Hallstatt from Salzburg

I don't think I would do it as a day trip, since round trip by train and/or bus takes about 2 hours, and I think Hallstatt would be worth more than a half day to visit. But as an overnight trip, it would be very doable.

There is a train-train connection from Salzburg Bahnhof to the Hallstatt Bahnhof with a change at Attnang-Puchheim. That connection takes just over 2 hours. Hallstatt Bahnhof is across the lake from the town. You take a small boat across to the town, coming in near the Market square. If you stay in Hallstatt, that's probably the best way to get there. Including the boat across the lake, that trip would take over 2 hours.

When I went from Salzburg to Hallstatt in 2011, I went via Mondsee (site of the wedding church in Sound of Music), where I spent several hours. From Mondsee I continued on by bus to Bad Ischl, which is on the train line from Attnang-Puchheim to Hallstatt. I could have taken the train from there to Hallstatt Bahnhof, but I found a farm house to stay in in Lahn, Austria, which is a 1 km walk along the lake south from Hallstatt. There is a bus station in Lahn, so I took another bus from Bad Ischl to Lahn and avoided the walk to Lahn. If you take a direct bus from Salzburg to Bad Ischl, then a bus to Lahn, that takes just under 2 hours.

The third way is to take the bus to Bad Ischl and change to the train to Hallstatt Bahnhof, again coming across the lake. And that trip take a little under 2 hours plus the boat crossing.

All this is on the Austrian Rail website, www.oebb.at.

BTW, I spent the previous night in a hotel in Freilassing, across the river, in Germany, from Salzburg. In the morning, my host asked me where I was going next. I said "Hallstatt", pronouncing it Rick does, "Hall-statt" with As pronounced as the English word all and ah. My host just looked at me with a blank expression. Then he said, oh Hall-statt, with the first half pronounced like the man's name, Hal, and the second half rhyming with the English word at. The Austrians don't pronounce it like Rick does.

We could not figure out a good one night trip without a car to Hallstatt. We did figure out a great two night trip which solved any luggage storage problems. We arrived later on day one and departed after breakfast on day three. Here is the itinerary which we loved.

Day one: We spent the morning in Salzburg and after a late lunch, we headed by bus to Hallstatt. We arrived by bus late afternoon into Hallstatt and within an hour or so, most day-trippers were leaving. We strolled Hallstatt and had dinner at a table next to the lake. The day-trippers had departed so dinner table seats were available on the water. After dinner we strolled the town and took photos at the iconic sites.

Day two: We took a bus to Obertraun Dachsteinseilbahn. We rode the cable car to the first stop and toured the Dachstein Giant Ice Cave. Then we rode the cable car to the top and hiked to the 5fingers Platform which looks down on Hallstatt and Lake Hallstatt. We returned to Hallstatt late in the afternoon. We strolled around the town and again, had dinner at a table right next to the lake.

Day three: After breakfast, we took the ferry to the train station across the lake with around five other people ... we all got great photos of Hallstatt from the water. When the train pulled in, there were so many tourist disembarking and hurrying to get a seat on the ferry ... it would have been standing room only. When our train arrived a small group of us calmly boarded it and rode it to our next stop.

We thought it was well worth the effort to visit.

I'm getting ready to leave for this tour next week. I have added extra nights in Salzburg and will be taking a day tour to Hallstattt.

There are a couple different options:

https://www.bobstours.com/public-full-day-tour-to-hallstatt-from-salzburg/

https://www.panoramatours.com/en/salzburg/tour/hallstatt-tour-945/

I took the train from Vienna, then after 2 nights in Hallstat used a Daytrip.com driver to reach Salzburg. Pretty sweet trip. Mid-week in early September and not crowded at all.