Hallstatt as a day trip from Salzburg

No need to book a tour. You can get to Hallstatt on your own. Save your money.

Getting to Hallstatt by train is super easy. From Salzburg, you'll take an Austrian National OBB train to Attnang-Puchheim station where you then transfer to the local REX train toward Hallstatt. The Attnang-Puchheim train station is 50 minutes from Salzburg.

And assume your visit to the Salt Mine can take up to 2.5 hours in total (including ride up and down the mountain on the funicular and a short hike across Hallstatt High Valley to the entrance of Hallstatt Salt Mine).

Austrian railways sell combination tickets that include the cost of the trains, ferry and admission to the salt mine in Hallstatt.

Absolutely no need for a tour for that.

More scenic is the bus route (#150) from Salzburg to Bad Ischl, and taking the train to Hallstatt from there.

1st time,

It is possible to visit Hallstatt as a day trip from Salzburg, but it will be a long day. The trip by train is 2 - 2.5 hours each way, with one change at Attnang-Pucheim. You'd also need to add at least 30 minutes or so in each direction for the trip across the lake in Stefanie (the rail station is on the opposite side of the lake from the town). You'll spend about six hours travelling which won't leave much time to see Hallstatt or take the Salt Mine tour.

It would probably be easier to take a day tour with a firm such as Bob's Special Tours as they'll be travelling by road and not subject to rail schedules. THIS tour covers Hallstatt but again only provides a short time in the town. Given that you're travelling with a group, they may be willing to arrange a special Itinerary that spends more time in Hallsatt. Might be worth sending them an E-mail.

Of course, the best solution would be to spend at least one night in Hallstatt, as that will allow a more relaxed visit. Two nights would be better as one night stays only allow the arrival afternoon and part of the departure day for touring.

Thanks for all the information. It makes me stop and think. I want to enjoy the trip without feeling stretched. So much of my energy as a first timer will go to navigating new surroundings.

Perhaps I would be better off to consider a boat ride on Konigse?
Every thing will be new, so I can be flexible.

Hallstatt is a very sweet town, with lovely architecture and woodworking shops and narrow streets through the town. I stayed overnight there as part of the RS Germany, Salzburg, Vienna tour. A highlight of that tour was a leisurely boat ride on the lake. We stayed overnight at the Hotel Gruner Baum. I find that when I travel, the memories that stay with me are the unhurried ones, walks through the town, a stop in a cafe and looking all around me, and so on - not the sights I can tick off.

Highly recommend staying overnight.

If a salt mine tour was one of the things of interest in Hallstatt, consider the mine in Hallein. I visited Hallstatt in 1994 and really wanted to take my family there when we went to Salzburg last April, but I just couldn't justify the time and train cost in our short visit. Hallein was an easy half day trip and tour was very interesting--one of the highlights, particularly for our boys ages 15 and 11. I purchased package tickets in the Salzburg train station that included RT train, RT bus from the train station to the mine, and mine tickets.
https://www.salzwelten.at/en/hallein/prices-opening-times/

Keep in mind that you may find Hallstadt a bit too crowded as it is a popular spot for day trips. Much of the charm has been lost as the quaint little old town area is now full of souvenir shops catering to daytrippers and such. The trip up to the salt mine is great and the view is to die for. But keep in mind that the "sleepy charm" of Hallstadt only exists from sundown to sunrise now.

I was looking for information on the Hallstatt Salt Mine tour and saw that it was going to be closed this summer for a time for repairs. does anyone know what the time will be. I could not figure it out on the website I was on. Thank You.

I was looking for information on the Hallstatt Salt Mine tour and saw that it was going to be closed this summer for a time for repairs.

Where from did you get this information? I could not find any indication for a temporary closing.

According to the official Hallstatt Salt Mine website, there are no closures scheduled - https://www.salzwelten.at/en/hallstatt/prices-opening-times/ . According to the website, it's open from 25 March to 29 September. It wouldn't seem to make sense to close for maintenance during the summer, as that's the busiest time.

We did a day trip from Salzburg to Hallstatt by bus 150, then train and ferry It was a full day trip but very doable doing it on your own. We didn't do saltmine tour as we planned to visit one in Berchtesgaden.
We just wandered around town visited the beinhaus, took furnicular to get to the skywalk, had lunch there. It was crowded but worth it in my opinion.
I purchased a day ticket for the bus and train from OBB website.
Koenigsee is so beautiful. You should do the boat ride to Salet and hike to fischunkelalm