Why You Need To Visit Hallstatt in the Winter

Hallstatt is a picture-perfect town in the Salzkammergut Lake region of Austria. It’s such an incredible place that the Chinese have even created a replica of this alpine village. The lake is nestled by a breathtaking mountain setting. When we visited the mountains were all covered in snow making it look so magical. To get these fairytale views you need to visit Hallstatt in the winter.

What to do in Hallstatt in the Winter

This charming town has so much natural beauty, here are the best ways that you can explore the area:

Hallstatt Skywalk

This is a 10 minute walk from the town, you can get the cable car up to the Skywalk viewpoint with amazing views over the lake and town. The viewpoint sits 350 metres over the top of the Hallstatt houses. Make sure you bring your camera for the stunning lake views. There’s also a cafe at the top, where you can sit outside for a drink with a view.

The Hallstatt Skywalk is actually the spot where Sam proposed to me! It’s such a beautiful place, which I now have great memories of so I definitely want to go visit again in a few years.

Saltzwelten Museum

For thousands of years, salt has been mined from mountains around Hallstatt. This is the largest salt mine in Austria and once you’re inside the museum you can slide down and arrive in the mountain of Altaussee. Here you can learn more about salt mining. There’s also a shop at the end where you can purchase their famous salt.

Skiing

If you visit over winter then you can go skiing nearby at Dashtein West. The ski area has access from the villages Russbach, Gosau and Annaberg.

Enjoy views over the alps

Visit Dachstein Krippenstein, located just a few minutes away from Hallstatt, this is a great spot to see alpine scenery, go hiking or enjoy incredible views across the Alps. You can simply ride the gondola and enjoy the view, or for the more adventurous spend a few hours here doing a hike or explore the giant ice cave.

Explore the old town

You’ll love wandering around the old town with its pretty idyllic houses, cafes and souvenir shops.

Church viewpoint

Visit the Parish of the Assumption Catholic church, you’ll have to climb up a lot of stairs but its worth it for the beautiful views over the lake.

Buy souvenirs

Hallstatt is full of cute shops selling plenty of cute souvenirs. Here are some souvenirs you should buy:

• An enchanting snow globe to remind you of your incredible trip to Hallstatt

• Salt, this area is famous for it’s salt so make sure you pick some up whilst you’re there or if you visit the salt mine get some from the gift shop

• Mozart chocolate balls, these smooth chocolate spheres containing a marzipan centre are the quintessential Austrian treat

• Postcards – to make all your friends jealous or keep for yourself to use in a travel scrapbook

• Austrian beer glass

• Christmas decorations, I saw a few shops selling baubles

• Austrian wine

Where to eat

There’s a few small snack places by the lake if you just want something quick like a hot dog and chips

Maslinger Bakery – try the traditional Austrian strudel

Seewirt Zauner – For tasty fish dishes, try their grilled whitefish, which is freshly caught from the Lake Hallstatt.

Restaurant im Seehotel Gruner Baum: Whether or not you’re staying at this hotel, the restaurant is worth a stop. With plenty of regional specialities and seasonal ingredients, you really can’t go wrong. 

Gasthof Simony: This charming restaurant has tasty traditional Austrian dishes.

Marktbeisl Zur Ruth: This cozy bar located in the market square is the perfect place for a night cap, and it’s one of the only places open late.

Hotels with Steam Rooms

Austria has a really big sauna culture and it’s the perfect way to warm up after wandering around in the cold. Here are the hotels that have spas or steam rooms to relax in.

Weisses Lamm – Dr. F. Mortonweg 166, 4830 Hallstatt, Austria

Seehotel Grüner Baum – address: Marktplatz 104, 4830 Hallstatt, Austria 

Heritage Hotel Hallstatt – Landungsplatz 101, 4830 Hallstatt, Austria

How to get to Hallstatt

I’d recommend visiting from Salzburg as this is the closest airport to Hallstatt, check out flight booking for good deals on flights and hotels. If you hire a car you can get there in an hour and 10 minutes. You could explore Salzburg first and then doing a day trip to Hallstatt. We drove from Munich which took about 3 hours, driving around Austria was so scenic, with snowy topped mountains everywhere and the quaint Austrian houses.

There’s a few different parking places in the town, most of the ones we drove past were full but we found one a 10 minute walk from the centre. Parking is pretty expensive, if you stay at a hotel some have free parking or parking discounts available. For further away car parks they offer a shuttle bus into the centre.

By train – Although not the fastest way, trains are a pretty easy way to travel. From Salzburg, take a mainline train in the direction of Vienna. A transfer is always required at Attnang-Puchheim. Only regional trains are available from here to Hallstatt. Total traveling time by train from Salzburg to Hallstatt can be as fast as 2h 15 or as slow as three hours depending on train connection times.

Arriving at Hallstatt station you’ll then need to hop on a ferry over to Hallstatt, tickets per cost €2.50pp and take 15 minutes.

By bus – Using the bus you’ll have to get four different transfers or you could do the bus to Bad Ischl and then get the train straight to Hallstatt. Take bus 150 from Salzburg to Bad Ischl, this takes 90 minutes. Then get bus 542 from Bad Ischl to Hallstatt Gosaumühle this journey takes 20 minutes. Finally take bus 543 to Hallstatt Lahn, this takes only 10 minutes.

To help with planning your transportation, the National Austrian Railway has all of the regional train and bus route and timetable information. 

If you are driving in Austria you will need a Vignette, this costs € 9,20 for 10 days and you can purchase this at the border to Austria or in petrol stations near the border.

When to visit

We visited Hallstatt at the beginning of March and it was chilly but not freezing, there was snow on the mountains, making the whole place look really magical. There were still quite a lot of tourists but it wasn’t overwhelming. In Summer Hallstatt can get really crowded with tourists. November and March are good month’s to go as it isn’t too crowded with tourists.

Visiting in Winter is great as it looks like a winter wonderland with the beautiful snowy mountains, making it great for photos. Go in December to experience the Christmas markets and glowing lights making it a truly magical experience.

Day trips to Hallstatt

Overnight stay or Day Trip to Hallstatt

If you have the time and money then you should stay overnight. Sunset and sunrise is a great opportunity for unique photos. Walking around at night the streets will be less busy making Hallstatt seem even more special. Hotels can be quite expensive but how many other times are you going to be able to experience views like these? You’ll only need to spend one night as there’s not tonnes to do in the Hallstatt. If you don’t have the time for an overnight trip, a day trip is better than nothing.

Where else to visit in the surrounding area?

After visiting Hallstatt you could head back to Salzburg and explore there before getting a flight home. If you have longer then you could do some incredible drives through the Austrian countryside. There are plenty of other beautiful towns in Austria and a lot of them aren’t as well known as Hallstatt so there won’t be as many tourists. Some great places to visit would be

• Bad Ischl, a spa town surrounded by mountains and lakes, this is a 30 minute drive

• Gmunden is great for views over the lake, walking or looking at the cute shops, this is a 1 hour drive

• Ramsau am Dachstein – an incredible skiing area, 1 hour 25 minute drive

• Vienna, the historic Austrian capital is definitely worth visiting, it’s a 2 hour 40 minute train ride

Check out these links for more European breaks:

What to do in Dublin

Oslo, Norway Travel Guide

Winter Break in Copenhagen

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*Disclaimer – this is a collaborative post with Cleartrip an online travel company where you can book flights and hotels. The post also includes affiliate links at no extra cost you, all opinions remain my own*