Salzkammergut

Salzkammergut (zälts`käm`ərgt'), resort area in Upper Austria, Styria, and Salzburg provs., W Austria. Known since antiquity for its salt mines, the region was banned to visitors until the early 19th cent. because the government, which held a monopoly on salt mining there, wanted to prevent salt from being smuggled out. Salzkammergut is a beautiful Alpine lake district and is a summer and winter tourist center with such resorts as Bad Ischl, Sankt Wolfgang, Hallstatt, and Gmunden (all in Upper Austria) and Altaussee (in Styria). Among its lovely lakes are the Wolfgangsee or Abersee, the Traunsee or Gmundnersee, the Mondsee, the Halstätter See, and the Attersee or Kammersee. The Dachstein (9,883 ft/3,012 m), covered with glaciers, is the principal peak.