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Here’s all you need to know about planning a trip to Hallstatt – one of Austria’s most picturesque towns!Β
From booking a hotel, parking and things to do in Hallstatt, I got you covered. This is a must-do for anyone visiting Central Europe.
How to plan a visit to Hallstatt
The magical streets of Hallstatt are best enjoyed before the crowds of tourists arrive, so I strongly recommend to book an overnight stay (or two if possible). Here are my top tips for planning a visit to Hallstatt:
Book your hotel well in advance
We planned to visit Hallstatt between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, and I usually look for great Black Friday deals when I travel during this period of the year. Unfortunately, this strategy didn’t work for Hallstatt.
The only thing I could find at the end of November – a month before our planned visit – was a one night stay in the Heritage Hotel for a few hundred Β£. Not exactly the Black Friday deal I was hoping for, but still worth it π
We originally planned to stay in Hallstatt for 3 nights, but because of the lack of available hotel rooms (and the price), we stayed 2 nights in Salzburg and 1 night in Hallstatt instead.
Our hotel was located on the mountain slopes of Hallstatt village, and we woke up to some spectacular views of snowy rooftops with the lake and mountains:
So, my top tip for visiting Hallstatt is to book your hotelΒ at least two months in advance. The earlier you book, the more choice you’ll get (although there are only a handful of hotels in Hallstatt anyway).
Where to park your car when visiting Hallstatt
Chances are that just like us, you are visiting Hallstatt as part of a Central European road trip. So you will want to know where to leave your (rental) car when visiting Hallstatt.
As Hallstatt is a traffic-free village, you are not allowed to drive or park your car in the town. Even when you’re a hotel guest, you will have to leave your car outside the town.
Parking in Hallstatt works a bit differently depending on whether you have a hotel room booked in Hallstatt’s Village Centre or not:Β
Parking when visiting Hallstatt as hotel guest
Luckily, the car park called “P1” was specifically built for guests who booked a room in Hallstatt’s Village Centre. A shuttle service at the car park will bring you and your luggage to and from your booked hotel.
All you need to do to get to car park P1 is follow the traffic signs as you approach Hallstatt and take your ticket as you enter the car park. After that, you should visit the Hotel Shuttle info point close to the car park entrance, where you need to register your car with the car park attendant and show them your hotel booking. They will then arrange a shuttle for you to bring you to your hotel in Hallstatt.
Before you leave the car park, do not forget to press the “Hotel-ticket” button at the ticket machine. After paying for your parking ticket, you can enter and leave the car park without restrictions. A regular parking ticket is more expensive and can’t be exchanged for a hotel ticket.
Below pics show the distance between car park P1 and Hallstatt’s Village Centre (see the church in the background). It is about a 20 minute walk:
Parking when visiting Hallstatt as day trip
If you are visiting Hallstatt as part of a day trip (so you don’t have accommodation booked in the centre), you can still park in car park P1 all year around. In the summer, an additional car park called P2 is available for day guests too.
If you don’t have a hotel booking in Hallstatt, you will have to pay for aΒ regular parking ticket. Car park P1 is a 20 minute walk from the town centre, while car park P2 is a 15 minute walk.
Opening times of the restaurants
We live in London – a city with 24/7 food places – and Jordi comes from a culture where dinner is served late at night, so we were surprised to find out that all restaurants in Hallstatt close by 9pm latest.
Many restaurants close even as early as 7pm in the off-season (November – April), so if you want to have dinner in Hallstatt make sure you checked the opening times around noon. To be extra sure of your dinner, you should make a reservation as well.
We were lucky enough to reach Restaurant Im Kainz (from the Heritage Hotel) just before 9pm, and they were happy to serve us dinner.Β
Hike the Hallstatt Panorama Trail
For the most amazing views of Hallstatt Town, you should hike the Panorama Trail (also known as the High Trail). The trail starts behind the cemetery of the Catholic Church (“Pfarrkirche Maria Himmelfahrt” in Google Maps) and leads towards a viewpoint from where you can see the Lutheran Church with the lake and the massive mountain (“Aussichtspunkt Hallstatt”Β or “Classic Village Viewpoint / Postcard Angle”Β in Google Maps).
Just keep following the path up the mountains from the viewpoint, and you will encounter some wonderful wintery sceneries. The path leads you to a bridge from where you’ll see a waterfall:
After the Muhlbach waterfall, the path will go downhill again and you should end up at the Skywalk funicular:
Do NOT take the Skywalk funicular on a cloudy day
Which takes me to the following Hallstatt tip -Do NOT take the Skywalk Funicular on a cloudy day.Β
The Salzbergbahn Funicular will take you to the Hallstatt Skywalk viewing platform, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The funicular roundtrip costs β¬20 per person (adult). This might be worth the price on a clear day with blue skies, but definitely not on a cloudy day!!
The tricky thing is that when we entered the funicular, we actually had some pretty decent views. But when we reached the top at 360 meters above Hallstatt, things were really cloudy.
Of course we tried to get our money back or at least a discount, but the staff at Salzbergbahn Funicular didn’t give us any compensation. So I would say better safe than sorry before you waste your money on this:
Be respectful to locals
I really hope this goes without saying for the readers of my blog, but be respectful to locals. No matter how magical and out-of-this-world Hallstatt looks, it is still home to less than 1,000 people who live their everyday lives here.Β
Compared to the million visitors Hallstatt receives in a year, the locals are easily outnumbered which understandably leads to frustrations. So please be a good respectful visitor and:
- Do not enter or touch private property
- Keep your voice low when walking through the town
- Take care of your trash – there are bins you should use
- Don’t fly your drone
There are plenty of signs in the town to remind you of these rules:
Add to your bucket list:
Road trip through Central Europe
We visited Hallstatt as part of our 21 day road trip through Central Europe. Click here to see our full day by day itinerary for more inspiration π
So incredibly pretty, I’d love to visit this beautiful town and hike the Hallstadt trail after seeing all of these photos and reading all of your tips.
Hallstatt is definitely on my list for our next trip to Austria. I’ve only been to Vienna so I would love to explore more of the country. Thanks for sharing these helpful tips!
Hallstatt is on our bucket list so thank you for all this info. Good to know about the funicular on a cloudy day!
Hallstatt is such a fairytale destination! I’ve been there three times and could go back again and again. Luckily I live only 2 hours away so that’s very convenient π