The Salzkammergut Mountains (german: Salzkammergut-Berge) are a mountain range of the

Northern Limestone Alps The Northern Limestone Alps (german: Nördliche Kalkalpen), also called the Northern Calcareous Alps, are the ranges of the Eastern Alps north of the Central Eastern Alps located in Austria and the adjacent Bavarian lands of southeastern Germany. ...

, located in the

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n states of

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the ...

and

Upper Austria Upper Austria (german: Oberösterreich ; bar, Obaöstareich) is one of the nine states or of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, a ...

. They are named after the

Salzkammergut The Salzkammergut (; ; bar, Soizkaumaguad, label=Central Austro-Bavarian) is a resort area in Austria, stretching from the city of Salzburg eastwards along the Alpine Foreland and the Northern Limestone Alps to the peaks of the Dachstein Mounta ...

historic region, part of the Hallstatt-Dachstein / Salzkammergut Cultural Landscape UNESCO

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

Geography

According to the

Alpine Club classification of the Eastern Alps The Alpine Club classification of the Eastern Alps (german: Alpenvereinseinteilung der Ostalpen, AVE) is a common division of the Eastern Alps into 75 mountain ranges, based on the Moriggl Classification (ME) first published in 1924 by the German a ...

, the Salzkammergut Mountains (AVE 17a) lie to the east of the

Berchtesgaden Alps The Berchtesgaden Alps (german: Berchtesgadener Alpen) are a mountain range of the Northern Limestone Alps, named after the market town of Berchtesgaden located in the centre. The central part belongs to the Berchtesgadener Land district of southe ...

and the city of

. To the north the Austrian

Alpine Foreland The Alpine Foreland, less commonly called the Bavarian Foreland,Dickinson, Robert E (1964). ''Germany: A regional and economic geography'' (2nd ed.). London: Methuen, pp. 585-586. . Bavarian Plateau or Bavarian Alpine Foreland (german: Bayerisches ...

is the boundary, between the points where the rivers

Salzach The Salzach (Austrian: �saltsax ) is a river in Austria and Germany. It is in length and is a right tributary of the Inn, which eventually joins the Danube. Its drainage basin of comprises large parts of the Northern Limestone and Central E ...

and

Traun Traun () is an Austrian city located on the north bank of the river Traun and borders Linz, the capital of Upper Austria, to the east. The name ''Traun'' is derived from the Celtic word for river (''dru''). Traun is the fifth largest city in U ...

spill out into the Foreland near Salzburg and

Gmunden Gmunden () is a town in Upper Austria, Austria in the district of Gmunden (district), Gmunden. It has 13,204 inhabitants (estimates 2016 ). It is much frequented as a health and summer resort, and has a variety of lake, brine, vegetable and pine-c ...

respectively. To the east the boundary with the

Upper Austrian Prealps The Upper Austrian Prealps (german: Oberösterreichische Voralpen) is a mountain range in Austria which, according to the Categorisation of the Eastern Alps, covers the region between the valley of the Traun (Gmunden) in the west and the Enns val ...

is formed by the Traun between the lakes of

Traunsee Traunsee () is a lake in the Salzkammergut, Upper Austria, Austria. Its surface is approximately 24.5 km2 and its maximum depth of 191 metres makes it the deepest and by volume largest lake located entirely within Austrian territory; only Lake ...

and, further downstream, with the

Totes Gebirge The Totes Gebirge is a group of mountains in Austria, part of the Northern Limestone Alps, lying between the Salzkammergut and the Ennstaler Alpen. The name ''Totes Gebirge'' is derived from the German words ''tot'' meaning "dead", referring to ...

by the Lake Hallstatt on the foot of the

Dachstein Mountains The Dachstein Mountains (german: Dachsteingebirge) are a mountain range in the Northern Limestone Alps. The term is used by the Austrian Alpine Club in its classification of the Eastern Alps as one of the 24 sub-ranges of the Northern Limestone A ...

. To the south the border runs from Lake Hallstatt up the

Gosau Gosau is a municipality in the district of Gmunden in Upper Austria, Austria. Location Gosau is situated along the Gosaubach stream in the Salzkammergut region. The center of the town is at an elevation of 767m (2,516'). 58.9% of the municipalit ...

Valley to

Gschütt Pass Gschütt Pass (elevation 957 m.) is a high mountain pass in the Austrian Alps between the '' Bundesländer'' of Salzburg and Upper Austria. It connects Rußbach in the state of Salzburg with Gosau in Upper Austria. The pass is traversed by the Fe ...

, and from there downhill along the

Rußbach Rußbach is a town in the district of Korneuburg in the Austrian state of Lower Austria Lower Austria (german: Niederösterreich; Austro-Bavarian: ''Niedaöstareich'', ''Niedaestareich'') is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the nort ...

Valley, separating the Salzkammergut Mountains from the

Tennengebirge The Tennen Mountains (german: Tennengebirge) is a small, but rugged, mountain range in the Northern Limestone Alps, which lies in front of the Eastern Alps for its entire length. It is a very heavily karstified high plateau, about 60 km² i ...

in the southwest, and the

Lammer The Lammer is a river of Salzburg, Austria, a right tributary of the Salzach. The Lammer rises in the Tennen Mountains and flows from east to west, joining with the Salzach at Golling an der Salzach Golling an der Salzach is a market town in th ...

creek to its confluence with the Salzach near Golling. To the west the boundary runs along the River Salzach from where it is joined by the Lammer down to the city of Salzburg. The highest peak with an elevation of is Mt. Gamsfeld near Gschütt Pass in the south, the only

two-thousander Two-thousanders are mountains that have a height of at least 2,000 metres above sea level, but less than 3,000 metres. The term is used in Alpine circles, especially in Europe (e.g. German: ''Zweitausender''). The two photographs show two t ...

of the range. The best-known mountain however is the prominent Schafberg on

Wolfgangsee Lake Wolfgang (german: Wolfgangsee) is a lake in Austria that lies mostly within the state of Salzburg and is one of the best known lakes in the Salzkammergut resort region. The municipalities on its shore are Strobl, St. Gilgen with the villages ...

, with access to the summit provided by the

Schafberg Railway The Schafberg Railway (german: Schafbergbahn) is a metre gauge cog railway in Upper Austria and Salzburg leading from Sankt Wolfgang im Salzkammergut up to the Schafberg (1,783 m). With a total length of 5.85 km it gains about 1,200 m in hei ...

Geography

See also