Hallstatt

JandJdoHallstatt

This has been on our bucket list since seeing the picturesque town on the shore of Lake Hallstatt with the mountains as a backdrop as a screen saver years ago.  Our vacation was centered around Hallstatt. We decided to set up our home base in Salzburg and take a trip to Hallstatt in the middle of the week. Hallstatt is relatively small and you can see everything in 1 -2 days. A lot of people will just do a day trip but we wanted to experience the town when most of the tourist left, so we stayed one night.

Getting there.

We would like to give a shout out to bigboytravel.com. The site helped us navigate our entire trip to Hallstatt. The creator has the best content and information about Hallstatt.
From the Salzburg train station:
-take bus #150 to Bad Ischl  from stall ‘F’ this will take 90 minutes.
-take bus #542 to Hallstatt Gosaumuhle this will take 20 minutes.
-take bus #543 to Hallstatt Lahn.
This seems overwhelming with transfers but it’s simple and well-marked, once you get on the bus at Bad Ischl it’s easy to follow the crowd since everyone is going to the same place at that point also the bus drivers are very helpful.

Day 1

We arrived to Hallstatt early morning. Once we got into Hallstatt, we put our bags in a locker that is located across the street from the bus stop which is 2 euro per hour.   From here you can purchase tickets for the salt mine this is where you get on the funicular to go up the mountain.  You will have about 1/2 mile hike up a steep hill from the cable car to the start of the tour.  You will be given a jumpsuit to put on, felt like we were reporting to work about to punch our time card and get to work in the mines. You will be with about 30 other people while on the tour, which takes around 90 minutes. Our tour guide was amazing. She narrated the entire tour in both German and English. We enjoyed learning the history of the oldest salt mine in the world.  Learning all about the history and the actual practice of mining the salt was cool and all, but the showstopper was the slides you take to get to each level and the train you take to get back outside.

Once the Salt Mine tour was over, we stopped at the observation deck that is near the cable car.  This overlook has great birds eye views of the town and lake, and a perfect spot to get a good selfie.  At this point we were getting hangry and needed some food. We wanted to eat at the restaurant near the observation deck but the seating was first come first serve and it was packed. We decided to head to our hotel to drop off our bags and lucky for us our hotel Gastof Simony had a restaurant with seating in the back overlooking the lake. Once we were fueled up we headed back out and walked around in awe of this beautiful mountain town. Our main goal was just to walk around the town and enjoy the buildings and nature. Our hotel put us right in the middle of the town square. The hotel allows you to check your bags prior to check in, so you don’t have to carry them while you wait. We also left them there after checkout the next day to explore the town more.

Not only does Hallstatt have the oldest salt mine they have one of the largest collection of skulls at Hallstatt Charnel House. The Charnel House is located at the cemetery located near the Catholic Church. The Charnel House was created when an existing grave was reused for a new burial, the skull or bones were transferred from the grave to the Charnel House. The small chapel has over 1200 skulls, many of which are painted and sorted by family. Cost to get into the ‘bone house’ is €1.50 for adult or €0.50 for child. We found the history very fascinating, but I’m certain a lot of people could skip over this and not miss anything.

The rest of our day consisted of a lot of walking. We walked from one end of the town to the other. Being on the side of a mountain the town has several layers to it. There are some areas that are clearly marked as private. There are around 900 people that live in the town, so be respectful while exploring. The sites were not disappointing at all. Everything was just as magically and fairy-tale like as the pictures we saw. While we were exploring, we came across a narrow water channel running next to the buildings. The Traun River also runs through Hallstatt into Lake Hallstatt. The history was breathtaking. Imagine walking through streets and near buildings that were built prior to America being formed. The church is a focal point of the town, and likely what you have seen as the main building in all the pictures online. Important to note, if you plan to stay the night in Hallstatt, the town closes up early. Some of the restaurants require a reservation, and we walked around for a while before we found a place to eat dinner. After exploring the town at night for a bit after dinner, we decided to call it a night and head back to our hotel.

Day 2

We woke up early and had breakfast at our hotel. Our plan for day two was to travel to Obertruan on the other side of Lake Hallstatt. We wanted to do some hiking and see 5 Fingers. We checked out of our hotel and were able to leave our bags there while we went exploring. If you go back to the bus stop you can hop on bus 543 to get there. We payed the bus driver while we boarded the bus. The final stop will put you at the Dachstein Krippenstein cable car base station. You will need to take the cable car to get to the top of the mountain. We payed around €30 each for the cable car. At the first stop, there is an ice cave that you can explore. Due to time constraints we elected to not do this activity. Going up one more level and you will reach the top of the mountain. From here, it’s about a 30 minute hike to get to 5 Fingers. We stopped at the lodge to grab a coffee. Never skip an opportunity to have a cup of coffee! 5 Fingers is a viewing platform that overlooks Lake Hallstatt. It’s name comes from the 5 structs jutting out from the viewing platform. Each “finger” has a unique style to it. After explore other art displays around the trial, we needed to head back into town and get ready to make our way back to Salzburg.

On our way back we decided to change things up and take the train back to Salzburg.  You have to take the ferry to the other side of the lake.  Not going to lie the train process was stressful, once we got to our transfer we were told our train was cancelled so in J&J fashion, we faked it till we made it.  We got on the next train we saw going to Salzburg, it was a completely different line than we had a ticket for. After a quick panic attack, scared we would be stranded somewhere in Austria we realized we could pay for a ticket on the train, and it all worked out we did not get stranded and all was well!