The European Sojourn Part 2 – A Day in Austria’s Prettiest Village HALLSTATT

Leaving behind the art, history and culture of Vienna, it was time to fulfil one of those long-nurtured dreams. It had been many years when a particular and very familiar picture of Hallstatt triggered the wanderlust in me.

Probably I don’t have to tell you which picture that is, and if you search Hallstatt on Google, it is definitely going to come up in the results. (Don’t worry, I have clicked the exact same picture, bear with me!)

Reaching Hallstatt from Vienna

I checked out of the hotel in Vienna at 5.30 AM and started walking towards the Wien Hauptbahnhof station. It was a cold and windy morning, and the warm layers were failing to keep the wind off me.

I truly underestimated the temperature outside but the joy of taking the train to Hallstatt and finally experiencing the place with my own eyes was clearly winning! Another 10 minutes of walk later, I grabbed some croissant and coffee from Anker and boarded the OBB train for 6 AM.

Typically you won’t find a direct train from Vienna to Hallstatt.

There are one interchange trains via Attnang-Puchheim which takes about 3.5 hours to reach Hallstatt. The high speed OBB trains would drop you at Attnang-Puchheim from where you will need to board a regional OBB train (less fancy, sans the WiFi and gizmos) to Hallstatt.

At 9.30 AM sharp, I got down at the cute little train station of Hallstatt. As I exited the station, I could already see the Hallstatt Lake, and a ferry waiting to take the passengers to the other side of the lake. However, call it my stupidity, I had to reach Obertraun first!