The Attersee is Austria's largest lake lying entirely within the country and one of the Salzkammergut's best arguments for slowing down. Gustav Klimt spent seventeen consecutive summers here between 1900 and 1916, producing a series of lake landscape paintings alongside his famous gold-leaf portraits. The water clarity, sailing culture, and less-crowded shores distinguish it from Hallstatt. Accommodation is spread around the lake circuit rather than concentrated in a single village. About 50 minutes from Salzburg by car. A natural complement to Bad Ischl and Gmunden for a northern Salzkammergut circuit.