Lake Hallstatt

From the first first time I saw an image of Lake Hallstatt I couldn’t get it out of my mind. I could feel the almost eerie calm of the deep dark water and when I closed my eyes I could envision myself there floating in the middle of the lake on a boat in the windless quiet. A place where fairy tales are born... a prince riding along the river’s edge in search of his lost princess. At least that is what my mind conjured up as I dreamed about this place. There is something magical in the images of Lake Hallstatt that captured my soul and this is how it got on our list of places to visit in Europe.

Hallstatt was the site of an early Iron Age culture from 800 to 400 BC, which is known as the Hallstatt Era. Hallstatt is considered to be the oldest still-inhabited village in Europe. In addition to its ancient history, Hallstatt is wedged between sheer mountains and Hallstatter See and is self labeled as the “Pearl of Austria”.

The village of Hallstatt itself is very touristy with shops and restaurants that attract tour buses each day during the season. Obertraun, the village on the east side of the lake is far less touristy and a weekend destination for those living in cities like Munich or Vienna. It’s homes adorned with flowers in the window boxes and neatly stacked piles of wood ready to burn sitting next to most of the village homes. A small number of local restaurants with hearty Austrian food and your favorite mass of beer. There are only a few ways in by road and there is also train service from Vienna or Salzburg. The train station is on the eastern side of the lake which requires train arriving passengers to take a ferry across to the village of Hallstatt.

There are numerous things to do in the area. We rented a cabin in Obertraun for our stay which was both modern and rustic with all of the amenities that we needed and views of the mountains that we will never forget.

The following are a few facts that we found to be interesting, hope you find them to be the same for you.

• Lake Hallstatt is a lake in the Salzkammergut area of Austria and is named after Hallstatt, a small market town on the lake, famous for its salt mining since prehistoric times and the starting point of the world's oldest and still working industrial pipeline – for brine to Bad Ischl (since 1596) and further to Ebensee. Until the 19th century, it was only possible to reach Hallstatt Village via boat or narrow trails.
• Lake Hallstatt surface area is approximately 3.30 square miles and its maximum depth is 125 metres. It is a popular destination for tourists, especially scuba divers. The lake's primary inflow source is the Traun River.
• Salt has been mined in & around the Salzwelten Salt Mines for over 7,000 years and the entire area is part of the UNESCO World Heritage region of Hallstatt Dachstein Salzkammergut.
• It’s A UNESCO World Heritage Site.
• Hallstatt Village has an annual visitation of over one million people - but mostly in the summer

You could consider going to Hallstatt via train; From either Salzburg or Vienna you would take an Austrian National OBB train to Attnang-Puchheim where you would then transfer to the local REX train toward Hallstatt. The Attnang-Puchheim train station is 50 minutes from Salzburg and 135 minutes from Vienna. We did not see any auto rental places in the village, so without a car you would have difficulty getting around the area!

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