The very reason that made Austria our travel destination was a picture of Hallstatt in winter at night. The snow-covered town with the night light cast on the houses by the lake made this town look charming. Hallstatt is located near Salzburg, and it took about 2 hours to get to Hallstatt from Salzburg and 3 hours from Vienna.

Getting to Hallstatt

There are two main ways (other than self-drive) to get to Hallstatt: by train or bus. We initially wanted to take a bus from Salzburg train station, as I read that the bus option would take us directly into Hallstatt without the need to take the ferry ride across Lake Hallstatt. The bus option offered a more scenic view compared to the train. The downside of taking the bus is we will be required to change three buses, which are not as frequent (and are about 1 hour apart). Not knowing if we would make it in time since the timing between buses is mere minutes apart, we opted for the easier train option. We took the train from Salzburg Hauptbahnhof and switched to another in Attnang Purcchiem for Hallstatt.

Change in Plan

Days after we purchased non-cancellable train tickets to Hallstatt, an email correspondence with the Hallstatt Salt Mine notified us that the path to the Hallstatt skywalk would be closed due to the amount of snow in January. Since the skywalk is closed and allocating a full day to the Hallstatt will be excessive, the other place we could get a bird’s eye view of Hallstatt would be 5-Fingers on Dachstein Krippenstein. We changed our plan and carved out the morning for 5-Fingers. To get to Dachstein Krippenstein, we took the train to Obertraun Dachsteinhöhlen Bahnhof and transferred to a 7-minute bus ride on #542 (the bus stop is outside a church opposite the train station). It was snowing when we arrived at Obertraun Dachsteinhöhlen Bahnhof. We were very excited to see snow in this part of Austria.

Dachstein Krippenstein – Top of Hallstatt

When we arrived at the Dachstein Krippenstein cable car base station, we were told that the 5-fingers attraction was closed due to the heavy snowfall. Our only option is to get the Panorama Ticket and ride the cable car up the mountains for a meal. Since we were already here, we bought the Panorama Ticket (which cost €46.40 on site), including the return gondola ride from the base station to the highest mountain station (2,200m). The snowfall made the scenery we saw on the ride up to the top of the mountain magnificent. We were able to see Lake Hallstatt on the way up. To get to the top of the mountain, we were required to change cable cars at the first station (about 1,300m) to the highest point. Our view of the mountain started obscuring by the low clouds as we approached the second station.

As soon as we reached the peak station, the snowfall got heavier, and the temperature dropped to -12.2°C, making it tough for us to even step outside the cable car station. There is a restaurant at the peak station, and we thought the price was quite reasonable given its location. We settled our lunch here while watching the heavy snowfall and occasionally skiers setting off from the starting point for their way down to the base of the mountain. At times, the clouds gave way to the sun, giving us a good view of the ski slope from the restaurant. After lunch, we headed into the open area to feel the snowfall. And since there is not much we can do here (we don’t ski, nor were there sledging facilities), we decided to descend the mountain and head to Hallstatt.

Spending the Afternoon in the Fairy Tale Town of Hallstatt

We took bus #543 from Dachstein Krippenstein base station to Hallstatt, which dropped us off at the carpark just outside town. As the bus stop outside town was next to the lake, we were already treated to the postcard view of Hallstatt the moment we alighted from the bus. We were surprised at the relatively thin crowd in Hallstatt. After all, Hallstatt is a tourist town that people flock to because of the view. Hallstatt exists due to the salt mine in the mountains behind the town. Salt has been mined here 7,000 years ago, even older than the pyramids of Egypt. There is only one path which cuts through the whole town (I told my friends we would not go wrong by following the crowd), where we saw houses seemingly stacking on each other (as some were built on the higher slopes). The pavement into the town was next to the lake, giving us a great view of the lake and the surrounding mountain ranges. It was snowing when we arrived at Hallstatt, and the snow-covered ground made this fairy-tale town even more charming. This is the view we came for and the reason why we wanted to visit Hallstatt in winter.

After about 20 minutes of walking (and photo-taking), we came to an open space surrounded by houses with a wooden monument in the centre. This is Central Marktplatz – the town square of Hallstatt. We saw colourful houses surrounding the monument, snow-covered pine trees in the mountains behind, and snow on the ground. This is a perfect picture of a snowy town in winter. The absence of the crowd added a sense of tranquillity to Central Marktplatz, making it even more charming and relaxing. We spotted a church not far from the Central Marktplatz, sitting by the lakeside. The grounds the church sits on are covered with snow, making it a perfect place to take winter pictures. A small platform extends into the lake, a great spot to take pictures. We did not enter the church as we did not find the entrance.

The walk to the viewpoint took about 15 minutes up some slopes and stairs. The view here was stunting. We could see why this is the perfect spot to take pictures of the town, especially in winter. I highly recommend not to miss this spot when coming to Hallstatt. From this viewpoint, we were able to get to the town, the lake, and the mountains in one frame. It wasn’t too crowded at the time we arrived at the viewpoint. We had about 1 hour before sunset (sunset at 5.30 pm), and I wanted to return to this viewpoint to take capture night shots of the town. I thought the snow-covered Hallstatt would be especially beautiful when lights were cast at the building.

As we walked through the town earlier on, I saw a street behind some of the houses that seemed to be perched high up on the side of the hill earlier today (I call this street the “Roof of Hallstatt”). I thought it would be interesting to see Hallstatt from a different perspective, and since we had 1 hour to spend before sunset, my friend and I went to this “Roof of Hallstatt”. Seeing the snow-covered roofs of Hallstatt, facing the lake with the houses in between us, I thought Hallstatt looked equally beautiful here. We even spotted a waterfall up here on the walkway. We returned to the viewpoint as it was near sunset and waited for the right moment when the sky was sufficiently dark and the lights in the town were bright enough for the contrast. After waiting for about 30 minutes, we got our shot.

The last ferry to Hallstatt Bahnhof, across the lake, was timed to the last train that ran through the station. Tickets for the ferry ride (€4 one way) will only be sold at the time of boarding (i.e., we cannot book or purchase in advance). We saw Hallstatt getting smaller from the ferry as we moved towards the other side of the coast. Soon, it was time for us to bid farewell to Hallstatt as we boarded our train back to Salzburg. The train ride from Hallstatt to Salzburg took around 2 hours. I thought spending ½ day in Hallstatt was sufficient (provided the Salt Mine and funicular were closed). Other than the view from the viewpoint, there is nothing much anyone can do in Hallstatt, although I might spend 1 day if the Salt mines were opened. I thought we made the right decision by spending the morning in Dachstein Krippenstein, although there was nothing much we could do there when 5-fingers were closed.