Saturday, November 30, 2013

Europe pre-wedding trip Day 5 (Hallstatt)

13/8/2013

Itinerary of today:
Wombats City Hostel Vienna- The Base
Billa Supermarket
Hallstatt
Gasthof Bergfried Hotel
Salzwelten Salt Mines
MarkPlatz 
Dinner @Gasthof Zauner

Booked train tickets online via Oebb in advance from Vienna to Hallstatt. (EUR24/ person) We took the 9:56a.m. train and arrived at 13:24p.m. Train in Austria is quite on time. Left our hostel early in the morning again. Before we got on the train, we went to Billa Supermarket and bought some ham, cheese, bread, yogurt and drinks for breakfast. (around EUR10 for all) It was so lucky we could have our own cabin and so we spread our food all over the flipped tables and enjoyed our meal on the train. 















































Hallstatt train station was quite small yet special. After we got off the train, we carried our baggage and followed the crowd to the river side. And by there we saw a boat which took us to another side of the lake. (EUR2.5/ person) That's the most dreamy place in Austria we visited. Schedule of the boat can be found online.
























As it was the peak travel season, most of the hotels and apartments were full. I booked Gasthof Bergfried Hotel online 5 months in advance and there were only 2 rooms left. (EUR80/ night) Gasthof Bergfried Hotel was just located next to Salzwelten Salt Mines, which took us 15 mins walk from the pier. It was big, clean and well equipped. (Come on! It was the most expensive accommodation throughout our trip!)








View from our room










































The weather turned bad in the afternoon. As we had only one day for sightseeing, we had no choice but gotta go up the hill and did the Salt Mines tour. (EUR26/ person, but got EUR$2 discount with the coupons given by hotel staff) Went up the hill by tram and walked all the way up to the entrance of the Salt Mines. The view up there was magnificent with some lambs walking around. 

























Queued up for almost 45 mins. We gotta drop our belongings at the counter and dressed up like workers. Then there would be a tour guide leading us into the salt mines and at the same time explaining how it worked long time ago. There were 3 deep long slides where we could go way down. Displays and videos could be seen in between. 



















































At last, all of us had to get on a train taking us out of the salt mines. Photos from the slides could be bought and everyone could get a bottle of salt as souvenir. Quite a special experience.











































Finished the tour and took some photos on the way down the hill. Then  took the last tram back in town.


















All the houses there in Hallstatt looked so distinctive. Passed by MarkPlatz and got back to the pier. View from the pier was just breathtaking. Took many interesting photos there.

















































Headed back to MarkPlatz and found Gasthof Zauner for dinner. We ordered 4 dishes and were satisfied. (around EUR45 for all) Enjoyed having dinner in this little romantic restaurant very much. Took a nice sleep and needa get ready for pre-wedding photo shoot again the next day.



Nice dinner rounding up our day



























































Total expenses for 2 =EUR288.5
Train                             EUR24 X2 =EUR48
Billa Supermarket            EUR10 /2 =EUR5 for 2
Boat to Hallstatt             EUR2.5 X2 =EUR5
Gasthof Bergfried Hotel    EUR80 X2 =EUR160 for 2 nights
Salzwelten Salt Mines      EUR24 X2 =EUR48
MarkPlatz                       /
Dinner @Gasthof Zauner  EUR45 /2 =EUR22.5 for 2

3 comments:

  1. Halsttt ws brilliant, wish I had stayed there.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hallstatt is a really nice place! Glad that I stayed there for 2 days. Read your blog and was regret that I didn't spend time visiting Gosausee! It looked so beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have a mission that I’m just now working on, and I have been at the look out for such information Fotografin

    ReplyDelete