How to see Hallstatt in 3 hours? We were on our way back to Bristol, and we decided to make two stops in Austria. Hallstatt was our first stop in Austria, and Salzburg was our second.
A little bit of history
Hallstatt is one of the world’s heritage sites in Austria, by UNESCO. It is a beautiful and picturesque village and home to about 700 people.
Located between Lake Hallstatt and the slopes of Dachstein Mountain, Hallstatt is famous mainly for its Salt production since pre-historic times.
At this point, the community of Hallstatt was exploring the salt mine caves in the area.
The findings (the Salt was an excellent preserver for objects and artefacts) following the excavations were essential to understand the history of civilization during the Neolithic period, the Bronze Age and the Iron Age.
The Hallstatt archaeological discoveries date from 1200 BC until around 500 BC.
The Hallstatt Period was consistent with the European Iron Age when the Salt mining excavation flourished. At this time, the Town became highly wealthy with the production of salt.
Hallstatt was known for its production of Salt and for being the location of the “World’s oldest Pipeline” that transported Salt from Hallstatt to Ebensee since 1595.
Only in the late 19th century Hallstatt had its first road built. Before that, villagers could reach the Town on foot or by boat.
Nowadays, Hallstatt is one of the most visited sites in the world, and the village is so unique that there is a Chinese replica of the Town in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong.
How to get to Hallstatt
There are different ways to get to Hallstatt from Salzburg or Vienna. You can take the train or the bus, which takes about 2 hours.
The easiest way for us was to drive because it took only 40 minutes from our accommodation in Steinbach am Attersee. The car parks are well located, and the prices were quite reasonable. We paid about 5 euros for 3 hours.
How to see Hallstatt in 3 hours
Although it is a small town, where it is possible to walk from one point to another in 30 minutes, there are a couple of points of interest to see.
The beautiful town of Hallstatt is a mysterious village hiding in the mists, and even though we couldn’t see the peaks because it was winter and cold, it was one of the most amazing places we have ever visited.
We have yet to see everything we wanted, like the Salt Mines and the Skywalk, because it was closed for revision until February 10th.
We only had a few hours to explore Hallstatt, and we had our dogs with us, so we were limited with the places we could visit.
Although we knew that we would need at least two days to explore everything we wanted (at least one day for the Salt Mines and the Skywalk), these are our suggestions for seeing Hallstatt in 3 hours.
1- Have a lakeside walk
The walk is impressive because the views of the alpine lake called “Hallstätter See” are incredible, even though it was foggy. Second, you must check the cute souvenir shop; third, there are a couple of lakeside restaurants with fantastic views to enjoy a bite.
It was like 2 degrees Celsius to sit outside, but it would be a perfect place to stop during summer.
2- Check out the Market Square and have a walk around the village
We loved the village with its colourful and picturesque buildings. The houses and the small alpine streets dated from the XVI century include cosy coffee shops and a few shops.
3- Take memorable pictures
Hallstatt is one of the places where you can take a scenic picture wherever you turn. There is a famous viewpoint of the Town, which was the most “Instagrammable” place in Hallstatt.
You cannot find it in my pictures because I was entirely on the opposite side of this viewpoint, but you can easily find it on Google Maps by typing “Hallstatt Postcard Angle”.
4- Visit the Catholic Church and the cemetery of Hallstatt
The parish Church in Hallstatt is a beautiful building dated back to 1181. The church got renovated about 20 years ago, and it holds on its grounds one of the oldest cemeteries in Austria.
Although you feel pretty nostalgic when you stand there, it is impossible not to admire the beauty of the wooden graves, all different from each other.
To point out an interesting fact, Hallstatt had no space for cemeteries, so every ten years, the bones were exhumed and moved to an Ossuary to give room for new burials.
You can check the Bone House in St. Michaels Chapel, dated the 12th century. You can find 1200 human skulls, and 610 have the dates of their death painted on them.
5- Visit the Salt Mine Caves
The famous salt mine hidden in the mountains gave the name to the fantastic village of Hallstatt.
Recognized as a Unesco World Heritage site in 1997, its famous salt caves, ‘Salzwelten’, were not only explored for its Salt but also for archaeological facts dating back to prehistoric times.
The Salt was as valuable as gold since it was the only way to preserve food, so even in ancient times, people started digging tunnels deep into the mountain. These fantastic tunnels date back 7000 years ago, during the Neolithic Age.
To our sadness, the funicular and the Salt Mine Caves were closed for revision, so we decided we had an excellent excuse to come back and revisit Hallstatt.
Any more information about the salt mines and for online tickets (it shows the locations of a few Salt Mines in Austria) clique here.
Check out our next stop in Austria, in Salzburg, only one hour away from Hallstatt.