Photo spot in Gosau & the Gosausee
The Vorderer Gosausee and the Dachstein reflection
A green lake at 933 metres that holds the Dachstein, its glacier and the Gosaukamm towers upside down on a calm morning — and it is thirty seconds from the car park.
About The Vorderer Gosausee and the Dachstein reflection
Get directionsThe Vorderer Gosausee lies at the head of the Gosau valley, walled on both sides and closed at the far end by the Dachstein massif. From the northern shore, where the road ends, the whole range stands in the water: the summit, the Great Gosau glacier below it and the grey teeth of the Gosaukamm along the right-hand wall. It is among the very few great alpine views in Austria that asks for no walk at all — the frame is a minute from the car.
The reflection is the point, and it is a morning thing. The valley wind picks up late in the morning and the surface breaks; by afternoon you have the mountain but not its double. The lake also sits in shade until the sun clears the Gosaukamm, so the light arrives late, low and warm rather than overhead.
A level path circles the water in about an hour and keeps the Dachstein on one side the whole way, with plenty of shoreline rock and larch to work into a foreground. The far end, under the glacier, is the quietest part of the circuit.
June brings alpine roses on the slopes; October turns the larches gold and thins the visitors; from December the lake lies under snow with the ridge black above it. The road up is ploughed in winter, but check conditions and whether the upper car park is open.
Best time to shoot
Early morning, before the valley wind starts and while the surface still holds the mountain
Tips
Parking at the lake is paid, and in July and August the car park fills by mid-morning. The reflection is gone once the wind starts, so treat the first two hours as the session and the lake circuit as the extra.
Other spots in Gosau & the Gosausee
The Gosaukamm ridge
A wall of limestone teeth running for ten kilometres along the western side of the valley, with the Bischofsmütze at the far end — the hardest edge in a soft landscape.
The trail to the Hinterer Gosausee
A gravel track past the Gosaulacke to the last lake in the valley, an hour and a half in — greener, emptier and directly under the Dachstein glacier.
The Zwieselalm meadows and the Gosaukammbahn
A cable car lifts to open alpine pasture at about 1,475 metres on the far side of the valley, and from up there the whole Gosaukamm stands in profile.
Ready to book?
Our concierge team will hand-pick 2-3 photographers who know The Vorderer Gosausee and the Dachstein reflection — free of charge.