Mondsee

The Mondsee is about eleven kilometres long and, being shallower than its neighbours, is the warmest of the large Salzkammergut lakes - often over twenty-five degrees in summer, which makes it the swimming lake of choice for people from Salzburg half an hour away. The Drachenwand rises sheer on the southern shore. The town at the northern end has the former Benedictine abbey church, a yellow basilica whose interior was used for the wedding scene in The Sound of Music and which draws a steady traffic of film visitors. The lake bed holds neolithic pile dwelling sites - the Mondsee culture is named from them - which are part of the UNESCO prehistoric pile dwellings inscription, with a local museum covering the finds.

What you actually see

• The warmest big Salzkammergut lake - over twenty-five degrees in summer.
• The Mondsee basilica - the abbey church used in The Sound of Music.
• The Drachenwand - the wall rising sheer on the southern shore.
• Neolithic pile dwellings - the sites that named the Mondsee culture.

When to go

May to September. A day.

Honest expectations

Summer weekends are very busy with Salzburg day traffic and parking is difficult. Much of the shore is private. The pile dwellings are under water and seen only through the museum.

Nearby

The Attersee is east; St Gilgen and the Wolfgangsee are south.