Hallstatt Travel Guide 2026: Salt Mine, Skywalk & Getting There

A guided tour inside the mountain where salt has been mined for 7,000 years. You put on miner's clothes, ride down two long wooden miners' slides, cross an underground salt lake and see a 3,000-year-old wooden staircase. The mine and funicular were closed for a full year of rebuilding and reopened on 1 September 2026 with a new funicular.

Price: €49 with the funicular, €33 if you hike up · Hours: 9:30–16:30 until 1 November 2026, then 9:30–15:00 · Time needed: 3 hours including the ride up · Tip: the tour is in German and English; wear closed shoes.

A viewing platform 360 m above the village, with the most famous view down onto the lake and the rooftops. Since the 2026 rebuild, a new lift makes it accessible for strollers and wheelchairs for the first time.

Price: €29 for the funicular only (the Skywalk itself is free once you are up) · Tip: go up at opening (9:00) for the clearest light.

In the small chapel of St Michael next to the Catholic church, more than 600 skulls are stacked on shelves, many of them painted with names, dates and flowers. The cemetery was so small that bones were dug up after some years to make space, and families decorated the skulls of their relatives. The tradition continued into the 20th century.

Price: a few euros · Time needed: 20 minutes.

The small market square with painted houses and a fountain. The postcard view of the village is from the north end of Seestraße. Keep in mind that it is a residential street, and in 2023 the village even put up a fence to stop crowds blocking it.

Price: free · Tip: go before 9:00 or after 17:00.

Rent an electric boat or a rowboat to see the village from the water, or take the ferry to Hallstatt station for the view on the way.

Price: electric boats about €25–35 for 30 minutes.

From Obertraun, a cable car climbs the Dachstein to the 5fingers viewing platform, with five "fingers" hanging over a 400 m drop above the lake. In summer you can also visit the Dachstein Giant Ice Cave.

Price: cable car about €40+ return · Season: mostly May to October · Getting there: bus 543 or a 1-hour walk to Obertraun.

A mountain lake 30 minutes away by bus, with the Dachstein glacier reflected in the water. An easy 1-hour walk goes around it.

Getting there: bus 543 to Gosaumühle, then 542 to Gosausee.