Exploring Hallstatt // A Journey Through Austria's Fairytale Village

The most magical town in Austria. Hello Hallstatt. Situated between the western shoreline of Hallstättersee and the Dachstein massif, the enchanting town of Hallstatt is lined with its iconic 16th century architecture and vibrant flora. In our case, since we came during the fall season, we managed to catch the fiery fall foliage that turned Hallstatt into an even more magical place. Not only is the town eye-catching thanks to its baroque style and mountainous scenery, but elegant white swans come out to play by the shoreline and turn Hallstatt into a literal fairy tale destination. Join us as we not only explore this bucket-less Austrian jewel, but we'll also show you a beautiful lake near Hallstatt that you can't miss visiting. Let's begin our day by heading to the most notable viewpoint in this captivating town. Welcome to the town of Hallstatt. This might be the most iconic town in all of Austria. We're actually heading to a very particular view right now. It's gonna be the postcard view of Hallstatt. We cannot wait. Yeah, like literally if you look it up on Google. If you type in Hallstatt on Google Images, I guarantee you this viewpoint will come up. We've been dreaming of this view for so long and I'm sure everybody else who's here has been too. It is so busy. It's such a popular spot. It actually inspired Arendelle in Frozen. If you recognize it at all, that beautiful Lutheran church with the lake and the mountains. I think it's one of the most inspirational views we've ever seen. We came from the viewpoint down into town and it's honestly so beautiful the way the architecture looks and especially with these little flowers sprinkled around town. Now we are going to explore a little bit more later as we'll grab a meal down here but first let's head up to a viewpoint where we get an aerial view of Hallstatt. It's already a steep start. I've got my jacket off because I'm already pretty hot from the first few steps that we took. Don't worry guys, if you didn't want to walk up there is another way which I'll get to when we're It took us a good 40 to 45 minutes but as I mentioned there is another way to get up here and that's by funicular. It's a good 22 euros per person round trip but it's a lovely way to see the view and save a little bit of energy. Babe your back is so sweaty. I honestly don't even know why I sweat this much today. It's literally like 18 degrees out so it's not even that hot and also the trail was like super smooth. Yes it was an uphill but it felt super nice, super wide path. I just worked extra hard today. It's actually so nice up here. So right over there you can see there's actually a restaurant. You can sit, you can have some coffee, some beer, some food and the next excursion that people can do is you can see other people walking. You can head over to the salt mines which they claim to be one of the oldest salt mines in the entire world. Now beware though you do need tickets. You cannot do this excursion without a guide. So I think we're gonna spend maybe a few more minutes up here before we head back into town. It's amazing that we're here at the very end of October because the fall foliage is just popping out so much and every step we take we hear the crunching of leaves under our feet. It just brings me back to when I was a kid. I just loved running around especially in the middle of autumn. I love just being able to walk around through this entire town. There's a whole promenade that's right on the waterfront. You can check out the different souvenir shops, cafes, restaurants and just admire the Austrian residential architecture. We also spotted a few cute swans right in the water. They're so adorable but right now we're gonna look for a little cafe to rest up our feet. We didn't go to a coffee shop but we did get something for our sweet tooth. This is a very popular Austrian confectionery called Schamhol and it's like a puff pastry with some whipped cream inside and we got ourselves a little tart. A little bit of fruit to kind of counteract the sweetness that we're having here. Cheers everybody. It's so light and airy. I usually don't like whipped cream especially if it's not on a drink but this is actually really good. This is Kiechapsbüchle. There's custard inside. It's topped with cinnamon and sprinkled on the top. Oh it's so good. You can kind of see that group right there in a traditional Austrian boat called a Seel and this is something that you can also do here in Hallstatt. You can rent one of these boats. They usually come every single hour. It's best though if you do pre-book ahead of time. We unfortunately did not do that but hopefully next time we'll get to ride that boat. We're walking back to the car right now and we're passing by that same viewpoint they saw this morning. The Greatest Viewpoint and it is just so busy now and it's funny because they have these signs everywhere that indicate there are residents here. So when you guys get here make sure to be respectful. Don't shout. Don't play a lot of music. Just be respectful because there are people living here. Good morning you guys. The sun's not even up yet. We're already out and we're here at Gosaussee. Now Gosaussee is only half an hour away from Hallstatt and it's definitely a spot you guys should come and check out. Now the reason why we're here so early in morning is because generally early in the mornings there isn't so much wind so we're hoping for a nice reflection over that water with the beautiful mountains in the back. Now we're also hoping for a beautiful sunrise but it's super cloudy. Not getting our hopes up. We had to wake up pretty early this morning. Currently it's only about 6 45 in the morning. I don't know for some of you thinking right now that's absolutely crazy that it's way too early but trust me guys it is so peaceful out here. Right now it's literally just the two of us and it's the family ahead of us and right now we're walking on this really wide really well paved trail that takes you sort of around the lake a little bit and you just get different views of the mountains and of course you can also see a bit of those fall colors. We're literally just about to give up and head back but the reflection actually popped up for like a split second and it looks so beautiful. We're so glad we made it out to Gosaussee and this is just such a perfect way to end our time in the Hallstatt area.