Hallstatt, Austria

Hallstatt Austria Travel Diary

I am so excited for this weekend. We are heading to New Jersey for a mini weekend getaway at the beach and visiting A’s grandmother. It’s always fun to hang out with her – we eat the best food, play the most intense scrabble – and we love the beach so obviously, we are more than looking forward to it.
Hallstatt, Austria was the last spot we visited on our trip. In a way, it’s sad to be finishing off these travel posts because it’s kind of like sealing the final chapter of the trip. But we are both determined to return at some point in the near future and we have plenty of pictures to look through when we want to reminisce.

Hallstatt Austria Travel Diary

We arrived late our first night in Hallstatt – of course, we always seemed to arrive late wherever we went; we concluded that the GPS was way too optimistic on timing for each destination. Our bed and breakfast’s (Gasthof Pension Grüner Anger) restaurant closed at 8 but the host was kind enough to direct us to an amazing restaurant in the center of town, Zauner. You can catch a glimpse of our meals below (please excuse my iPhone’s quality) and a shot of the soufflé we shared afterwards. No, your eyes are not playing tricks on you – it was huge. Everything was absolutely amazing.

weiner schnitzel with potatoes and smoked fish with potatoes
Hallstatt Austria Travel Diary
Hallstatt Austria Travel Diary

The next day we ventured into town by foot and decided to visit the salt mine first. You can see the rail going up the mountain in the distance behind me – this was the rail we used to go up to the salt mine. The next photo is looking down on Hallstatt from the salt mine area above, on the mountain. Hallstatt is known as a salt mining town and is said to be thousands of years old. It was definitely one of the highlights of the trip and if you’re ever in the area, I would highly recommend the tour.

Hallstatt Austria Travel Diary Hallstatt Austria Travel Diary Hallstatt Austria Travel Diary Hallstatt Austria Travel Diary

This is the exit to the mine via a crazy fun ride on a “train”. Next photo is of one of the slides in the mine. Slides are used to transport the mine workers from one location to the next in a speedy and efficient manner. The most fun part of the tour was getting the chance to slide down two of these.

Hallstatt Austria Travel Diary
Hallstatt Austria Travel Diary

As you can see, Hallstatt is picturesque, even on the dreariest and rainiest of days. It rained the entire time we were there which was a bit disappointing but after we got over being cold and wet, we were able to enjoy the views and historic charm of the town.

Hallstatt Austria Travel Diary Hallstatt Austria Travel Diary Hallstatt Austria Travel Diary
Hallstatt Austria Travel Diary

The center of Hallstatt – clearly it’s a small town. Our bed and breakfast was a five minute walk from here and even though it was a distance, we can’t recommend Grüner Anger enough. It was clean, comfortable and perfect in all ways.

Hallstatt Austria Travel Diary
Hallstatt Austria Travel Diary Hallstatt Austria Travel Diary Hallstatt Austria Travel Diary Hallstatt Austria Travel Diary Hallstatt Austria Travel Diary Hallstatt Austria Travel Diary
Hallstatt Austria Travel Diary

We happened upon some stairs leading up to the top of this “lookout.” There was a church with a graveyard and some amazing views of the town.

Hallstatt Austria Travel Diary
Hallstatt Austria Travel Diary Hallstatt Austria Travel Diary Hallstatt Austria Travel Diary Hallstatt Austria Travel Diary

We decided to have dinner at our bed & breakfast on the second night. Our breakfast was amazing and we figured that dinner would be even better. It was the best non-carb meal we had the entire trip. And we would recommend this over the other restaurant, though they were both excellent.

L to R – fish filet with potatoes, whole fish with potatoes, breaded pork with mushrooms
Hallstatt Austria Travel Diary

blueberry dumpling, chocolate cake and ice-cream  with fruit
Hallstatt Austria Travel Diary
Hallstatt Austria Travel Diary

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