Austria's Lake Country Photos

Photograph by Sisse Brimberg & Cotton Coulson, Keenpress

It's not unusual to see residents of the lake district wearing traditional lederhosen, which often are handed down from grandfathers to grandsons.

Read more about Austria in "Secrets of the Lakes" in the April 2009 issue of National Geographic Traveler.

Photograph by Sisse Brimberg & Cotton Coulson, Keenpress

Flowers brighten a windowsill—and an ample firewood supply—at Bad Goisern.

Read more about Austria in "Secrets of the Lakes" in the April 2009 issue of National Geographic Traveler.

Photograph by Sisse Brimberg & Cotton Coulson, Keenpress

The Kaiservilla in Bad Ischl, summer retreat of rulers past, now welcomes visitors but remains home to Archduke Markus Habsburg. The hillside mansion is where his great grandfather, Franz Joseph, Austria's last great emperor, spent part of almost every summer from 1831 to 1914. Here, in 1914, Franz Joseph signed a declaration of war against Serbia, a war that would bring to an end the 645-year-old Habsburg dynasty.

Read more about Austria in "Secrets of the Lakes" in the April 2009 issue of National Geographic Traveler.

Photograph by Sisse Brimberg & Cotton Coulson, Keenpress

An indoor pool is one of the highlights of the luxury chateau hotel, Schloss Fuschl, which continues the spa tradition that made the lake district famous during its 19th-century heyday.

Read more about Austria in "Secrets of the Lakes" in the April 2009 issue of National Geographic Traveler.

Photograph by Sisse Brimberg & Cotton Coulson, Keenpress

The terrace at Hotel Schloss Fuschl overlooks the serene lake for which it is named, one of the 76 lakes of the Salzkammergut district east of Salzburg, Austria.

Read more about Austria in "Secrets of the Lakes" in the April 2009 issue of National Geographic Traveler.

Photograph by Sisse Brimberg & Cotton Coulson, Keenpress

Lederhosen are deerskin shorts handstitched by Austrian craftsmen to last a lifetime. This pair was made by Peter Ahamer, of Ebensee, 15 minutes from Bad Ischl. Ahamer says that, due to high demand, a pair of lederhosen ordered today won't be ready until May 2014—at a cost of up to 5,000 euros. "They've been made for 300 years, and they'll be made for another 300," Ahamer promises.

Read more about Austria in "Secrets of the Lakes" in the April 2009 issue of National Geographic Traveler.

Photograph by Sisse Brimberg & Cotton Coulson, Keenpress

At the Goldener Ochs hotel in Bad Ischl, a spa welcomes guests with stools cut from logs. In Traveler's April feature, "Secrets of the Lakes," writer P.F. Kluge reports that the hotel is "centuries old, family owned, with one foot in the present (a spiffy health club) and another solidly in the past (carpets, paintings, sitting rooms, and bar)."

Read more about Austria in "Secrets of the Lakes" in the April 2009 issue of National Geographic Traveler.

Photograph by Sisse Brimberg & Cotton Coulson, Keenpress

A statue of St. John of Nepomuk stands watch over a bridge across the Traun River in Bad Ischl, not far from the Goldener Ochs hotel. The saint, a protector of barges, is represented on bridges in numerous European countries.

Read more about Austria in "Secrets of the Lakes" in the April 2009 issue of National Geographic Traveler.

Photograph by Sisse Brimberg & Cotton Coulson, Keenpress

One of the more unusual sights in Austria's lake country is the "bone house" in Hallstatt, where over 600 skulls have been decorated with paint in a tradition to honor the dead that extended from 1720 to 1995.

Read more about Austria in "Secrets of the Lakes" in the April 2009 issue of National Geographic Traveler.

Photograph by Sisse Brimberg & Cotton Coulson, Keenpress

Early one foggy morning, fisherman Peter Wimmer leaves a wake in lake Hallstattersee as he motors his crew along the shoreside village of Hallstatt. Wimmer says a secret of the lakes is that you can eat fresh lake fish whenever you want, smoked or pan-fried. They require no spices or herbs. Ten hours of salt-brine and two hours of smoking over beechwood is all they need. For Wimmer, 200 fish a day is a good catch. "We  take what nature gives," he says. "Not more."

Read more about Austria in "Secrets of the Lakes" in the April 2009 issue of National Geographic Traveler.