A Halt in Hallstatt

Austria was not only about its musical renaissance or Baroque architectural beauty, there were many places where nature of hills, lakes and idyllic old village were prominent and worthy of a visit. 

The next day on our Austria trip, we went into the otherworldly Hallstatt.

It was a 2-hour trip by bus from Salzburg. From many blog posts, we learned that option to bring your own car was deemed more convenient as with buses we had to change route up to three times. However considering the logistic and short-capability of left-handed wheel we thought that using public transportation was probably the most ideal. It indeed was not a straightforward reach. We had to look closely on the bus interchanges but, thankfully, as Hallstatt itself was a super famous place (and often times considered as over tourism) we could just follow the people crowd.

From afar, we could see the Hallstatt beautiful village. Sitting just beside a grand lake, nestling among hills and mountains. The autumn scenery easily made the whole view thousand times more fascinating. Crimson, red and yellow of the trees on the hills were reflected on the glistening lake. Before we made a stop in the village, we decided to ride the bus further south into the Dachstein massif. We chose to explore the village later on our way back home. There was another beauty in due to see.

Minutes ride from Hallstatt terminal, the bus made a stop into Dachstein’s cable car station. Dachstein was a group of mountains viewing points at height almost 2,100 m above, it wasn’t those mountain hiking where it was required professional gears and skill, Dachstein was commercially built with its modern cable cars. They offered various package tour to buy: Mammoth cave, Giant Ice cave, museum and some hiking trails. We didn’t buy any of those caving exploration and chose only the hiking trails which included the cable car. It cost us around EUR 35 per person.

Once we arrived at the top, the thin air was noticeable combined with the breeze of cold mountain wind. We were under the spell by the wonderful Austria’s Alps stretched out beneath us. The scenery was unparalleled and picture-perfect from every angle. We aimed to get into the Five Fingers viewing platform which took little 30 min hiking along the beautiful mountainous Alpine. The hiking was much welcomed as we were able to breath in the view slowly and gratefully. We did a stop on one of the benches for our lunch. Surely was the first-class version of “lunch with a view”.

Five Fingers reached out over the lake and the surrounding mountain area like a metal hand. Walking down from any of the fingers gave the thrill of different view and some vertigo due to its height. One finger featured a picture frame where you could have the picturesque setting.

Our day wasn’t over and we still had our primary agenda to visit Hallstatt itself, though this detour to Dachstein had added much memorable experience to the whole agenda. On our way back to cable car to get back to Hallstatt, sun shone super bright. It indeed was nothing to complain as view like Dachstein was perfect with clear blue skies, though it made the hiking rather challenging as it wasn’t exactly our forte. Short-breath from the thin oxygen, sweating from the sun and yet cold windy air were escorted our hike.

Had to post this one, sorry:

Alas, we arrived at Hallstaat.

It scored to be the most beautiful village (yet) on the trip. Hallstatt looked exactly like those postcard – wooden roof houses with prominent church’s tower bell nestling by the lake among autumn-coloured hills and mountains. We arrived at rather late in the afternoon and gave us only an hour to explore the whole village. Turned out we spent too much time admiring those Alpine view. Luckily the whole village of Hallstatt was easily covered around 30 min walk, it was a small village after all. We managed to visit those must-seen spots such the Old Town square.

The place was straightaway from Fairy Tale. Those colourful houses with flowers on wooden balcony were so much akin to setting from Disney’s princesses movie. I wouldn’t be surprised if out of sudden Belle was coming out from one of the door and singing Belle. 

We were told that at the end of the main road we would find the spot where everyone took their best picture out of Hallstatt. Though it seems were running out of luck as the road reaching there were on construction. Too bad, no mainstream picture setting for us. It forced us to explore the other side of the village and truly immersed on this old beauty.

One of our main regret, I conclude, was not spending as much time as it should in Hallstatt. No doubt the place required one full-day alone to really explore the houses and alleyways, even perhaps slowly sipping our coffee by the majestic lake. Not to worries, something to look out for on the next trip here.

Danke schön!

-R