pegpaz

Hi,

My husband and I are thinking of going to Austria in 2014 for the first time. Possibly the end of May or beginning of June. (when it is somewhat warm and schools are not out yet) There are non-stop flights from New Jersey to Munich, so we will possibly fly there, rent a car and drive to Salzburg, the Lake Districk then to Vienna and fly home from there.
This would be approx. a 1 week trip, and we would probably look to stay a few days at each location.
I just read on another post about the wine region outside of Vienna, so we might try to squeeze that in too.
Any suggestions on which picturesque village to stay at in the Lake District? We would like to do some moderate hiking from the village and would like a village that is larger and has different places to explore. I was looking at St. Wolfgang. Is that a good place to stay? Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

bobthenavigator

St. Gilgen is my pick.

We like this place:
http://www.hotel-wolfgangsee.com/index.php/en/

pegpaz

Thanks for the quick reply Bob. The place you mentioned looks very nice. How does St. Gilgen compare with St. Wolfgang and some of the other villages?

ira

Hi pp,

We very much liked our stay in Hallstatt.

>This would be approx. a 1 week trip,

2 nights in Salzburg, 2 nights in The Kammergut and 2 nights in Vienna?

We spent a week in Salzburg and the The Kammergut. Gorgeous countryside.

trotters

Another vote for staying in St. Gilgen at the Schernthaner. Annelise and her family are gracious hosts, and St. Gilgen is a charming village. The park by the lake is a great spot for relaxing and enjoying the lake and the mountains. St. Wolfgang is more built-up at the lake and more crowded with tourists.

You might consider train travel rather than renting a car. Train from MUC to Salzburg is 2.5 hours. Then a 45 minute bus ride to St. Gilgen. The Salzburg bus station is adjacent to the train station. In St. Gilgen the bus stop is a block from the Schernthaner. Train from Salzburg to Vienna is less than 2.5 hours.

pegpaz

Thanks for the replies!
Ira - Yes, I assume it will be approx. 2 days or so in each place.
Trotters - I guess you and Bob sold me on the Schernthaner and St. Gilgen. Thanks!!
Regarding car vs. train - I think we would like the option of pulling over and taking pictures or exploring other things along the way to Vienna.

bobthenavigator

Include Hallstatt and Melk enroute to Vienna.

annhig

pegpaz - like many people who perhaps haven't been to europe very much, you are assuming that the places you have listed are not vey far apart, and that there isn't much to see in any of them.

on the contrary, it will take you half a day at least to move from one place to another, [longer if you follow Bob's excellent advice to go to Hallstadt and Melk] which reduces your time in each place to about 1 1/2 days.

There is loads more to see in this than you could see in 2 weeks, let alone one, especially in Vienna which is one of the great capital cities of the world. if you go to see the vineyards, you won't have time for Vienna, and vice versa.

please do try to stretch this trip a bit as you're going to be doing a lot of travelling and have very little time to see the places you have travelled so far to visit.

TravelerKaren

We just returned from that area and stopped in St. Gilgen and St. Wolfgang from Salzburg (both lovely towns) and then stopped in Hallstatt for a night (highly recommend)before heading to Melk and Durnstein where we stopped for a night in Weisenkirchen before heading to Vienna for 4 days. We thought Hallstatt the most beautiful and would love to spend more time there. It was raining the day we were there but still beautiful. We had 4 days in Vienna and still didn't see everything. It's a lovely town, friendly people, easy to get around.

I just posted our trip report if you want to see what we did.

Have fun planning!

pegpaz

Karen - Thanks and I look forward to reading your trip report.
Ann - Thank you for your honesty. As usual, my husband and I try to see as much as we can, in usually too short a time. I am thinking we would be there for 8 days. Arriving on a Saturday morning and flying out the following Sunday morning. I was thinking of spending 2 or 3 nights in either Salzburg or Vienna and 3 in St. Gilgen. If we can't extend our trip, is there something you would cut out?

annhig

Ann - Thank you for your honesty.>>

pegpaz - thank YOU for taking my remarks in the spirit in which they were meant.

Personally, of those three places i much prefer the Salzkammergut and Vienna.

if you've got 8 whole days, [ie 9 nights with travel days either side] assuming you're arriving in Salzburg, I would spend your first day and night there, then go onto St. Gilgen for 3 nights, spend a day travelling to Vienna via Melk, and end with 4 nights in Vienna. not really long enough anywhere, but better than 'nowt. if you're keener on the outdoors than museums, add a day to St. Gilgen and take one from Vienna.

I do agree that a car is the best option - some of the train and bus timetables seemed to us to make 30 min journeys into 90 minute ones, as they went round every little village and hamlet. but don't forget the boats - they are a lovely way to get round the lakes. one great trip is to take the boat to the bottom of the track and get the little train up to the top of the Schaffberg - wonderful views over the whole of the Salzkammergut.

if you want some other ideas you could click on my screen name to find my TR from our holiday in Austria a few years ago.

joannyc

While I enjoyed visiting St. Gilgen, I am happy that I stayed in St. Wolfgang. Little bigger with more restaurant options and more lively when I was there in Sept-Oct.

Hallstatt is gorgeous and really deserves at least a night after all the day trippers leave. Melk Abbey is stunning!

annhig

joanncy - we stayed in St. wolfgang, albeit on the outskirts at Ried, and we wished we'd stayed in St. Gilgen!

though in fact, we found one place in between them both which we liked more than either of them:

http://www.hotel-falkenstein.at/

lovely position, nice food and very very friendly people.

brmsimmons

I just returned from a trip to Austria and Prague. We stayed in Salzburg for 3 nights (with a day trip to Werfen),3 nights in Vienna(with a day trip to Melk/biking to Krems) and 2 nights in Prague.I travel at a fairly fast pace though I don't try to see all the sites an area has to offer I try to enjoy what I do see. I did not feel short changed by my length of stays in Salzburg or Vienna though I would have liked an extra day in Prague. I had a great trip and really enjoyed these areas.

Trophywife007

@brmsimmons -- how was Werfen? We're interested in a future visit and were wondering about the logistics of getting to the schloss -- do you have to hike up, etc? Thanks! (Sorry for the hi-jack.)

pegpaz

Trophywife - no problem with the hi-jacking ! I am happy to hear anything about Austria that I can. What is the "schloss" ??
And I would also like to heara from brmsimmons how Werfen was.
Thanks!

annhig

pegpaz - "Schloss" is a german word for a castle, as is Burg.

Here's a useful link about castles near Salzburg:

http://www.salzburg-burgen.at/en/werfen/

it looks like the castle at Salzburg is more of a Burg [a fortress] than a Schloss [more like a palace or chateau].

Trophywife007

FYI:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hohenwerfen_Castle

An old Clint Eastwood movie was filmed around there, "Where Eagles Dare" with Richard Burton... or maybe it's a Richard Burton movie with Clint Eastwood, whatever.

ashwinb

I wasn't too impressed with St.Gilgen and St.Wolfgangsee, Halstatt and Gosausee/Gosau further into the lake district were a lot more impressive. Gosau was actually the star of my trip.
Then I did a day trip to Munich, which too was outstanding.
And Berchtesgaden too did not impress me a lot, especially after the Lake district in Austria.

pegpaz

Thanks for all the great info. I guess we will need to figure out if we think we can squeeze Salzburg, a lake ditrict town and Vienna into 8 days. I think we are flying into Munich and out of Vienna. Did not book the air yet.