From the Regau exit of the Westautobahn motorway, we take the Salzkammergutstraße B 145 via Gmunden and Bad Ischl to Bad Goisern, where we board the Salzkammergutbahn railway at Steeg-Gosau station. The Salzkammergutstraße runs from Gmunden via Altmünster and Traunkirchen to Ebensee on the western shore of Lake Traunsee, a very scenic section that was only completed in 1861. Before Ebensee, the Salzkammergutstraße runs at the foot of the Kleiner and Großer Sonnstein, which drop steeply down to the lake, partly through tunnels. From the Salzkammergutstraße you have a beautiful view of Lake Traunsee and the Traunstein on the eastern shore. From Ebensee, the route continues along the Traun river through the Traun valley, formed in this section by the Höllengebirge mountains in the north and the Totes Gebirge mountains in the south, to Bad Ischl and from Bad Ischl to the valley basin of Bad Goisern in the Inner Salzkammergut, which lies at the northern end of Lake Hallstatt.

Lake Traunsee is located on the northern edge of the Limestone Alps at an altitude of 423 metres above sea level and extends over a length of 11.9 km from Ebensee to Gmunden. The Traun flows through it from south to north. Both the Salzkammergut railway and the Salzkammergut road, on which we are travelling to Hallstatt, run along the western shore of Lake Traun. The northern eastern shore of Lake Traunsee near Gmunden is dominated by the rock faces of the Traunstein, some of which drop vertically into the lake. The Traun glacier carved out the basin of Lake Traun as an overdeepened tongue basin. After the lake basin had become ice-free, the Traun began to fill the basin. From the salt mine of Hallstatt the salt was transported down the Traun to Gmunden, from where it was transported onwards to Bohemia by a horse-drawn railway. During the time of the k. u. k. Monarchy, Gmunden was a renowned summer resort. The most famous sight in Gmunden is the Ort lake castle.

The Traunstein on the eastern shore of Lake Traunsee dominates the landscape in the area of the northern Traunsee near Gmunden and Altmünster with its west face, which drops steeply into the Traunsee at a height of up to 1000 metres. The Traunstein, visible from afar, also marks the beginning of the Salzkammergut due to its advanced position in the foothills of the Alps. The advanced position was caused by the shifting of the eastern shore of Lake Traun to the north. Originally, the Traunstein was connected to the Höllengebirge on the south-west shore of Lake Traunsee. The area around the Traunstein was always glaciated during the ice ages. The Traun glacier flowed with its main stream through the Traun valley and left behind an overdeepened basin, which was subsequently filled by Lake Traun. The landscape painter Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller immortalised the beauty of the Traunstein together with Lake Traunsee and Ort Castle.

Traunkirchen is located on a peninsula directly on the western shore of Lake Traunsee with a beautiful view of the Traunstein. People have lived in Traunkirchen since the early Stone Age and the Bronze and Hallstatt periods. A pagan place of worship was located 3500 years ago on the Odinstein, today's Johannesberg, a rocky outcrop overgrown with yew and beech trees in the Traunsee, with a chapel dedicated to St John the Baptist. Around 1020, a nunnery was built in Traunkirchen and Benedictine nuns from Nonnberg Abbey in Salzburg were brought to Traunkirchen. Since 1632, a procession has been held on Lake Traunsee on Corpus Christi Day in Traunkirchen, in which countless boats take part. Visitors can follow the procession from the shore.

The Salzkammergutbahn railway connects Stainach-Irdning in Styria with Schärding in Upper Austria. From Gmunden, the Salzkammergut Railway runs through the hilly hinterland of the western shore of Lake Traunsee to Traunkirchen. On this section, travellers have a beautiful view of Lake Traunsee and the Traunstein. Between Traunkirchen and Ebensee, the route of the Saltkammergutbahn runs through five tunnels up to 1.5 kilometres long under the Sonnstein massif, which slopes steeply down to Lake Traunsee. The Salzkammergut Railway opened on 23 October 1877 with the first passenger train pulled by the "Hallstatt" locomotive. Emperor Franz Joseph I also used the Salzkammergut Railway to travel to his summer residence in Bad Ischl on the imperial court train built especially for him. We board the Salzkammergut Railway at Steeg-Gosau station in Bad Goisern on Lake Hallstatt and travel along the eastern shore of Lake Hallstatt to Hallstatt station.

