Hello!
I am going to Europe in a month and would like to spend four days in Austria. I will be leaving from Lucerne, Switzerland and would prefer to take the train versus fly. I will have 4 days total to spend in Austria (including basically one day of travel time) so I'm wondering if I can only pick between Vienna or Salzburg which one you would recommend.
Granted, both are LONG trips from Lucerne which I'm not overly excited about (about 6 hours to Salzburg or 9 to Vienna) but if Vienna is a much better place to stay in then I'm willing to put up with an extra couple of hours on the train. Please let me know what your experiences are of the cities and which one was your favorite .
Thank you!
Bonvoyagegirl
Vienna or Salzburg
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For what it's worth, Salzburg to me was a far more picturesque city. I didn't explore the museums (much) in either city nor did I attend concerts so can't comment on those. Vienna was nice but Salzburg was really beautiful.
Salzburg is a very charming town and, with the mountains nearby, can easily keep you busy for 3 days.
Vienna is a sizable city with many more things to see and do - (it was the long-time capital of the Austro-Hungarian empire and has the palaces and museums to prove it) but it on the plain - not in the mountains.
If I had never seen either one I would definitely do Vienna - but without knowing your interests I don't know which you will enjoy more.
I liked both very much, but they are really apples and oranges, so it depends on what you want to do.
Salzburg is lovely, and scenic, with a few historic sites. we only had 2 nights (about 1 1/2 days) and I found that was enough for what I wanted to see there. If I'd had more time, I would probably have taken a daytrip.
Vienna is a large, cosmopolitan city, with museums, music, and tons of interesting sights. We spent 6 days there, saw lots of Klimt in the museums, saw the Spanish riding school perform, toured a couple of imperial palaces, and attended 2 operas. And still there was more to see or do that we didn't get to.
So for me, Vienna is the easy choice. But not because its "better" so much as there is more there to see.