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AUSTRIA | Zell am See & Kaprun, Austria Travel Guide
Thursday, December 26, 2024
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Zell am See
Lakeside promenade in Old Town Zell am See, Austria (cc)
Photo: Joachim Köhler
Zell am See
First occupied by early Roman settlers, Zell am See was officially founded in 743 and christened Cella in Bisontio. The town grew up as a stop along the trade route from Italy to Germany – the route now followed by the Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse through the Höhe Tauern National Park. Zell’s population exported salt to the south and then returning with Italian wine from the north via the perilous transalpine route. In 1875, the railway came to town – gloriously entering along the banks of the lake, and toting tourism into the region.
The town of Zell am See wedges between the western shore of the Zellersee, or Lake Zell, and the eastern foothills of Schmittenhöhe. The busy B311 now burrows through a tunnel west of town, so Zell’s main north-south road, the Brücker Bundesstrasse, is a bit less hectic. Schillerstrasse and Schmittenstrasse run from the center of town up the Schmitten Valley to the west. Action here centers on the Stadtplatz and the pleasant pedestrian town center, a web of alleys clustered between the main road and the train tracks along the lakeshore. The train station anchors the southern edge of town; the Stadtpark and sport center anchor the northern edge.
Three main cableways access the mountains west of Zell; each departs from a base along Schmittenstrasse. Nearest the town center, the Zellerbergbahn gondola tugs up in two stages to the Hirschkögel. The Schmittenhöhebahn and the Sonnenalmbahn depart from neighboring bases two km farther up the valley; the Schmittenhöhebahn climbing to the 1,968-m Schmittenhöhe peak, the Sonnenalmbahn climbing up the opposite hillside to the 1,850-m Sonnenkögel peak.
Last updated November 16, 2010
Posted in Austria | Zell am See & Kaprun
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