Exploring Hidden Gems: Ultimate Guide For Hallstatt In Winter

Everyone is dying to go there!

Once you see the pictures of this pretty village, you might have the same feeling as me. What is this fairytale place? How can I go there?

The answer is simple!

This place is called Hallstatt, the most picturesque village in Europe!

The village is nestled in the Austrian Alps, right below Salzburg. Everywhere you look, there’s something beautiful to see and snap a picture of.

We went there in February for my birthday and stayed in Hallstatt for 5 days!

I loved this place so much; it was like love from the first sign. There are many awesome things to do in Hallstatt, so I prepared an extended guide for you to go there in the winter.

Let’s dive in!

How touristy is Hallstatt?

You might wonder, but there are only 800 people living in Hallstatt. In fact, due to it’s beauty, it’s a huge tourist attraction that draws millions of people every year!

Yep, you read that right—a million visitors! Can you even imagine?

The locals aren’t exactly thrilled about it. In fact, they’ve taken to the streets a few times, protesting the crazy number of tourists.

We chatted with a local waiter, and he spilled the tea—during the peak season from May onwards, under his balcony is a never-ending mass of tourists!

When is the best time to visit Hallstatt?

Would you like to stay away from this crazy crowd?

Of course you would!

If so, take my advice and go in the winter!

But it all depends on what you are looking for. If you are wondering if it is worth visiting Hallstatt in the winter and if it is worth an overnight stay in Hallstatt?

I am telling you YES, IT IS!

The best month to visit Hallstatt is February. Why so?

You will stay away from the crazy crowd and still be able to take some beautiful pictures of mountains covered by snow.
February is not that cold compared to the other winter months.
In the winter, Hallstatt turns into a snowy fairytale that’ll make you feel like you are in the Disney movie Frozen.
Winter is a very romantic time to visit Hallstatt with your partner.
You can go skiing next to the Five Fingers, and after, you can relax in the hot sauna at the hotel and drink hot chocolate.

All summer long, the city is packed with tourists!

Enjoying your vacation is impossible when there are a thousand other people around.

That’s why I advise you not to visit Hallstatt in the months of June, July, and August.

How long to stay in Hallstatt?

Most people come to see Hallstatt just for a day trip from Salzburg. In case you only have one day to spend there, here are some organized day trips you can book from Salzburg or Vienna.

However, I recommend staying overnight, as you will discover the real gems of the fairytale village and enjoy the morning and evening without tourists.

We chose to stay there for 5 days, which was way too long, and most of the restaurants were closed, so we were quite bored after 7 p.m.

Don’t repeat our mistake and don’t go to Hallstatt for that long!😀

Going to Hallstatt for 2 or 3 days is the best plan!

Where to stay in Hallstatt?

We stayed in a lovely place called Weisses Lamm with an extraordinary mountain view.

This is the view from our balcony that we could enjoy every morning.

The hotel also has a sauna, but if you want to use it, you have to pay 15 euros, which was not the best deal, so we didn’t try it at all. But we loved the restaurant in the hotel and the location.

Take this advice: if you want to save money, book your hotel for Sunday afternoon. The prices on the weekends are too high. You can get a better deal if you stay on Sunday afternoon, when it is less busy, for 2–3 days.

Another option is to stay at the Seehotel Grüner Baum hotel. It is the most popular hotel in Hallstatt and, therefore, more expensive than ours. During the high season, they have opened a beautiful terrace right in front of the lake. Since the terrace is closed in the winter, they let me go there just to take pictures.

Here are some other places to stay in Hallstatt that you can book.

Where to eat in Hallstatt?

The best restaurant in Hallstatt is in the hotel Weisses Lamm on the ground floor. It is cheap, always open, and serves delicious Austrian food!

During the off-season, the restaurant is open every day until 7 p.m! It has great prices on traditional Austrian foods like schnitzel, goulash, kloße dumplings, and more! In the picture below, you can see our favourite Austrian dish (Austrian goulash with kloße dumplings (bread dumplings).

We loved eating there while we were in Hallstatt.

There is also a breakfast buffet for hotel guests that is included in the price of the room.

FYI: Some of the restaurants are closed in the winter, even though Google Maps shows them as open!

Another option to eat dinner in Hallstatt during the winter season is the famous restaurant in the Seehotel Grüner Baum. However, it is more expensive than the restaurant at our hotel, and since we like to travel on a budget, we did not actually try to eat there.

God bless one more important food spot, which is the local kebab place Karmez Kebab Cart right next to the church! 😀

They served kebabs during the off-season every day until 8 p.m.!!! The kebab was a lifesaver and definitely a huge tourist attraction!

If you are planning to stay in Hallstatt for more than one day, you should know that there is a grocery store right next to the bus stop at the beginning of town. So we used it to buy some snacks and water.

How to get to Hallstatt?

Traveling by bus from Salzburg:

It took us about two and a half hours to get from Salzburg to Hallstatt by bus. Starting at Salzburg Mirabellplatz, you can take bus number 150. In Bad Ischl, you will need to switch to bus number 542.

During the winter, the last bus arrives in Hallstatt at 5 p.m!

