Leopoldsteinersee

The Leopoldsteinersee is a small deep lake in a hollow scooped by a glacier below the Seemauer, a limestone face of the Hochblaser group that rises almost vertically out of the water on the eastern side, which gives the standard photograph its composition: green water, dark forest, grey wall behind. It is fed largely by karst springs, which keeps it clear and very cold, and a level path runs round the shore in about forty minutes with bathing places and a restaurant at the road end. The context is industrial: Eisenerz next door sits under the Erzberg, the terraced iron ore mountain that has been worked since Roman times and is the largest open-cast iron mine in central Europe, and the town shrank hard when the industry contracted.

What you actually see

• A wall rising from the water - the Seemauer face directly behind the lake.
• Karst-fed green water - clear, cold and deep in a glacial hollow.
• A shore circuit - level path round in about forty minutes.
• Erzberg next door - the terraced iron mountain above Eisenerz.

When to go

May to September; morning light on the wall. Half a day.

Honest expectations

The water is genuinely cold year-round. Parking fills on hot weekends. The lake is small - an hour or two covers it. The surrounding valley is industrial in character.

Nearby

Eisenerz and the Erzberg mine tours are next door; the Gesäuse park is east.