotgüldensee lakes come with high water quality as well. Within the municipality of Muhr at very high altitudes. Used by an underground hydropowerplant in the area of Hintermuhr.

Links

Lakes in Austria

http://www.sailingahead.com/
Information on sailing, gear, boats and vacations

http://www.salzburger-seenland.at/
More on the Salzburger Seenland Lake District

http://www.tourmycountry.com/austria/salzkammergut.htm
Information on the Salzkammergut

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