So if you are travelling from Salzburg to Hallstatt by bus, keep in mind to schedule your trip right and get there before 5 p.m. Otherwise, you will have to wait until the next day.

We stayed in Salzburg 3 days after we arrived by plane from Luxembourg. If you want to know what to do in Salzburg during a 3-day trip, see my other blog post about Salzburg during a 3-day trip and a day trip to the Thermal Baths in Germany.

Traveling by car:

Driving from Salzburg takes about an hour and a half, and from Vienna, it takes about three and a half hours. The drive through the Alps is very beautiful and worth seeing on its own. You will want to take pictures of the view as you go.

In order to get to Hallstatt, you have to drive through a tunnel and keep going until you just miss the town on your left. For overnight guests staying in the town center, park in the P1 garage. For day visitors, park in the P2 garage. It costs about 18 Euros a day to park, or less if you stay longer.

Traveling by train:

You can also arrive in Hallstatt by train. Then a ferry will take you to the other side of the lake, where the village is. But I don’t recommend it! Not worth the trouble!

Things to do in Hallstatt in Winter

Get lost in the charming city center

Take a walk through the city center and fall in love with every corner and every building! There are a lot of places to take beautiful photos. The whole Hallstatt is so small that you can walk from the beginning to the end in just about 30 minutes! There are a lot of paths to explore, get lost, and find yourself in another charming spot. If you stay for a few days, you will be master in this little town and know every corner by heart.

Go for a hike to the Five Fingers

For people who love snow and high mountains, going to the Five Fingers lookout point is one of the coolest things you can do. You can find here how to get to the 5 Fingers from Hallstatt and all necessary information about the 5 Fingers in winter.

Explore one of the oldest salt mine in the world

Hallstatt also has one of the oldest salt mines in the world, which a lot of people like to see. I wrote an entire blog post about how to get to the Hallstatt Salt Mine and How to reach the Hallstatt Skywalk.

Admire the views from the Hallstatt Skywalk

The Hallstatt Skywalk is a viewing platform of world heritage that is right above the town of Hallstatt.

You have two options to go up there:

1. hike

2. and the easier one: taking the funicular

If you are planning on visiting the Hallstatt Salt Mine, the funicular is included in the ticket price to the mine and will take you straight to the skywalk.

Read the full blog post for directions to the Hallstatt Salt Mine and the Hallstatt Skywalk for more information about these attractions.

Check out the remarkable Hallstatt Bone House

The creepiest thing you can do there is to visit the ossuary (a bone house) located in the beautiful graveyard with a lake view. Such a nice spot for a graveyard!

The entrance is only 2 euros, and you can see the largest collection of painted human skulls in Europe. Decorated with floral patterns along with the names and dates of the deceased.

Once you buy a ticket at the entrance, you will get a paper guide with some stories on it and a description of a few skulls. Without revealing anything, simply visit the location and discover for yourself how enchanted it is.

Visit the Hallstatt museum

In the city center, there is a charming museum that will take you on a journey through Hallstatt history and culture. The ticket price is just 10 euros per person!

The best coffee in Hallstatt

I am a big fan of coffee, and I always recommend in my blog posts the best coffee in the place I am visiting. Right below our hotel, there is a coffee spot called RUHRWERK that serves the best cappucino in the city!!! They also sell some delicious pastries. The coffee-to-go mugs are decorated in nice patterns, as you can see in the picture below, so they look lovely in the pictures.

If you are looking for a warm and cozy cafe to enjoy your coffee, I recommend place called Die Gemischtwarenhandlung located right in front of the Church. We ate there some delicious carrot cake and chocolate cake acompanian with our favourite cappucino.

The best spots to take photos

The most famous photo spot is at the end of the village, so you can take your postcard-perfect picture with the church and the mountains in the background. The best time to come there and take some photos is on sunny days. Also, this spot is always packed with tourists taking their pictures, so if you stay overnight in Hallstatt and come in the morning before 9 a.m., I guarantee you will have plenty of space just for yourself.

If you want to take a nice photo on the wooden stairs facing the back of the church, you have to go to the hotel Weissen Um Lambs and take the stairs up. We were lucky enough to have no people, but all the best pictures I took during the morning hours before 9 a.m., when the village was not yet packed with tourists,.

So grab a coffee in RUHRWERK and go for a walk, enjoying the charm of the city!

Fun facts about Hallstatt

Did you know that Hallstatt town was replicated in China? In the province of Guangdong, there is now a clone of Hallstatt. Because of this, every day a lot of Asian tourists come to Austria to see the real fairy tale town that looks just like their copy.

Are You ready to visit Hallstatt?

Don’t go to Hallstatt for 5 days! God, it is way too long. You only need 2-3 days to see the whole town; go to 5 Fingers, Salt Mine, etc.

Go during the winter if you want to avoid crowds and have some nice pictures with a snow fairytale.

If you like to eat every day at a different restaurant, go during the summer when everything is open. But remember, you might struggle to enjoy the town as too many tourists might take the charm of Hallstatt away

I don’t recommend going to visit Hallstatt just for a day trip, as you won’t be able to enjoy the town while empty after the last bus with tourists leaves and in the morning before the first tourist bus arrives.