Hallstatt: Have Your Cameras Ready

This private hostel was nothing special, but at the same time very pleasant. It wouldn't be much fun if completely full, but there were only a handful of people when we were there. The lady who runs it is very pleasant and accommodating, if slightly erratic. Extra for bedding and breakfast. No kitchen facilities. It's a 10- to 15-minute walk from the ferry.

Hallstatt is part of an area known as the Salzkammergut, not too far east of Salzburg. It's located around the edge of a lake (Hallstätter Sea). The train stops on the opposite side of the lake, but there's a little ferry which is timed to coincide with the train's comings and goings. Don't dawdle though, as it only waits a few minutes before leaving. Make sure you have your camera out as the ferry approaches the village, because you're definitely going to want to takes pictures of one of the prettiest villages you'll ever see, and the view from the water is the best. Hallstatt gave it’s name to an entire period of history, the Hallstatt Period from 800 to 400BC.

There were people here mining for salt way back then, and their history is to be found all over the place. The little Beinhaus is the only real tourist attraction within the village. It's a little hut behind the church that's full of painted skulls and bones taken from the tiny church graveyard. It's weird and definitely worth a look. Make sure to take some time to just wander around the streets, they're very pretty and there's a waterfall too. There's a rather expensive local museum, but we didn't visit it. The excavations under the Dachsteinsport Janu store are free and pretty cool. You can take a swim in the beautiful lake if you dare, but the lake is fed by melted snow and is accordingly frosty. The Salzbergwerk is on the hill above the village, and can be access by foot or by cable car.

The Dachstein ice caves are not far from Halstatt. We caught the train to Obertraun, then walked to the cable car, which took about 30 minutes. There is a bus service between Obertraun and the cable car, and we caught that on the way back. You can also walk straight there from Halstatt by going around the south of the lake. One of the girls at the hostel did that, I think it took her about an hour.A trip to these ice caves starts with a 'sardines-in-can' style cable car ride, which is actually quite fun, unless you're claustrophobic and/or there's a smelly armpit in your face. Once you get out of the cable car there's still a 15 minute walk straight up the mountain to the caves. There are two sets of caves, the Rieseneishöhle and the Mammuthöhle. The latter don't have ice formations, so we only went to the first ones. You can only go in with a guided tour, and they're mostly in German, but apparently English tours can be organised. They do have sheets of information in English if you happen to get stuck in a German group and you don't speak German. These caves are well worth the €20 entry fee. The ice formations really are impressive, and the caves are really well lit. Our guide was really good. He gave us lots of interesting information, and he was easy on the eyes too. Don't forget to dress warmly, even in the middle of summer. They are ICE caves after all. There's a restaurant and a gift store at the cable car station.

Now I have to admit that the main reason we visited Bad Aussee was the name. The whole Bad Aussee/Bad Aussie thing was too good a photo opportunity to miss. After we had taken some stupid pictures with the sign at the train station, we headed into town to have a look around. There’s nothing particularly extraordinary about Bad Aussee, it’s just a cute little town. It’s one claim to fame is the fact that it’s the geographical centre of Austria, and a monument in one of the parks suitable marks the spot. You will see the odd person in traditional Dirndl dress or Lederhose, but not as many as the travel guides suggest.

We were desperate to sample some real, fresh Lebkuchen (gingerbread), but for the life of us we couldn’t find the Ausseer Lebkuchen bakery, which is supposed to have a cafe and great views. It would have helped if the travel guide had provided an address, which for the record I’ve since found out is Pötschenstraße 146. We did eventually manage to find and enjoy some Lebkuchen in a cafe in town.

In a final display of immaturity, we made sure to take a photo of the mountain over looking the town, which bears the name of Loser. We were hoping to find a sign that said Loser, preferably with an arrow, but the best we could do was the street sign Loserstraße. It's supposed to be a beautiful drive up to the top, be we were short on time and cars. There were several postcards available featuring the peak, which our friends found in their letter boxes a few weeks later.