"MONDSEE ~ The Moon Lake" a Mondsee Travel Page by longsanborn

I was travelling around the Salzkammergut area in May 2004, and I stayed in the Mondsee village for 3 nights, using it as a base to explore Salzburg city and other towns/villages within the Salzkammergut Lake areas.

Mondsee (Moon Lake) is a lake in the Upper Austrian part of the Salzkammergut and neighbour to the larger Attersee. Mondsee is one of the beautiful lakes in Salzkammergut which contains over 40 lakes and mountains. It is only 25km from Salzburg city and it's a good starting point to several mountains e.g. Schafberg, which you can visit via cable car or hiking upwards.

Mondsee's southwestern shore marks the border between the states of Upper Austria and Salzburg, and also between the Northern Limestone Alps in the South and the Sandstone zone of the Northern Alps. The Drachenwand (Dragonwall) at the southern shore of the lake is an impressive sight.

Mondsee is very nice for family or romantic holidays especially during the summer time. You can enjoy outdoor activities like swimming, hiking, sailing, boating, etc. So, you can imagine that during Summer, this place will be packed.

I believe the best time to visit Mondsee is in May-June and Sept-October because the weather is still nice and warm, the days are still long, it is not very crowded, and the prices of the hotels/gastehaus/pensions are lower.

Mondsee also has nice summer festivals in the beginning of August with several performances from local bands.

The village/small town next to the Mondsee Lake is called Mondsee (off course, what else would it be called?). It is a village/small town, whereby the length from north to south is 9.5 km, and width from east to west is 7.7 km. It is a simple village catering mainly to the summer visitors and holidaymakers to the Lake.

There is however one interesting place to visit, that is, the church near the town centre; it was the site used for the wedding in the musical film "The Sound of Music".

I stayed in a bed-and-breakfast place called Gastehaus Hemetsberger. I got a double room next to the Lake, with a balcony over the waters. The boat-docking area* was under the house, and ducks and swans would swim close to the building - hoping for bread crumbs from guests.

*Hemetsberger seemed to also operate a sight-seeing boat along the Lake; hence, the boat docking under the building.

I enjoyed staying at this place as I could see and enjoy the peace and tranquility of the Lake from the privacy of my balcony.