Gmunden

Gmunden stands at the northern end of the Traunsee where the river leaves it, and it made its living first on salt, shipped down from the Salzkammergut and transhipped here, and then on ceramics. Gmundner Keramik has been produced in the town since the sixteenth century and the green-striped pattern, brushed on by hand, is recognised across Austria; the factory runs tours and a shop. The Traunsee-Tram, opened in 1894, ran for over a century as a line of about two and a half kilometres and was regularly cited as the shortest tram line in the world before it was extended in 2018 to join the Traunseebahn. Schloss Ort stands on its island offshore, the Traunstein rises opposite, and the lake steamers leave from the promenade.

What you actually see

• Gmundner ceramics - the hand-brushed green-striped ware and its factory.
• A famously short tram - the 1894 line, once the shortest in the world.
• Schloss Ort - the island castle offshore with its wooden bridge.
• The Traunstein opposite - the wall rising off the far shore of the lake.

When to go

May to September. A day.

Honest expectations

The tram was extended in 2018, so the shortest-in-the-world claim no longer holds. Factory tours book ahead. The lake is deep and cold. Summer weekends crowd the promenade.

Nearby

Traunkirchen and Ebensee are down the lake; Bad Ischl is south.