How To Travel to Hallstatt from Salzburg

Pre-Covid era, my husband and I decided to spend a winter holiday in Austria to ski at one of the famous ski slopes, visit the dreamy town of Hallstat and attempt to snag a concert ticket in Vienna. As I write about our experience one year later — December 2020 (we travelled in December 2019) I should’ve been more appreciative that the world was (almost) normal and traveling was very common. Obviously by that time there were already rumors flying in the air of this virus infecting humans and causing deaths. More importantly, this virus came from Wuhan, China, and as a result, people were beginning to shy away from anyone who looked Asian. Sadly, when my husband and I travelled to Austria, we were subject to discrimination at two points of our journey. And one of them happened in Hallstatt, Austria.

But back to the theme of this article: How to travel from Salzburg to Hallstatt. Surprisingly, Hallstatt is super HARD to get to by public transportation, but it is due to this reason the little town is not as crowded as it should be. The nearest big city to Hallstatt is Salzburg which is why I chose this town to begin the long and tedious 2h15min journey. There are two options to get to Hallstatt, by bus and by train. I will be sharing the fastest and best option: by bus.

HOW TO TRAVEL TO HALLSTATT FROM SALZBURG VIA TRAIN

1. Salzburg > Bad Ischl (Bus 150) 90 minute bus ride: From the bus station right outside Salzburg main train station, head to Stall ‘F’ and wait for Bus #150. If you are making a day trip, try to get on the earliest bus possible. The bus leaves twice an hour. Click here for Bus 150 schedule

Total Time: A 90-minute ride from Salzburg to Bad Ischl.

20 minute layover at Bad Ischl train station. It didn’t snow in Salzburg but as we headed to Hallstat, it started snowing — A LOT

2. Bad Ischl > Hallstatt Gosaumühle (Bus 542): You will arrive at Bad Iscl train and bus station. There is a 20 minute layover here so take this time to go to the toilet before boarding Bus 542. There is a TV screen with the next bus schedules and usually Bus 542 arrives at Bin ‘C’ with the final destination Gosausee (pronounced: go-zow-zee). Note that once you board Bus 542, you are NOT travelling to the last station, you will be getting off at a station in the middle. If you forget to get off, you will be heading to Gosausee and NOT Hallstat. Click here for Bus 542 schedule

Total Time: A 20-minute ride after a 20-minute layover in Bad Ischl.

3. Hallstatt Gosaumühle (Bus 542) > Hallstatt Lahn (Bus 543): After approximately 20 minutes, the bus will stop at Gosaumühle (pronounced: go-zow-mule-ah) bus stop. A lot of people will be getting off here and making the switch with you so you probably don’y need to worry about missing the stop. You will have just under 5 minutes to switch from Bus 542 to neighboring Bus 543 which is parked right beside each other. You can also ask the bus driver to make sure you are going in the right direction — they are very nice and friendly! Click here for Bus 543 schedule

The last leg of the journey takes 10 minutes and you will arrive at Hallstat Main Bus Station called Hallstatt Lahn (Seelände) which is just south of the village. Once you arrive, the path to Hallstat main town is just right beside and very self-explanatory.

Total Time: A 10 minute bus ride to Hallstat Lahn (Hallstat Main Bus Station)

Upon arrival at Hallstatt, the first thing to do is to take a photo of the bus schedule located right where you got off the bus. If you are making a day trip from Salzburg like I did, note down the times and make sure you make it back in time to take the last bus.

In Hallstatt, take some time to explore the small town and appreciate how quiet it is. There are a couple of shops to explore, and restaurants to eat in; however we were unable to experience any of that. Right after we took some picturesque photos, it started snowing like crazy as if a blizzard had hit the town.

I hope this blog was helpful and provided enough information how to travel to Hallstatt from Salzburg via bus! If you have any questions, leave a comment below!