Hallstatt, Austria

After driving through the countryside, stopping for some gelato, we arrived to the picturesque alpine village of Hallstatt! It is the oldest village in Austria and UNESCO World Heritage Site. There are no cars allowed in town, but there are 2 large parking lots and then you can walk in or use a hotel shuttle. We stayed at Gasthof Simony which is 500 years old. They pushed together two rickety wooden beds that creaked anytime either of us moved all night. It was so loud and they were hard as rocks. There was no air conditioning and we didn’t sleep great, but the gardens were beautiful, we had a view of the lake, it was located right on the little village square and it had charm. We were only there one night.

There are only 900 people that live in Hallstatt. It’s very small and you can walk the whole thing in about 15 minutes. It’s definitely worth a day trip or an overnight. They have built an exact replica of this town in China for it’s beauty. We also visited the salt mine on top of the mountain which was super interesting.