Cash needed for Salzburg and Hallstatt

Germany is the most credit-card-averse country in western Europe, as you can see from the lenght of the list in comparison to Austria.

In Austria cash-only places are much less, Hallstatt being an exception. (I guess because they hate tourists, making profit from them, though.)

The hotel tax mentioned in the list for Salzburg is a very low amount. A lot of places have a lower limit for credit card payments, although it is a violation of the payment rules imposed by the credit card companies.

We recently stayed in Grundlsee. When trying to go out to dinner on a Saturday night, we ended up visiting 6 places in (Grundlsee and Bad Aussee) before finally finding somewhere that could accommodate us. The previous five either required a reservation and/or were cash only. Lesson learned: we now will make dinner reservations and carry enough cash for dinner!
Also, most cafes were cash only on our morning coffee stops in the region.

We recently stayed in Grundlsee. .... The previous five either required a reservation and/or were cash only.

You should have asked at the restaurant where the next ATM is located to withdraw cash there. ATMs are nearly everywhere in Austria, and there is one in Grundlsee (I checked this online).

By the way, there are two ATMs in Hallstatt.

In Salzburg, we had a wonderful dinner at Johaneskellar which is cash only. They do have an atm on site, but we knew and were prepared.

Any suggestion that you are wrong to carry a little cash is silly.

What is 100 euro against the 10.000 euro you spent on the trip?

If you don’t use it, fine. You can pay for the taxi to the airport with it. In Vienna that will take most of it. You can give it to the guy at the office that is planning a trip to Europe.

But if you walk into a sweet little place and its cash only (or their internet is down and the credit card machine is working), do you really want to go hunting for an ATM? It’s a freeking holiday, you want to sit down and enjoy.

Maybe it's just me or older habits, but I pay Bar/cash for dinner and drinks. Taxi and Uber too. Understand the focus is on Österreich, but in my small neck of the woods in Oberpfaltz, cash is still preferred. Just guessing, but the more rural you get the more cash you need.

True that Austria is less cash averse than Germany. Still, I know of eateries in Vienna that take only cash, others that used to be cash only, ie. pre-pandemic and now take the cc.

That Germany is the most cash averse country in Europe I find that to be accurate as a traveler there....Bravo !