Zell am See

Zell am See sits on a lake of about four and a half square kilometres in the Pinzgau, with the Schmittenhöhe rising directly behind the town and the Kitzsteinhorn glacier at the head of the Kaprun valley a few kilometres south, and the two are marketed and lifted as one area - which gives a resort with lake swimming in summer and glacier skiing that runs deep into spring. The town has a medieval core with the Romanesque St Hippolyt church and a lakeside promenade. The Pinzgauer Lokalbahn narrow-gauge railway runs west to Krimml. The area is heavily developed and busy in both seasons, with a large Gulf-state summer clientele in recent decades, and the lake is clean enough to swim in from a set of lidos round the shore.

What you actually see

• A lake under a ski mountain - the Schmittenhöhe rising straight off the town.
• Glacier skiing above - the Kitzsteinhorn at the head of the Kaprun valley.
• A medieval core - the Romanesque church and old streets behind the promenade.
• The Pinzgauer Lokalbahn - the narrow-gauge line running west to Krimml.

When to go

All year; summer for the lake, winter and spring for the glacier. Two days.

Honest expectations

It is busy and commercialised in both seasons, and prices reflect that. The lake is cold outside high summer. The Kitzsteinhorn is a separate ticket and a drive or bus from the town.

Nearby

Kaprun and the high reservoirs are south; the Krimml falls are west.