The Hallstatt Salzwelten

The oldest salt mine in the world

When 3 miners stumble upon a body in the salt mine in April 1734, one thing is clear: it has to be over 1,000 years old. Because of its having been stored in salt the male corpse is excellently preserved, even the hair and clothes have been maintained. He was probably a prehistoric miner killed in a mining accident.

You can find out about this and other exciting stories by visiting Hallstatt’s Salzwelten in the oldest salt mine in the world.

Next we will be travelling up into the Hallstatt high valley with the panoramic funicular railway. To get to the station, go to the tourist information centre at the village entrance and cross over Salzbergstraße.

One you are up in the high valley take the panoramic lift and bridge to the restaurant and the Skywalk viewing platform. Enjoy an incomparable view from 300 m above Hallstatt.

See the 800-year-old Rudolf’s Tower, where the salt mine foreman used to live. And take a “journey through time” through the famous Hallstatt burial ground which also to be found in the high valley.

Even today, scientists from the Naturhistorisches Museum in Vienna come to Hallstatt’s high valley each summer to explore the burial ground and prehistoric mine.