Hallstatt and the Salzkammergut

UNESCO World Heritage Site: Hallstatt Dachstein / Salzkammergut Cultural Landscape (1997). A Village Of Wooden Houses Squeezed Between A Lake And A Mountain, With The World'S Oldest Salt Mine (About 7,000 Years), The Skywalk Viewing Platform And The Bone House Ossuary. An Austrian Icon, And A Chinese Replica Was Built In Guangdong. · Hallstatt, Upper Austria

Hallstatt is a village of about 750 people squeezed between the Hallstatter See and a steep Dachstein cliff in the Salzkammergut, and it is one of the most photographed places in Europe. Wooden houses climb the slope above the water, a Trinity column stands in the Marktplatz, and the Parish Church sits above a cliff graveyard with the painted skulls of the Beinhaus. Under the mountain is the world's oldest salt mine, worked for about 7,000 years, which gave the area its wealth and its UNESCO listing in 1997. The honest picture is a lovely place that is overrun. Tour buses from Salzburg and Vienna bring thousands of day visitors, locals have complained, the town has put up barriers and bus slots, and between 10 am and 4 pm the lanes are packed. Even a full-size copy was built in Guangdong, China, in 2012. Getting there takes about 3.5 hours from Vienna and 1.5-2 hours from Salzburg, by train and ferry, bus or car. Come early, stay a night if you can, and expect cloud and rain at any season, even in July or August.

Lakeside village on the Hallstatter See in the Salzkammergut, about 70 km south-east of Salzburg, with the Dachstein Krippenstein cable car above and the salt mine on the mountain, Hallstatt, Upper Austria, Austria

The village is open all year and costs nothing to walk. The Salzwelten mine, Skywalk, Bone House and boats keep SEASONAL hours, with shorter days in winter, and some are CLOSED in the quiet months or in bad weather. Check the first and last funicular and the last ferry before you go.

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