Winter is association for various activities in the mountains. Hardly anyone likes to freeze while visiting cities, especially in the valley of the Alps. When an opportunity shows up, as a public holiday and free days, why not use it the best possible way?

We traveled by car, which requires toll payment in Serbia, toll in Croatia (before and after Zagreb), vignette  for Slovenia and Austria. In Austria, you need to pay more for tunnels. There are workarounds, which prolong the trip, but we did not use them.

Hallstatt village is an hour and 15 minutes from Salzburg. It was named after the Celtic name for salt (HAL). Tucked, cascading built, on the coast of the lake, a very photogenic at any time of the year. It is known by it’s salt mine, which can be visited today as well. Thus, salt is transported from the 20th century by pipeline from Hallstatt. Yes Hallstatt is stunning , and makes you fall in love with it. A replica of the entire city in South China’s Province Guangdong  is the best proof of that.

Whether you observe the city from the lake, driving a boat or from a height, taking a ropeway to the top of the mountain, the tranquility, peace and harmony of this city will not leave you indifferent.

We booked a room in a village, five minutes away from Hallstatt, called Obertraun. The offer of accommodation is much better, and you also have buses from the accommodation that will drive you wherever you want, for free.

Hallstatt has one main street, where the majority of the traffic was banned and it takes several hours for the whole visit (if you spend at least 15 minutes in each charming shop).

Don’t miss:

• Cemetery next to the Catholic parish church. Due to the capacity of the cemetery, each of the graves are exhumed after 10 years, the skulls are kept in the sun until they acquire a white color, such as ivory, and then they are marked with names and surnames. All of them are located in the concave wall of the church.
  To change the subject a little – View from the churchyard to the village itself is gorgeous.

• The salt mine is 7,000 years old, which makes it the oldest known salt mine in the world. Mine shaft from the time of Maria Theresa can be reached on foot by the old trail, used for hundreds of years by miners, or by ropeway. Your choice will depend on how much time you have available. The price of visit to the mine with the ropeway is 22 EUR, by trail 16.

• Buy hand-decorated bottles in one of the magic shops. When you are already in the realm of salt, it will be a shame not to bring some back🙂

• Treat yourself with some good food – my recommendation is Bräugasthof Hallstatt restaurants.

On the way to Hallstatt, you can visit Graz, and if your travels take you to Salzburg, the hometown of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (made for the New Year and Christmas holidays), stop by St. Gilgen and St. Wolfgang. Tucked cities, with small squares, but also those that are worth a visit. In future posts, I will write more about Graz and Salzburg .

Gallery:

Hallstatt lake

All photos by: Danica & Vlada

Camera used: HTC 10 phone