This morning we woke up in our hotel one the river just south of the downtown area of Salzburg. It was an exciting morning as we knew where we were headed and I knew it was one of the most beautiful places on earth…Hallstatt. I had read about this place on Instagram and many travel pictures, and knew this place was going to be a very special location for today.
We were up before the day started and hoped on a local train to the central train terminal in Salzburg. We boarded to head towards Hallstatt. We only had one transfer. At the terminal we grabbed coffee and a donut then we headed on our morning train to the lakeside village of Hallstatt. This village is located along the coast of the lake but situated between massive mountains that depending on the time of year can be bright red or covered in snow. This village is in Austria and has heavy german architecture. Overall the tourists economy of the village is it primary source of income thus the locals tend to be less friendly than lesser known towns.
Upon disembarking the train to Hallstatt, we were presented with a short boat ride to cross the lake to the city. This was the only way to go into the town without a car, unless we spent a week walking around the lake! It was worth the money as we were able to see the beauty of the landscape front he middle of the lake, and get closer to the town for even greater photo opportunity. Once we arrived we headed through the city center, and decided on a nice lakeside place for breakfast. The restaurant had nice preset meals that were somewhat americanized, which was nice since in Europe they don’t usually serve the standard food selections of America. After enjoying the breakfast and wonderful scenery, I knew we had a short hike to do, which was to the waterfall located behind the town.
This was a simple walk along the grated dirt road exiting the back of the town. This is about a mile hike to the waterfall which cascades into the valley leading into the town. The waterfall itself isn’t the largest but with the scenery and the magic of Hallstatt this was one of my favorites points of the trip thus far.
Upon completion of this hike and observing the overlooking cascade from the bridge, we descended into the town, and it was time to head back to salzburg. It was about 3pm when we headed back on the train, and we found that there was a great and world famous Schnapps shop in town. My goal was to be at the Schnapps shop before they closed at 5:30. Unfortunately after dodging bullets and transferring trains on time we still didn’t make it back before the shop closed, and were presented with a situation of just walking the rest of the city of Salzburg. We ended up jumping into a few new bars and casually walked back to our hostel along the river, checking gift tents and vendors along the way. Overall today was a success and we took a great appreciation to the scenery and history of Salzburg.
The evening walk ended up being a wonderful experience as we explored the other cathedrals and garden areas of the city during sunset. We watched sunset on the lock bridge which we had done the previous evening too. Today was perhaps the best day thus far on this epic adventure!
TRAINS
5:12 RJ 541 to attnang Puccheim
change to 6:03 – 7:31 Hallstatt
-Sky walk
-Lake restaurant
-Local beer
-HIke
-waldbach river
-salt mine?
-waterfall hike?waldbustub waterfall
(leave at 4:32pm-7:46 direct to vienna RE 725)
EXPENSES
3.90 coffee
10 ship to hallstatt
2.38 water
2.90 coke
5.78 burger king
8 snack cafe mozart
27.80 dinner
8.20 beers after
3.80 beer
Total – 93.56 (189.22 + 11 = 200.22 over)