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Twenty kilometres south of Salzburg and served by regular bus and train services, the market town of HALLEIN has been synonymous with the salt trade since the sixth century BC. Celts from Hallstatt in the Salzkammergut opened up the salt mines in the hills around Bad Dürrnberg, immediately west of Hallein and, apart from a period of abandonment following the departure of the Romans from the region in the fifth century, the mines have been the dominant factor in the town's development ever since. While commercial salt extraction came to an end here in 1989, since then tours of the Bad Dürrnberg show-mine have constituted one of the biggest tourist attractions in the region. The historic centre of Hallein itself is picturesque enough to warrant a leisurely stroll, and the local museum has one of the country's richest collections of Celtic artefacts . Together Hallein and Bad Dürrnberg make a popular day-trip from Salzburg.