Hallstatt

Hallstatt is an ancient, picturesque alpine village set in the magnificent Salzkammergut region of Upper Austria, about 75 kilometres south-east of Salzburg. The village, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is considered one of the most famous and most photographed destinations in Europe, instantly recognisable for its dramatic geographic position: an extraordinarily narrow strip of land pressed between the steep cliffs of Mount Dachstein and the dark, clear waters of Lake Hallstatt (the Hallstätter See). Beyond its mesmerising visual beauty — sixteenth-century wooden houses climbing the mountainside and picturesque lanes closed to car traffic — Hallstatt holds a rich and extraordinary history thousands of years old. The village’s historic heart beats underground, home to the oldest still-active salt mine in the world, which gave the whole region its wealth and influence as far back as the Iron Age — an era itself named the “Hallstatt culture” after the archaeological finds discovered here. Today the village is a unique meeting of ancient history, protected Austrian folk culture, and wild, breathtaking alpine nature.

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