Zeal am See

What you mean is probably Zell am See. Very beautiful. Somewhat resembles Hallstatt. It's located on small area between a lake and a steep mountain. Like Hallstatt. May obviously will be warmer. We stayed in pension in nearby Kaprun.

First place, it's called "Zell am See". It's on the rail line that goes through Austria from Innsbruck to Salzburg, via Schwarzach St. Veit. It's on a big lake. Hence "am See". I only have been past it on the train, but it looked extremely touristy. I had just left Hallstatt that morning; I did not see any real similarity, other than both are on a lake. There might be more there to do than there is in Hallstatt. They have a website at www.zellamsee.at.

Hi Jim, We visited Zell am See as a day trip on Nov. 1, 2007 from Ramsau bei Berchtesgaden and stayed in late Sept. '09. From what we saw, many places closed Oct. 31 on our first visit. In Sept., it was wonderful. It's not any more touristy than most popular places in Austria. For sure it's less so than Salzburg. We stayed at the Pension Alpenrose, which has free parking and is about a 5 or so minute walk to the old town and lake. Our room was small but very clean, had a small balcony and the breakfast buffet (incl. in the room price) was quite expansive. We would stay here again. http://www.pension-alpenrose.com Besides walking around the old town, we rented an electric boat for an hour to cruise the lake. A difinte must in my opinion. Cost was 20 Euro as I recall. It was just 2 of us, but I think the boat had seating for 4. The boats rentals are located along the lakeside promenade. At the bandshell on the lake we happened upon a concert (free) of classical music. The Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse is very close by. It's another "must do" when in the area. Amazing drive amongst spectacular alpine scenery. The extremely picturesque vilage of Heiligenblut, at the southern end of the road, makes a nice stop. http://www.zellamsee-kaprun.com/en If interested, we have some pic's at: http://www.worldisround.com/articles/338868/index.html http://www.worldisround.com/articles/355540/index.html http://www.worldisround.com/articles/324599/index.html Hope this helps.

I was in Zell am See just last June. I absolutely loved it! I went to 8 cities in Europe and this was my favorite. Granted, I love the outdoors. The town is located between a beautiful lake and a mountain. You can take a funicular to the top - the view is pretty nice. Nearby, as someone else mentioned, is the Grossglockner road. That was the main reason for me staying in Zell am See. That road is amazing! The views are breathtaking. There was still a lot of snow there in June, which was impressive and made it even more beautiful. Also nearby are the Krimmler waterfalls, which are the 5th highest in the world. It's a quite a hike to the top, but again very beautiful.
I stayed at Villa Klothilde, which was amazing. Their prices are reasonable, and my room was huge and very quiet. It had a view on the lake and the mountain. Their beds are also amazingly comfortable. They have parking and free breakfast in the morning.

Thanks to all who responded. This will help in my planning for a future Austrian trip.