Hallstatt is a town with an amazing story of popularity. It's hard to believe, but in 2010 it was visited by 100 tourists a day. Now their number has grown to 10 thousand, most are Chinese, and this significantly reduced the tourist attraction of the town.
In 2013, someone decided that Hallstatt looks like a fictional city from the super-popular "Frozen" and photos flooded the Internet. Earlier, the town appeared in numerous Asian TV shows and one of the Chinese developers built a copy for $1 billion! It's funny that real estate prices in the Chinese copy are higher than in the Austrian original.
Without a doubt the town is a world leader in overtourism. A similar situation is observed in other popular places, such as Venice or the Cinque Terre, but just 780 people live in Hallstatt!
The residents of Hallstatt are annoyed by the situation, as there is noise around the town all the time. Prohibition signs in English and Chinese hang everywhere. A bunch of strange rules have appeared, for example, it is forbidden to share one dish for two in a restaurant. This is done, of course, with the aim of making more money.
In 2020, after numerous complaints from local residents, more serious measures began to be taken. For example, the number of tourist buses will be limited to 50 per day, although earlier their number was often twice as large.
Therefore, if you want to enjoy the beauty of this place, then you need to spend the night here and walk in the morning and evening. We stayed at the Gasthof Bergfried (booking.com). If you travel with a car, take it without hesitation. It is relatively inexpensive (~100 EUR), located in the center and has its own parking, what is very important here. The turn from the main road to the hotel is N 47 33.419 E 13 38.815.
There is a good observation deck above Hallstatt which can be reached by funicular. There is also the world's oldest salt mine Salzwelten Hallstatt (https://www.salzwelten.at/de/hallstatt/), which has a history of 7,000 years. Though we did not plan to visit it.
Then we went to the main viewpoint, which offers a classic view of Hallstatt. It is located about 1 km from the hotel and the funicular. Unfortunately, the bell tower is covered in scaffolding.
Since the bell tower was covered in scaffolding, we decided to wait for sunlight in another place. Found it at this point N 47 33.658 E 13 38.908, it is a car park for a couple of cars. In September, the best light was about an hour after dawn, when the sun rose from the mountains.
Unfortunately, a month after our visit, this place was completely burned in a fire, so such photos are not possible in the coming year. Considering the repair of the bell tower, we do not recommend planning a visit until 2021.
Getting there: by car, drive to the central parking lot N 47 33.316 E 13 38.716. By train to Hallstatt Bahnhof Station, use the route planner https://tickets.oebb.at. The station is located on the other side of the lake, but regular boats run to Hallstatt. Also you can take the bus to the very center, to Hallstatt Lahn bus stop, use the route planner https://fahrplan.oebb.at.
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