Photo spot in Zell am See & Kaprun
The Mooserboden reservoir above Kaprun
Two dam walls holding a turquoise lake at 2,036 metres, ringed by ice and grey rock at the head of the Kapruner Tal — a summer road only, closed by snow the rest of the year.
About The Mooserboden reservoir above Kaprun
Get directionsThe Kaprun high mountain reservoirs are one of Austria's set pieces and almost nobody photographs a couple there. Above the Wasserfallboden lake, the Mooserboden sits at 2,036 metres between two dam walls, the Moosersperre and the Drossensperre, with the Höhenburg rock rising between them and a viewing platform on top of it. The water is glacier-fed and turquoise, the surrounding walls are ice and grey granite, and the Grossglockner group closes the head of the valley.
The walk along a dam crest with the whole basin below is the frame everybody comes for; the platform on the Höhenburg gives both lakes at once. There is no soft green anywhere here — the palette is water, stone and snow, and it holds up under hard midday light better than most alpine places.
The access is the constraint. Private cars stop at the Kesselfall Alpenhaus; from there a shuttle bus, the Lärchwand inclined lift — a rack-driven platform that climbs more than four hundred metres of cliff — and another bus bring you to the dams. Allow an hour up and an hour back on top of the drive from Zell am See.
And it is a summer place: the road and the lifts normally open somewhere from late May to mid-June and close in mid-October, and snow can shut them early or open them late. Check the current season before planning a session here at all — outside those months there is simply no way up.
Best time to shoot
Late morning to afternoon in summer; the basin holds up in hard light better than most
Tips
Access is seasonal — the shuttle bus and the inclined lift normally run from late May or June to mid-October and can close for snow at either end, so check before planning around it. Allow an hour each way from the Kesselfall Alpenhaus.
Other spots in Zell am See & Kaprun
The lake promenade and the Elisabethpark
The Esplanade along the Zeller See with wooden jetties, rowing boats and the old town on its promontory — turquoise water in summer, and in a hard winter an ice field you can walk on.
The Schmittenhöhe summit
A 1,965-metre grass summit ten cable-car minutes from town, with a small white chapel, the whole lake below and something like thirty three-thousanders along the horizon.
The Kitzsteinhorn glacier above Kaprun
Glacier terrain at just over three thousand metres, with a viewing platform on the ridge and a gallery tunnelled through the rock — the one place near Zell am See that has snow in August.
Ready to book?
Our concierge team will hand-pick 2-3 photographers who know The Mooserboden reservoir above Kaprun — free of charge.