A Town Worth Repeating
You've probably seen this town all over Pinterest -- it's one of the most picturesquely quaint places I've ever visited. Situated amidst Austria's lake region, the tiny town of Hallstatt sits at the edge of Lake Hallstatt's calm waters. Yes the town looks like something Walt Disney would have dreamed up; but the downside to its charm is that apparently everyone else in the world has seen Hallstatt on Pinterest, too, because it is so overcrowded with tourists we could barely move at times. We drove into Hallstatt as a detour on our route from Vienna to Salzburg, but we weren't super hopeful because the forecast predicted 100% chance of rain the entire afternoon. As we drove and when we arrived it was overcast and drizzling but we took our chances and walked into town anyways. We snapped some lovely photos as we made our way to the infamous lookout point at the edge of town then having gotten some decent shots, headed to lunch. As we were finishing our food, seemingly out of nowhere, the sun started shining and within minutes the clouds had completely cleared. Thinking it would be fleeting, I leapt up from the table and hurried back to the lookout point to take some nicer photos. But the clouds never returned and the weather went from chilly and drizzling to hot and sunny just like that. We decided to stay a little longer to enjoy the beautiful weather and rented a small electric boat to tool around the lake. What had started off as a bit of a disappointment turned into some of the prettiest photos of the entire trip. While I would not recommend staying in Hallstatt as it is super touristy, it is definitely worth a stop and a boat ride to take in the beautiful scenery. Fun fact: apparently, Hallstatt became so popular with Chinese tourists that they have recreated the town completely back in China.
