We like St. Gilgen and the B&B named Garni Schernthaner.
It has easy bus service into Salzburg.

Almost one year ago, you asked numerous similar questions and received many good responses with advice.
I suggest that you review those postings before asking more

Thanks bobthenavigator.

Molker - you are bang on. You had given very good advise for Vienna too. (Thanks once again). Last year we had arrived in Vienna and stayed for nearly 4 days but were not really able to cover lot of attractions. So this time we plan to depart from Vienna.

Based on recommendations received on Fodors, we had based ourselves at Zell Am See last year. However, this time we are arriving in Prague and initial plan was to go to Cesky Krumlov and then back to Prague and then move to Dresden for a couple of days before flying out of Munich. But, since we have been twice to Munich, we opted to fly out of Vienna. We will skip Cesky Krumlov due to poor connectivity with other regions and maybe give Dresden a skip too and just keep 3 bases - Prague, some good base in Salzburgerland and then move to Vienna.

Since we will be using public transport not really able to figure out the best route for Prague-Salzburg or Dresden-Salzburg (if we include Dresden). We do not want a very small village and therefore, I am leaning towards St. Wolfgang v/s St. Gilgen. Need some insight as to is the town centre and lake far from each other. Would St. Wolfgang be convenient in terms of doing the mountain excursions and also a day trip to Salzburg OR do you recommend another base town in this region.

Kind regards,
SKPKCP11

I don't think you should eliminate C. Krumlov! You can take a bus from Prague. And, if you do go, don't miss the baroque theater tour at the castle... even if you can't get on an English-speaking tour.

There are shuttles available from C. Krumlov to Salzburg. And then other public transport to St. Wolfgang, which I think is a terrific town. I like it much more than St. Gilgen (others prefer St. Gilgen because it is a bit smaller). I don't know if there is direct transport from CK to St. Wolfgang.

St. Wolfgang sits directly on the lake and is very convenient to Mount Schafberg. You can take the boat to St. Gilgen.

I stayed at the Seebockenhotel. It was a very good hotel in a fantastic location. Highly recommend it.

I second bobthenavigator's recommendation of Hotel Schernthaner in St. Gilgen. I have stayed there several times. I love going to Five Fingers. I actually go there from Hallstatt. Please don't miss going by train to the Hallstatt stop, walk a very short distance down to the boat across the lake to Hallstatt. Have your camera ready! The most beautiful views I have seen!

We also love the Hotel Schernthaner in St. Gilgen. First went there in 2007 based on bobthenavigator's recommendation and have been back almost every year since.

St. Wolfgang IS bigger but we like staying in SG. You can take the chairlift from SG up to the Zwolferhorn Mtn. You can also take the boat across the lake from SG to St. Wolfgang and then the steam train up to Schafberg Mtn. And, as mentioned, you can take the bus from SG into Salzburg where you have access to many more transportation options.

It's one of our favorite areas.

We used www.mike-chauffeur.cz from Prague to Cesky Krumlov and from CK to Passau. We travel by train and since the connections were very time consuming using their service was perfect. CK is worth the extra effort to visit, a small fairy tale kind of place. If you should end up in Passau there is a concert at noon Monday-Saturday at Saint Steven. They have the largest organ in the Catholic church in the world and largest in Europe I believe.

Bad Ischl would be a good place to base for the train. We stayed in St. Wolfgang and would do so again. The bus service is connected to the train station and it seems 30 minutes or less of a very scenic ride over to SW. We made several day trips around the lake and one day went back to visit Bad Ischl and also took the short train ride to Halstatt. A boat meets incoming trains and as scatcat mentioned you have the most beautiful views. Definitely a not to miss place. BTW, we also stayed at the Seebockenhotel in SW and had a corner room overlooking the lake. When it was time to leave SW I honestly wanted to cry.