GAS tour -- tour of the salt mine

Note that, due to the limited time, the salt mine tour at Hallstatt is a suggested free time activity (and the guide will help you to get there), but not included for the group. Stolling, hiking, boating, and swimming are all options, in addition to the local museum and church with bone chapel. The town is quite small.

P.S. Have you ordered your tour guidebook yet? Available as part of your recommended tour packet in our Travel Store.

I was on the GAS tour with my family members. In 2010, the mine tour was a free time option and not included in scheduled group activities. My husband, son, grandson, granddaughter and son-in-law chose to take the salt mine tour. They had a fantastic time and enjoyed every minute! My daughter and I shopped the little shops in Hallstatt , bought a few mementos, explored the churches, and walked around town. We had an equally fabulous time. I wish I could tell you more about the mine from personal experience but believe me, it was such a good time, they talked about it for several days!

We assume you are talking about the salt mine in Hallstatt. It was a free time activity and we really enjoyed it. Scenery going up to the mine was great as was the tour itself. The town itself is small and a walk about is good but not that time consuming so perhaps you can squeeze them both in (?).

TC is absolutely right and what a great idea-you could easily do both.

GAS in 2014. To clarify, the salt mine tour was on your own - not one of the organized activities included in the RS tour. We did not do it but rather just took in the view from the platform, visited the church & ossuary, walked the waterfront, had a nice lunch, and did a little shopping. Its a charming village with not a lot to do, but that's the point of visiting a place like that.

Watch for yourself and decide - Rick does it on one of his episodes. If not on Youtube, they're all available on Amazon. He was pretty stoked about it, but then again he got excited about visiting the mountain bunkers and guns in Switzerland which left me cold (pun intended).

Ann, I was on the GAS tour in Aug-Sep 2014. I did not do the tour of the salt mine. I was just getting better from a bad cold and said when will I have a chance to sit on the dock and sit in the sun and dangle my feet in the water. It was a vacation on my vacation. I walked the town and saw most of the little sites. It was my most relaxing day on my two weeks of vacation.

Some people on our tour did take the salt mine tour on their own time and really liked it. I enjoyed the scenery from deck on the lake. Do what you want. You can also let the weather dictate what you want to do.

I am glad that the salt mine visit was a part of the RS GAS tour that I took years ago as I did enjoy it. I might not have taken it if it were not included in the group tour. Glad it was.

I went on this tour in October of 2014 and did not do the salt mine. We went to the history museum in town and really enjoyed it. We also went up to the church and visited the bone chapel and cemetery. There were beautiful views of the lake from up there. The town is quite small, but we did do some shopping in the stores and walked around.

We were on the GAS tour in September 2015. There were only a few of our tour mates who visited the salt mine. My husband and I took the funicular up to the same spot as the salt mine, but we just went to the lookout point at the top of the hill. There was an additional expense to visit the salt mine in addition to the cost of the funicular. I'm sure we would have enjoyed the tour, but we also enjoyed our sightseeing in addition to walking around town, looking at work by local craftsmen and just enjoying this beautiful location. It is a day to do whatever gives you the most joy, and for us it was to just absorb and relax in this heavenly spot. You will ️love this tour.

Thank you all for your responses. I will see how the weather is and will rethink taking the salt mine tour. As you advised, maybe I will be able to see the town and take the salt mine but I do think whatever I do, it will be very nice.