Ausee

Ausee is a twenty-three-hectare lake in the flat land south of the Danube near Luftenberg. It was formed when gravel was dug out and is fed by groundwater, reaching up to ten metres deep. The lake sits at about 235 metres above sea level in the foothills of the Alps.

The site draws up to fifteen hundred visitors on busy days and offers swimming, water-skiing, diving boards and a campsite. Anglers fish its clear waters, which warm to an average of twenty-three degrees in summer. A ten-kilometre tarmac path links the lake to nearby villages, and cyclists follow the Donauradweg and Traunradweg to reach it.

Beside the beach with its sandy and stony shore stands a restaurant, showers and a small chapel with a bell. A granite marker shows where three districts meet on a clearing in the old flood-plain forest west of the water. The lake itself has no surface rivers feeding or leaving it, keeping its waters still and calm.