In the fairytale village of Halstatt, Upper Austria

 Hallstatt, a site in the Upper Austrian Salzkammergut region, is where objects characteristic of the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age were first identified; the term Hallstatt now refers generally to late Bronze and early Iron Age culture in central and western Europe.

====================================================================
(in Upper Austria) Hallstatt is a fairytale Austrian village -- and lots of tourists have noticed It. (Set foot in the village of Hallstatt and it seems a musical number might erupt at any moment.) Bright reds and yellows paint this Austrian town’s 16th-century architecture; in Spring and Summer, flower boxes drape windows in geraniums and ivy; and cobblestone streets connect charming cafés, ornate churches, and Alpine inns. Natural wonders await around every corner -- from the neighboring Salzkammergut mountains to Lake Hallstatt, to the village’s very own waterfall.

+ Despite being accessible only on foot, this small town saw a million visitors in 2018, reports the Washington Post -- a staggering 347 times more tourists per capita than Hong Kong, one of the world’s most visited cities. Greatly-increased tourism in Hallstatt was covered by The Washington Post in August 2019. Though its tourism began in the 19th century, it greatly increased after the village was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997. It became popular among East Asian tourists in 2006 when it was featured on a South Korean television show. Social media images of Hallstatt, captioned "the most Instagrammable town in the world," went viral in Eastern and Southeast Asia.

+ Hallstatt's economy now depends on tourism, but according to locals the day-visitors drive away tourists who would stay longer. Hallstatt became the prime example of overtourism in Austria and led to controversies around limiting the number of tourists. The Austrian Public Broadcasting Organization made multiple documentaries about the situation. In 2020, the town focused on "quality" tourism.[ From autumn 2020 there are assigned time slots for tour buses to cope with the problem. The arrivals will be limited to 54 per day, which is about half of the current number. Buses with an overnight booking in the town will receive preference. In August 2023, it was reported that locals had protested against overtourism, with the town of just 700 residents being visited by up to 10,000 visitors per day during the high season.

+ Hallstatt is situated between the southwestern shore of Hallstätter See and the steep slopes of the Dachstein massif; the town lies in the Salzkammergut region, on the national road linking Salzburg and Graz. Hallstatt is known for its production of salt, dating back to prehistoric times, and gave its name to the Hallstatt culture, the archaeological culture linked to Proto-Celtic and Celtic people of the Early Iron Age in Europe (ca. 800–450 BCE).

+ The village is at the core of the Hallstatt-Dachstein/Salzkammergut Cultural Landscape, which was declared as one of the World Heritage Sites in 1997.