Hallstatt, Austria

Why go

Hallstatt has been mining salt for seven thousand years, which makes it one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in Europe, and it sits on a shelf of land so narrow that the houses climb the cliff behind them. Come early or stay the night, because the day trippers arrive at eleven and leave at four, and the village in the evening with the lake flat and the lights on is a different place entirely. Take the funicular up to the salt mine and the skywalk that hangs out over the valley, row a wooden boat across to the far shore, and look into the bone house by the church, where skulls were painted and stacked because the graveyard ran out of room.

Good to know

• Fly into Salzburg (SZG), then about ninety minutes by road or train and ferry
• Two nights, and stay over so you get the village at dawn and dusk
• The salt mine and skywalk are the two things to book
• December is Christmas market season and very pretty, and very cold

Best May to September, and December.