Altaussee
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Altaussee

Altaussee

Salzkammergut lakeside village in Styria, set below wooded mountains and a green-blue alpine lake

Altaussee is a small lakeside village in the Salzkammergut, tucked into a high valley between steep wooded mountains in Styria. The lake — brilliant green-blue and surrounded by meadows — is one of the most beautiful in the region, and the village itself is quiet and uncommercialised compared to the more-visited spots nearby. Artists and writers have been coming here since the 19th century; the place has always had a contemplative quality that the bigger resort towns lack.

The village is also famous for a remarkable wartime story: the nearby salt mines, which had been used to store thousands of art treasures looted by the Nazis, were saved from destruction in the final days of the war by local miners who packed the entrances with explosives specifically designed to collapse without damaging the art inside. The salt mine can be visited, and the story it holds is one of the stranger chapters of the war.

Above the village rises the Loser plateau, a moonscape of bare limestone reached by a panoramic road or a summer chairlift — prime hiking country in summer, a quiet little ski area in winter.

Guide

Eating Out

For a village of barely 1,800 people, Altaussee eats well. Several restaurants serve a refined version of Styrian and Ausseerland cuisine — freshwater fish from the lake (especially Reinanke whitefish and char), game in season, dumplings, and Steirisches Wurzelfleisch. A handful of cafés provide coffee and apfelstrudel between meals.

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Getting There

The nearest main railway station is Bad Aussee, 3 kilometres south of the village, on the regional line between Stainach-Irdning and Bad Ischl. Trains run roughly hourly; from Salzburg the trip is two-and-a-half hours with one change, from Vienna about four hours.

From Bad Aussee, post-buses run to Altaussee village every hour or two on weekdays, less often at weekends. By car, the village is on a 5-kilometre dead-end road off the B145 — make sure you book parking at your hotel as on-street parking in the centre is very limited in summer.

The nearest airports are Salzburg (90 minutes by car) and Linz (just over two hours). Both have buses and trains to Bad Aussee.

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Things to Do

The main attractions in Altaussee are the lake itself, the salt mine with its remarkable Second World War history, and the hiking trails on the Loser plateau above the village. Most can be done in a day or two; the place rewards a longer, slower visit.

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When to Go

Altaussee has two distinct seasons. May to October is the green season: hiking, lake-swimming (in July and August, briefly), boat trips, mountain biking. June is particularly beautiful — wildflowers on the meadows, long evenings, fewer visitors than the school-holiday peak in late July and August.

December to March is ski season, though the resort is modest by Austrian standards — the Loser plateau has a handful of easy and intermediate runs, and the village is more about quiet snowy walks and traditional events than serious skiing. The Glöcklerlauf on January 5th, a torchlit procession of masked figures meant to drive out winter, is a striking local tradition.

Shoulder months (April, November) are quiet, often cool and grey, and many hotels and restaurants close. Late September into mid-October — the so-called golden autumn, when the larch needles turn yellow — is one of the loveliest times of year.