Schwarzsee, also known as the Black Lake translated, is a serene spot in the midst of the Alps next to the upscale ski resort Kitzbühel.
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🗺️ What and where is the Black Lake?
Kitzbühel in Tyrol is famous for its numerous ruff sports competitions, such as skiing, Tennis, and Mountain bike world cups, and for being the home of numerous international celebrities.
Nearby, a lake is situated, known to the locals as “Schwarzsee” or literally translated into English “Black Lake”.
The lake has an approx. surrounding of 15ha and a depth of 7 m.
It is a lovely place to hang out in summer and winter, but especially in summer the place is filled with visitors either enjoying a warm swim or a lovely picnic with family or friends around the lake’s natural habitat.
The activities offered are endless, so anybody will certainly find something for their own taste.
A couple of concerts and parties are organized as well there for the young generations, but mostly around July and August.
In winter, the Schwarzsee is mostly used by sports lovers.
The lake actually turns completely to ice, turning it into a natural ice skating, and similar sports, paradise.
🦢 Nature Reserve
The Schwarzsee is a nature reserve since 1984.
The water of the lake and the moor are known to have excellent health benefits.
Apart from that, you will notice a vast amount of special and rare plants and animals, while visiting.
And of course, let’s not forget the amazing landscape view and the proud alpine mountains mirroring in the “blake lake”.
I managed to capture a shy bird, whose name I forgot while having a little wash and a duck gliding across the beautiful waters.
🧚 Legends
There are two known intriguing legends about the Schwarzsee, mostly remembered by the older local generations…
One is the story of two farmers, fighting for the farm and the Black Forest, which was apparently situated there before a lake appeared.
The two farmers were bitterly fighting for the valued properties in court until one was thought to be the winner of the case.
The farmer who lost the battle cursed the lands and promised that soon these lands will be swallowed by a lake.
As the story goes, the curse came true, and so the black forests turned to the black lake and nowadays you might be able to catch a glimpse of the treetops looking out of the lake.
The other Schwarzsee legend tells the story of a noble bohemian lady, who had taken over the “black farm”.
She would never work on her farm but rather chose to hire servants to do the daily chores.
One night a wagon appeared at the farmhouse with a huge chest full of gold and silver.
The chest was transported by 12 men into the lady’s room and the wagon disappeared to the place where it came from.
Locals became suspicious, already they disliked the idea of having a foreigner run the big farm and its lands.
One day, a young servant living in the Area decided to look in through the window and saw the bohemian lady acting weird.
She was sitting on the floor with gold coins, dancing around the chest, and finally, she fell.
She mumbled something like: “The moor waters are my death, the money is mine, 12 nights then it is over.”
After seeing this, the servant got afraid and went back home.
The following days the servant was acting odd, he wasn’t speaking and he looked depressed.
The days got worse and he was speaking a crazy man’s talks.
On the twelfth day, he was seen running from one room to another, mumbling “I have enough money, I have to live under the water.” The same day, in the evening he walked the same way as he had done 12 days before, to the lady’s window.
She was there again counting her money.
Suddenly, the servant smashed the window with all his power and the lady left a scream.
Slowly the earth started to sink and the farmhouse disappeared into the dark waters.
Where once the rich lands and the black farm stood, there was now a lake, called the black lake.
The servant managed to survive, his madness had vanished but he soon got sick.
Before he died he proclaimed that a chest full of valuable gold was waiting in the lake and that only one could have it.
The one born on Good Friday.
Other great spots to visit in the nearby region of Salzburg are the Hohe Tauern nature reserve, the so-called high alpine road to the highest mountain in Austria, the Grossglockner.
Also, the High Altitude Lake in Kaprun is quite a beautiful sight!
Discover more attractions and beautiful places in Tyrol.
Totally unexpectedly, I am almost shaking and shivering – you see, in my childhood, way back when in Schwarzwald [Black Forest, Germany] post WWII I saw the film made of this tale! Except I then and always have thought it pertained to the areas in which I lived and not to Austria! And I came upon people who actually behaved in this same manner and I could not but hope that ‘fairness’ came upon them!! Never thought that all these years later I would heard the tale retold! BUT why ‘Schwarsee’, when surely it should be ‘Schwarzsee’? . . . 🙂 !
Hi Eha!
hm, well actualy schwarzwald isn’t that far from our region there. Bavaria is our neighbore and the people are said to be our brothers. ooops u r right, forgot the z lol!
I’ve been to Schwarsee! It was more than a decade ago though and it was in the middle of winter. Needless to say, I’ve got much different pictures than you 🙂
And now, after reading this, I’ve got Anton Aus Tirole stuck in my head!
lol thats so cool! =D
anton aus tirol was a killer song at that time! I got the earworm in my head now!
If we would have known each other at that time, then we could have met there.