Wanderlust in AUSTRIA: Hiking the Hills in Salzburg + Getting Completely LOST in Hallstatt

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Where to start?! It has been a while since our last update and we have been ALL OVER the place. Since visiting Paris (jaw-dropping post on the Siene floods here), we traveled back to America for my sister’s EPIC wedding in Washington DC! It was seriously epic, we ended up having to abandon the buses and charge through the DC #PrideParade to and from the chapel carrying armfuls of her fantastically, ginormous train! It was amazing and UNFORGETTABLE. Polaroid of the moment here:

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Since then, Drew and I have visited the powerful beaches of Normandy (post coming soon), made the pilgrimage across quicksand to the iconic Mont Saint Michel (another post coming soon) and we still have yet to tell you anything about our travels in Austria, Germany, Luxembourg and France!! My to-write list and Drew’s videos to-make list continue to grow by the minute…

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Here’s an incredible 360 degree time lapse Drew took while we ate dinner along the shores of Normandy’s Omaha Beach last week:

So again, where to start. We debate telling you about Germany’s Romantic Road or Austria first… for simplicity, let’s go in time order. AUSTRIA IT IS.

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IMPORTANT. While we love sharing bucket list posts and must-do advice, Austria is teeming with opportunities for excitement and outdoor romance, so please don’t use this post as a means to limit your travels. May our photos inspire and guide your wanderlust hearts to the mountain peaks and dreamy villages your souls crave. OK. Back to Austria.

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SALZBURG: It’s stunning, it’s enchanting, it’s chock-full of history, Hollywood and delicious treats. We recommend at least 3 days for a well-rounded visit because between the hike up to Hohensalzberg, the surrounding opportunities for adventure,”Mozart Balls,” the incredible little shops (see sparkly eggs video below) and especially if you’re a Sound of Music fan, there’s more than enough to discover!

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Traveling with your bae? Don’t forget to have a love lock on hand:

Chances are that you’ve heard of the Sound of Music, yes? Well it turns out that this famous flick was filmed throughout the entire town and was based on a real Austrian family that really lived in Salzburg! Famous scenes are scattered EVERYWHERE and after discovering that neither of us had ever seen the movie, we decided to rent it one rainy night and fell in love, so much so that the very next day we embarked on a full-day, self-guided Sound of Music tour and had an absolute BLAST doing it! Tip: If you haven’t seen the movie, DO IT.

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16 going on 17 anyone?

Just a short trip away from Salzburg is Mount Schober, the picturesque peak which rises 5,237 feet above the town of Fuschl. In need of some heart-pumping adventure to mix things up, it was the perfect afternoon activity for a breathtaking trek and view!

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Fun fact: Because we were there in May we were treated to a traditional Austrian Maypole at the top!

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Next, LAKE HALLSTATT:

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Tune into Vlog #10 below for details on our Hallstatt adventures + keep scrolling down for some stunning photos + an even better video at the end of this post!

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Recommended by a friend… or more so told that we had NO CHOICE but to visit this UNESCO World Heritage Site, upon arrival (and until we left) our eyes were filled with stars. It was GORGEOUS.

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We had never seen a more beautiful and serene cemetery:

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And the bike path along the Hallstätter See (lake) from Bad Goisern to Obertraun (East side) was AWESOME:

We biked around the entire lake (18.5 miles), hiked up to the viewing deck + salt caves of Salzwelten (great cafe for lunch at the top), explored the incredibly picturesque cemeteries (be sure to find the skulls!) and got COMPLETELY LOST trying to summit Dachstein! Here’s me gratefully, and miraculously, using wifi on the trail via tep to see if we could catch the last cable car to the bottom… IF we were able to race to the top in time…

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We literally saw NO ONE all day, just this herd of very friendly aka. hungry goats…

and some signs that where supposed to point us in the direction of something but really just confused us more:

Below you can see the incredible 5finger platform jutting over the summit of Dachstein at 6,916 feet. THIS is what we were trying to reach, followed by catching the last cable car down the mountain so we wouldn’t have to hike the seven (steep) miles back to the trailhead, but the closer we hiked, the more it looked like there was NO ONE up there either…

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At least the scenery was incredible! No matter what the outcome, this was one hike we were sure to never forget.

Curious about our experience trying to hike up the mighty Dachstein? Drew put together our GoPro footage which captures everything from the incredible scenery, the herd of hungry goats we met, us skiing (?!?) and the answer you’ve all been waiting for… did we ever make it to the top?! Watch below for all that and MORE:

We spent much more time than anticipated in Austria (though we easily could have spent more). Something about its storybook villages, Imperial history and rugged alpine terrain seemed to grab our hearts, keeping us from ever wanting to leave it’s lush embrace.