A day in Hallstatt and Salzburg

Spending a day in Hallstatt and Salzburg was the perfect addition to our Austria itinerary. This was our first international trip since Amarra was born. Fun fact: Vienna was our layover on way to South Africa. To break up the long flights from Toronto to Cape Town, we took a 3 day halt in Austria. My focus of the entire trip was South Africa and I did not realize how beautiful and breathtaking Austria is.

The country is surrounded by the glorious Austrian Alps with their green and luscious mountains with peaks kissed with snow. We were stationed in Vienna and really debated the 3-hour drive to Hallstatt. We weren’t too sure if the girls would mind the 6 hours drive a day after we landed in Vienna. When we asked around, every single person encouraged us to do this drive. After a lot of debate, we decided to go for it! So we spend a day in Hallstatt and Salzburg.

We woke up at 6am and fed the girls breakfast. They had a chance to play for a while before we left on our 3-hour drive. On the way there, they napped for over 2 hours. This drive gave Rohan and I a chance to really plan our time in Austria. We had not researched too much this time and wanted to go with the flow while giving the girls a chance to be well rested.

Things that helped us with the drive were:

• Feeding them breakfast and giving them an hour of playtime before leaving was enough to tire them out and nap for most of our drive to Hallstatt.
• We had rented a full size SUV and this really helped us with the drives because I could comfortably sit at the back between the two car seats and feed Amarra when needed or entertain them if they got bored.
• We had downloaded a lot of YouTube videos for Myrra to watch during the long car rides – holidays are definitely an exception to any screen time rule we have for her!
• Playing nursery rhymes in the car was a hit with Myrra. She would spend a good chunk of time singing along.  
• We had taken lots and lots of snacks for Myrra and some food pouches for Amarra.
• Austria is 6 hours ahead of Canada and the jet lag may have helped the girls sleep longer that day.

Hallstatt

Hallstatt was everything we had only ever dreamt. This postcard town is located amongst the magnificent Austrian Alps nestled between the gorgeous blue waters. In November, this place was truly magical and a fantasy for those photographers that lined the tourist piers with their tripods.

The town was a cute little street with tiny homes, souvenir shops and packed with tourists. Myrra had a total blast walking around and posing for pictures. She was watching a duck on the road that ended up coming too close and biting her jacket (she did not get bit or hurt by anyway) and that was the highlight of her trip to Hallstatt and she talked about it all day and still does to date.

Amarra was cozy and cuddled in the carrier and enjoyed watching everything while getting snuggles from mommy. Even though all activities and the boat rides were closed for the season, we had a great time in Hallstatt.

Salzburg

Originally our plan was to only drive to Hallstatt but once we were finished there, the girls still seemed happy and there was no sign of sleep on the horizon. We decided to take advantage of this and drive to Salzburg that was a mere hour away. They took a quick nap on our ride there and were ready to explore as soon as we reached.

We stopped for a late lunch in one of the cute fast-food places by the main bridge. We were able to see the birthplace of Mozart and get lost inside the little city in Salzburg. This place was truly astonishing. It was a city inside a city and it was lined with little boutique hotels, restaurants and lots of shopping along cobblestone roads and pretty flower baskets hanging everywhere.

We stayed in Salzburg till late afternoon and once we realized the girls were getting tired, we knew it was time to head back. Amarra was napping on and off in the carrier but Myrra needed her downtime as well.

We had to drive 3.5 hours back to Vienna and the girls slept most of the drive. The last 30 minutes, were a bit challenging because they were getting tired sitting in the car – but overall we had a fantastic day and drove a total of 8 hours without either of them crying or ‘loosing it’. This was our first road trip with the girls and to say it was a 100% success would surely not be true.

Things we learnt

• Take lots and lots of water – We only took one bottle of water with us and definitely learnt to keep a lot more in the car because Myrra ended up dropping that bottle and we had to go hunting for more. A lot of stores close down for the winter months in Hallstatt so this was not an easy find.
• Take a lot of plastic bags – We had a little portable potty for Myrra. If you have a child that is potty trained, you may know that they need to go at all the wrong times. We had taken the OXO potty with us that folds to be used on the go or you can leave it flat on the toilet seat. Many times when a bathroom wasn’t readily available, we would fold the potty in the trunk, put in a plastic bag and line it with spare diaper and let her pee. Well you can only guess what happens when you run out of plastic bags at this time!

Final thoughts

All in all, we had a great time in Hallstatt and Salzburg! We had our Uppababy Vista on this trip with us because we did not want to take two umbrella strollers. We knew that the Vista would be comfortable for Amarra to sleep in – another reason why we absolutely needed a full sized SUV.

If you are looking for spend a day in Vienna, make sure you check out our blog post here. Hope you enjoyed reading our post on a day in Hallstatt and Salzburg!

Have you guys been to Hallstatt? Or do you have a story to share about your first road trip with the kids? Do you have something different that worked for you during your road trips? Share in the comments below!