Hallstatt, Austria

We woke up very early today to catch our 5:48 am train to Hallstatt in order to get there in the morning; I heard the view during the early morning is very beautiful! We got to Salzburg hbf around 5:30 am and purchased the Einfach-Raus-Ticket for 2 people for 28 euros, it covered all regional trains to Hallstatt even though took a little bit longer.  I checked this was the least expensive way compared to 70+ euros and only 30 mins faster. The train ride was comfortable, the train was pretty empty maybe due to Sunday early morning.  We got to Attnang-Puchheim at 7:10 am and change train, we were worried that 3 min connection time won't be enough but ended up the connecting train was just across the platform so off and on took less than a minute (we thought we had to run because the schedule said arriving platform is 1 B and the connecting train platform is 21 but they were right across from each other)! The train ride to Hallstatt was very scenic, I wished we have a car so we can make stops along the way! We finally reached Hallstatt after 3 hours of train ride at 8:46 am. We got off this small platform and walked down to catch the ferry to Hallstatt. As I am reaching the ferry station, I was amazed by the view of Hallstatt. I felt like "am I dreaming?" I couldn't believe that we are here, Hallstatt looked exactly like in the pictures I saw on the web!

The ferry came in less than 5 min, the view of Hallstatt on the ferry ride was absolutely stunning!

We got off the ferry and took our time to explore this wonderful village.  Every corner we go, we were stopped by the gorgeous views and took pictures! I love the view of this hotel, I wish we could stay here for at least a night to wake up and see the beautiful lake.

As we were setting up our tripods to take a photo of us two, a swam approached...it came closer and closer and it turned out it was very big.  It almost made me scared LOL!

We walked to the "town center" which was very close to the ferry station, the buildings were very cute and colorful:

We saw a stairway so we walked up and followed the path to a church. The view there was one of the best to see Hallstatt lake and the mountains surrounded it.

The sound of the church bells, the fresh air, and the view of the surrounding mountains made me felt like I am in a dream land!

We continued our way up and reached a parking lot at the top, this is where people who drive reach Hallstatt.

After spending some time taking pictures up here, we walked back down to the village center and looked for  a place for lunch.  The village center has few different restaurants to choose from.  We chose a close-by restaurant and ate there, the food quality was very good!  This was the white asparagus season so I had the white asparagus cream soup, very tasty!

After lunch, we continued our way exploring Hallstatt.  There was only one main road across the village so very easy to navigate. 

The cafes along the main road have the nicest view!

Relax and enjoy the view...that's what I called vacation!

The air was so much fresher here!!!

The houses were quite special in Hallstatt..very catchy to our eyes:

Those swans must be the luckiest swans ever...living in such a beautiful place!

As we walked down this main road, every corner, we looked back to see the view and each time was a surprised! 

The view of another side of Hallstatt....incredible!

We passed by an electric boat rental place and my husband was very interested but we thought it might be very expensive so we just continued to walk.  But....as we walked back, we saw a sign that it was only 15 euros an hour! We rented the boat so glad we did because it was a completely different view of Hallstatt!

Here is a mansion on the opposite side of Hallstatt, whoever lives here is too lucky!

We made a big loop of the lake and back in around half an hour, costed us only 10 euros! Definitely worth it!

I saw this little boy who wants to see the world so quickly I snapped a pic:

We walked all the way back to the ferry station and we still have an hour for the next ferry and train so we decided to walked up to the church again to take more photos.  It was afternoon already so some clouds got cleared up and bluer sky!

One last look of this beautiful village from the ferry station:

We spent a total of 6 hours in Hallstatt, every single second was well worth it! We left Hallstatt and caught the train at 3:08 pm.  The ferry schedule was aligned with the train schedule so don't worry you won't miss the train! Even though the train back was another 3 hours but we were so glad that we made it to Hallstatt! Hallstatt is now my 2nd favorite place on earth! (First is still Santorini, Greece).