About this route
Route overview
Hallstatt was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1997 as the Hallstatt-Dachstein/Salzkammergut Cultural Landscape — widely considered the most beautiful village in Austria and one of the most photographed places in the world (1900 inhabitants, 1 million visitors a year). Set on the crystal-clear Hallstättersee lake at the foot of the Dachstein massif, it combines 7000 years of unbroken salt extraction (the worlds oldest salt mine Salzwelten Hallstatt — reached by a funicular at 838 m above sea level, with an underground brine lake and a 64 m wooden miners slide) with Baroque timber-and-stone architecture clinging to a steep mountain slope. The Marktplatz with its lakeside Protestant church, the Catholic Mariä Himmelfahrt with the Beinhaus ossuary (610 painted skulls), the Hallstatt Skywalk World Heritage View 360 m above the village, and a lake cruise on the Stefanie. 310 km via the A1 motorway to Linz and the B158 along the Salzkammergut lakes (Traunsee, Attersee, Wolfgangsee), 3 h 30 min - 4 h. The service runs 24/7. A standard plan: 7:30 hotel pickup in Vienna, 11:00 arrival in Hallstatt, 11:30 Salzwelten funicular and salt mine (2 h 30 min), 14:30 lunch at Gasthof Zauner (apple strudel and lake fish), 16:00 a walk on the Marktplatz and Beinhaus, 17:00 a 50 min lake cruise, 18:00 departure, 21:30 Vienna. From EUR 950 in a Mercedes E-Class for 1-3 passengers, EUR 1100 in a V-Class for 4-6.