Lake Hallstatt, whose deep basin was formed by the Traun glacier during the ice ages, is located in the Salzkammergut at 508 metres above sea level at the foot of the Dachstein massif, into which it is cut like a fjord. The lake, which runs from south to north, has a length of 7.5 kilometres and a maximum width of 1.4 kilometres. The Traun flows into Lake Hallstatt at Obertraun and leaves it again in the hamlet of Steeg, which belongs to Bad Goisern, in the direction of the Danube. Hallstatt is located on the western shore of Lake Hallstatt, on the alluvial cone of the Mühlbach stream. Lake Hallstatt is up to 126 metres deep, with an average depth of 65 metres. Early in the morning, when the morning mist still lies like a veil over the lake, the fishermen set out on Lake Hallstatt in their long, slender boats to haul in the fishing nets. The whitefish caught are at least four years old and taste much better than farmed fish due to their slow growth.

Travelling by boat across Lake Hallstatt is the most beautiful way to approach Hallstatt. Shipping across the lake has always been necessary to transport the salt, and visitors to Hallstatt were also rowed across the lake in carriages, light transport boats with a shallow keel, until 1862. The first ship to sail on Lake Hallstatt was called the "Hallstatt". It had a wooden hull that was made on site, but the steam engine had to be dismantled and delivered up the Traun by water. As there was no coal to run the engine, the steamer was heated with wood. In 1881, the Hallstatt train stop was opened and the regular boat service between the stop on the east bank and the market on the west bank began. Today, the 20 metre long and 4.60 metre wide MS Stefanie of Hallstättersee Schifffahrt Hemetsberger GmbH, which can take up to 130 passengers, runs daily throughout the year between the railway station on the eastern shore of Lake Hallstatt and Hallstatt Markt on the western shore.

The landscape of the Salzkammergut is characterised by high mountains, the river Traun and the lakes. The settlements like the small, old, picturesque mining town of Hallstatt, situated between steeply rising mountains and on the shimmering Lake Hallstatt have always been characterised by the wealth of salt. The word "Hall" in Hallstatt goes back to the Germanic word for salt. The local population was already extracting salt after 3000 BC by boiling salty springs. Around 1500 BC, salt mining began with the bronze pickle. Hallstatt became famous in 1846 when a burial ground of around 2000 people from the early Iron Age from 800 to around 350 BC was discovered. This is why the Early Iron Age was subsequently called the "Hallstatt Culture“ that refers to the material culture around the Alps in large parts of Central Europe. In the 19th century Ferdinand Waldmüller made Hallstatt famous with his paintings and Adalbert Stifter with his descriptions of its beauty.

The parish church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Hallstatt, built around 1150, of which the tower, which was given a baroque helmet in 1750, is still preserved, is also known as Maria am Berg. In 1320 the church was rebuilt into a Romanesque church and in the late Gothic period the present church was erected on the steep rock. The large south portal of the church was built in 1519. Above the portal are two frescoes by a master of the Danube School, a circle of painters from the first third of the 16th century who were a link between the late Gothic and Renaissance periods. On entering the interior of Hallstatt's parish church, you will see two winged altars in the double choir, one late Gothic and one neo-Gothic from the end of the 19th century. The late-Gothic Hallstatt altar of the Virgin Mary, a changing altar with a main shrine and two movable inner and outer wings, is a so-called miners' altar, which was donated in connection with the salt mining in Hallstatt.

