Hallstatt has always had a place high in my list of places to visit in Europe because of its fairytale allure and small town charm. So when tickets to Vienna were cheap, I grabbed a friend and we booked everything including a visit to Vienna, Salzburg and Hallstatt.
Here’s what we got up to during our three days in Austria.
Day 1 // Vienna Sightseeing
Our flight from Eindhoven was delayed by 2 hours which set us back in our itinerary. But fortunately we were able to smash out our sight seeing in just a few hours while appreciating the beauty of Vienna and soaking in the last rays of sunshine.
We left a rainy and grey Netherlands to a 27 degree day in Vienna. We quickly changed into our shorts after checking in and went out in search of our first meal of chicken schnitzel.
We were supposed to eat a bit fancy but the prices stopped us in our tracks. Instead we opted for a small vendor off the street where we had the biggest chicken schnitzel with fries for less than 10€.
We then headed to the Austrian National Library which was unfortunately close to closing time. From pictures, it looked like it had a massive room full of shelves lined with books – giving it a distinctive Beauty and the Beast library vibes. If you do want to enter it’s 8€ per person.
Next was a visit to the Hofburg Palace, which was right next door and was a magnificent structure with the classic blue green dome. We had to thwart the smell of horse manure as we walked around because of the horse drawn carriages popular with tourists.
We then made our way down Graben street, famous for its shopping and eye catching architectural designs before finally coming up close to St Stephen’s Cathedral. This cathedral could almost have rivalled the cathedrals in Italy. It was beautiful on the inside.
One thing that did stand out to me was the fact the tourists could walk in and take photos so freely during mass. I wonder if this is taking tourism too far to allow mass to be disrupted like that?
Vienna Nights Pub Crawl
If you’re looking for something to do that will allow you to taste the Viennese night life, try this pub crawl that we found on Trip Advisor (google the name above).
They take you to 4-5 bars and a club at the end with drinks and games available to play.
It was only 10€ and we definitely got our money’s worth from it!
Note if you are a female, you might be the only one there (like me 😅), but we did have a group of guys there for their stag night which may have thrown the mix out of balance hahahah
Overall it was a good night (even though we had to walk 30mins back to the hostel drunk). In fact we managed to almost walk 40,000 steps that day.
Day 2 // Salzburg Beauty
We bought our train tickets off TrainLine from Wein Mitte to Salzburg Hbf and left early in the morning the next day. Then we jumped straight into sight seeing.
Ticket cost: €28.60 one way
Mirabell Palace
This was a beautiful place to visit, despite many tourists flocking around taking their selfies. We even saw many married couples taking pictures in the garden.
If you want a serene place to visit, this would be it in Salzburg.
On the way up to the Hohensalzburg Fortress
Earlier in the day, the clouds had rolled in and we were worried that it would be grey all day.
Thankfully the clouds parted and blue sky came pouring through, painting the landscape with warm summery colours as if the mountains were singing (insert Sound of Music reference haha)
On the way up to the Fortress, we passed by a “secret” path to another palace. We didn’t walk all the way down but the view was stunning. As if it were a little getaway.
We also spent some time sitting on a rock overlooking the old town where we saw a mini Oktoberfest in action complete with drink tents and rides!
We finally braved the walk up to the fortress and concluded with an audio guide tour (incl in the ticket price). Overall the castle was interesting for some history about the town. The views are also spectacular if you just want to visit for the pictures!
Entrance cost to go into the fortress: €9.40
Old town
I would also recommend paying a visit to the old town (which involved crossing a bridge from our hostel Yoho and walking for about 15-20mins).
When we were there, there was also a mini Oktoberfest happening. It was super cool to see everyone dressed in either their drindls and lederhosen. It definitely made me excited for the real deal!
Day 3 // Up High in Hallstatt
We finally made our way to Hallstatt on our last full day in Austria and the views were absolutely breathtaking.
I would highly recommend a day trip here (you only really need a few hours out here – we left Salzburg at 9:16am, arrived 2h later and left at 4:15pm, arrived in Salzburg at 6:30pm to catch our 8:22pm train back to Vienna).
How to get there
Take the 150 bus to Bad Ischl Bahnhof from Mirabella Platz.
Take the train to Hallstatt Bahnoff
Take the ferry across to the old town
Bus/train ticket cost: €14.60 to Hallstatt Bahnoff
Ferry ticket cost: €5 return
Along the water 
Picture perfect vantage point
Prepare to see a lot of Chinese tour groups here haha
I was also not expecting the view point to be so close to the ground (only a 5min walk from the ferry).
The view was also so easy to get to, we returned three times to take photos with a sky that changed colours every time.
We went from grey ominous clouds to blue tones from the shadow of the mountains.
This painted the fairytale town in a different light every time and I’m so glad we were able to do that.
From grey clouds to blue skies
Sky deck and the best lunch view
We were a bit wary about coming up to the view because it was quite overcast and grey in the morning. But just past midday, the sun started peaking out behind the clouds and bathing Hallstatt in a warm golden glow.
The grass got greener and the sky more blue. We loved the view and were absolutely taken away.
Cost to take the cable car: €14 for a student return trip
Cost for cable car and entrance to salt mine (which we didn’t do but if you’re interested here’s the price): €22
