Hallstatt, Austria

The Jewel of Austria

When I first started researching destinations for my trip to Europe, I scanned over seemingly all the Best of Europe lists that The Google had available. A tiny town in the middle of Austria kept popping up, and I had to see what all the fuss was about. I did some research into where the town was located and whether or not my rail pass would get me there (it did), so I decided to add it to the itinerary. I had spent the night in Salzburg, and woke early to catch my train to Hallstatt. After getting lost and taking two trains in the wrong direction, of course…I finally made it to my destination - a one room train station in the middle of nowhere. What I had failed to read about Hallstatt is that it is only reachable by boat from Salzburg. Though it wouldn’t have been a deal breaker, it would have been nice to know that I needed an extra few Euro to pay the nice ship captain.

After a 15 minute ferry ride across the lake, I strolled through the cobblestone streets of this sleepy village, lost in time. The town is home to about 800 full-time residents and as far as I could tell, one hotel. There were a number of gift shops and I read about a salt mine tour, though I was not in town long enough to check that out. I stopped for lunch at a cute cafe right on the lake with views of the water and the mountainous backdrop. It was all very surreal.

The city was declared an UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996 because the small parcel of land between the mountain and the lake should have eroded into the water by now. Lucky for us, it is still there…for now. The architecture in this town not only looks like something out of a fairytale, but there are swans traversing the glassy waters of the lake, making even the coldest heart melt.

In love with Hallstatt, but can’t commit to the journey to the middle of nowhere Austria? You can see a stunning replica of Hallstatt in Luoyang, Boluo County, China. The replica is a housing development that opened in 2012 and is still mostly for sale. Which means you too can own of one of these beautiful half-timbered homes, just 4400 miles from the original.