Seewirt Zauner on Hallstatt's market square has been 'the' fish restaurant of the Salzkammergut since 1893. For example with grilled Reinanken from Lake Hallstatt. Reinanken are a relic of the Ice Age. It is assumed that the Reinanken advanced from the north to the Alps with the meltwater streams at the end of the last ice age. As the ice receded, large lakes carved out by glaciers remained, forming the habitat of the Reianken. Reinanken prefer water temperatures between 10 and 12 degrees. The spawning season begins at water temperatures below 7 degrees Celsius. Reinanken is a common name in Austria for fish of the genus Coregonus from the trout family, which is characterised by its white, firm meat with a strong flavour. Reinanken feed exclusively on organisms found in lakes and reach an average size of between 30 and 50 centimetres.

The Salzbergbahn, a funicular railway from the 1980s operated by Österreichische Saline AG, takes you up 300 metres in altitude from around 500 metres above sea level in Hallstatt to 838 metres above sea level in the Hallstatt high valley in 5 minutes at a speed of 5 metres per second over a distance of 548 metres. There is room for 28 people in the cabin of the Salzbergbahn funicular railway. A funicular railway is a means of transport whose vehicles, which run on rails, are pulled by a cable. There are two carriages running, which are connected by a wire rope that runs over a pulley in the mountain station. The two carriages keep each other in balance. They are driven by an electric motor that acts on the pulley in the mountain station. In this way, considerable differences in height can be overcome over a short distance. The special thing about travelling on the Salzbergbahn is the beautiful view of Hallstatt and Lake Hallstatt.

Skywalks are viewing platforms that are bridge-like, statically extreme constructions that enable spectacular high-altitude experiences. The Skywalk in Hallstatt, built in 2013, is a steel construction weighing several tonnes and tapering to a point, reminiscent of Hallstatt's roof gables on the one hand and a ship's bow on the other. It is located on the Salzberg, suspended 360 metres above Hallstatt, directly below the former fortified tower, which is named Rudolfsturm after the first Habsburg Rudolf I. It was built in the years 1282 to 1284 by Rudolf's son, Duke Albrecht I of Austria, to protect the shaft and scoop buildingsmof the Hallstatt salt mine. Today the Rudolfsturm houses a restaurant/cafe. The Hallstatt Skywalk offers a breathtaking bird's eye view of Hallstatt, Lake Hallstatt and the surrounding mountains and makes for great photos.

In the middle of the 19th century, a burial ground was discovered in the Hallstatt high valley purely by chance, as human bones and ancient artefacts were unearthed during gravel extraction. On further excavation it was recognised that it was a larger burial ground with around 2,000-4,000 burials, which was occupied from the 8th - 4th century BC. The graves were shallow, with an average depth of 100 to 150 cm and no surface markings. 45% of the graves were cremation graves. The body graves were mostly orientated east-west, in a supine position, facing the exit of the high valley. The graves in the Hallstatt high valley were used to characterise the Early Iron Age of Central Europe in 1874 due to the richness of the grave goods. Since then, the term "Hallstatt culture" has been used to describe the material culture in the Alpine region from the 8th to the 5th century BC.

Your tour of the historic salt mine begins in the miners' house with the "dressing up". You will be given a "miner's outfit". Through a wooden corridor, you walk outside and up to the entrance of the Kaiserin Christina Stollen, which was "struck", i.e. started, in 1719. You walk into the tunnel with your guide and reach the first highlight after a few minutes: the slide. Just like the miners, you can slide down the slide into the tunnel system! Next you reach one of the "knowledge stations", where there is a film explaining the history of salt mining. The tour continues through the tunnels to another slide, the longest underground wooden slide in Europe. The light show at the salt lake, which was created by salt mining, is particularly special. The last stop on the underground tour in the Salzberg is the Bronze Age cinema, where the oldest wooden staircase in Europe is on display. At the end, you can sample various salts and board the small mine train that takes you out of the tunnel.