If you have ever wondered if fairytale towns exist, they do—in the form of Hallstatt, Austria. We had seen pictures of this town before and knew we wanted to visit, but it wouldn’t be easy or cheap. When we got to Vienna, Austria, we had originally planned to skip Hallstatt, but at the last minute, we changed our minds, and it was one of the best decisions we made. We had to take a three-hour train ride to the small town, which honestly wasn’t as bad as we had imagined; the train was quite comfortable.

Once we arrived, we sat in awe, staring at the town from across the lake because you have to take a ferry to get over to it. Seeing the city from afar was incredible—the houses, buildings, and churches are all painted brightly, and they shone against the mountains and trees surrounding them. The lake also reflected the city, which was such a cool sight. Once we ferried over to the city, we started to notice all the little details, from the flowers in every windowsill to the streets lined with beautiful flowerbeds in different colors, making this old city seem new.

We wandered through the streets, taking in all the views and watching the swans swim in the lake. We ate by the water, and once we were full, we decided to hike up to the top of a mountain to get an even better view. Once we were up there, we noticed another small town adjacent to Hallstatt that was once hidden by the mountains. It was amazing seeing this, but we started to get very cold, so we decided to grab some apple strudel, which is an Austrian dish, and then head back down. We wandered through the city until it was time to ferry back, and right when we did, it started to rain, so we were lucky the rain held out for us. We then took the train back home and immediately went to sleep. I am so thankful we didn’t skip out on this wonderful place!