Photo spot in Gmunden & the Traunsee
The Johannesberg chapel above Traunkirchen
A tiny chapel on a rock spur over the Traunsee, five kilometres south of Gmunden — the silhouette that closes the lake, with the monastery village below it.
About The Johannesberg chapel above Traunkirchen
Get directionsTraunkirchen sits on a promontory that almost cuts the Traunsee in two, and the Johannesberg is the small rocky knoll at its tip. A chapel stands on top of it, whitewashed and hardly bigger than a room, with a path and steps climbing from the village in a few minutes. From the water and from the road on the far shore it reads as a clean silhouette against the lake — one of the most recognisable outlines in the Salzkammergut.
From the chapel itself the view runs the length of the lake in both directions: north to Gmunden and the Traunstein, south into the narrow, cliff-walled end of the water. The spur is small and open, so it is exposed and there is not much room; on a windy day it is not comfortable, and the rock is slippery when wet.
Below it, the parish church of the former Benedictine convent holds the Fischerkanzel, a baroque pulpit carved as a fishing boat with nets and apostles — famous enough to be worth seeing, and with its own rules on photography and service times, so check.
The drive from Gmunden takes about ten minutes along the western shore, and the lakeside road itself gives several pull-ins with the chapel in profile. Summer is green and busy; winter often gives mist on the water with the chapel standing above it.
Best time to shoot
Late afternoon for the silhouette from the shore road; morning from the chapel itself, when the lake is calm
Tips
The spur is small, exposed and slippery when wet — it holds a couple of people, not a group. The parish church below sets its own photography rules and service times, so check them before planning anything inside.
Other spots in Gmunden & the Traunsee
Schloss Ort and its wooden bridge
A white castle on a small island in the Traunsee, reached by a long wooden footbridge — shot head-on with the onion-domed tower at the end, it is the picture the whole lake is known for.
The Esplanade and the Toscanapark
Gmunden's lakeside walk runs south from the town square to a wooded park on the shore, with the Traunstein filling the view behind you the whole way.
The Rathausplatz and its ceramic carillon
A painted square opening straight onto the lake, with arcades on three sides and a town hall whose carillon is cast in the green-striped ceramic Gmunden has made for two centuries.
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Our concierge team will hand-pick 2-3 photographers who know The Johannesberg chapel above Traunkirchen — free of charge.