peteryoon3411

Would appreciate some feedback. 14 days in Austria/Switzerland. Current itinerary is Vienna (landing) for 3 nights, Salzburg for 2 nights, Innsbruck for 2 nights, Basel for 2 nights, Grindelwald for 2 nights, and lastly Lucerne for 2 nights before flying out of Zurich . Admittedly a lot to digest, but need to be in Basel on Day 8 for a conference. Otherwise probably would have skipped Basel outright to tack on to other locations. Any thoughts on the itinerary? Only thing I can think of is redundancy between Innsbruck and Grindelwald, but the prospect of a 7 hour train ride between Salzburg and Basel is a bit terrifying. Though Innsbruck would help break apart the trip into more palatable chunks. Anything thing that you would change? Thanks!

janisj

Welcome to Fodors. I'll post more later . . . but all those two night stops would make me crazy. Two nights in a town nets you ONE day. So you are running from place to place and spending more time packing/unpacking/checking in/checking out and in transit than you are actually being anywhere. You have seven destinations (including Zurich) -- I'd cut that in half . . .

peteryoon3411

Thanks janisj. All good points. Yes but what to cut out is the million dollar question! Must do's are Vienna (landing in and want to do 2 countries and have never visited Austria), Basel (conference), and Zurich/Lucerne (flying out of area). I'm from Denver, and spend lots of time in the Rockies, so mountains are not a new thing but feel if I struck Grindelwald we'd miss out on the Swiss Alps experience! .

neckervd

What about:
direct United/Lufthansa flight from Denver to Munich
train ride from Munich airport to Salzburg (2 3/4 hrs)
train ride from Salzburg to Vienna (2 1/2 hrs)
overnight train (sleeping cars) Vienna dp 21.39 - Zürich ar 8.20, dp 8.34 - Basel ar 9.28
or direct Swiss/Austrian flight from Vienna to Basel
United/Lufthansa flight from Zurich to Denver via Frankfurt

Melnq8

FWIW - I live in CO too, and have visited Switzerland many, many times and can't get enough of it. The Rockies are nothing like the Swiss Alps!

Listen to neckervd, he knows what he's talking about. And I completely agree with Janis about two night stays, we avoid them like the plague.

What time of year?

peteryoon3411

Thanks for the suggestions. Never thought of this routing. What do you think of Vienna, Salzburg, Munich then Basel? Your suggestion would be "traveling backward", although I do see the sleeper train option compensating for this.

peteryoon3411

We are traveling in August. Although we don't usually do two night stays, we are traveling light, and visiting places that I don't think warrant more than 2 nights like Salzburg, Zurich, Basel...(although please correct me if I am wrong!), and spending 3 nights in more meaningful places like Vienna, Grindelwald, and maybe Munich if our route changes as per neckervd's suggestion.

janisj

" . . . visiting places that I don't think warrant more than 2 nights like Salzburg, Zurich, Basel.."

???

Two night gives you one day in a city -- so if you think these places are only 'worth' one day . . . I'd reconsider even including them.

neckervd

Vienna:
You can easily stay 3 full days in Vienna and visit nothing but the castles (Schoenbrunn, Belvedere, Hofburg and it's museums), churches, theatres, big museums, Prater, Grinzing, etc.......
Vienna is furthermore a good base for daytrips to
Wachau: Danube boat cruise to Melk Monastery and Krems
Baden-Baden, Eisenstadt (Esterhazy castle) and Lake Neusiedlersee (open air opera festival in August);
Bratislava (capital of Sovakia): 1 hr OW by train, a bit longer by Danube boat/catamaran
Brno (Czech Republic): 1 1/2 hrs OW by train
Budapest: 2 1/2 hrs OW by train

Salzburg:
IMO the cty and the castles of Mirabell and Hohensalzburg can be visited in 1 day
but the day trip possibilities are amoist endless:
Lake St. Wolfgang boat cruise and Schafberg cog wheel railway,
Hallstatt and salt mines,
Hallein salt mines, Werfen-Eisriesenwelt,
Berchtesgaden, Obersalzberg, Koenigssee,
Zell am See (1 1/2 hrs by trasin OW) and Kitzsteinhorn.......

Innsbruck:
nice medieval city center with churches, castles and museums, cn be visited in a bit less than a full day IMO.
endless daytrip possibilities into the adjacent mountain valleys.
Stubaital,
Oetztal,
Zillertal
as well as to
Lake Sefeld
Lake Achensee,
Sterzing and Bressanone/Brixen.....

Munich, the capital of Bavaria and it's surroundings are full of big museums (of all kinds, from paintings over history up to technical engineering), baroque churches and palaces/castles. If you like this kind of stuff, you can easily spend there a full week.

Conclusion: if you plan to travel by train from Vienna or Salzburg to Basel, you can easily stop over at Munich or Salzburg.

If you like German Opera performances, you may also stop over at Bregenz/Lake Constance where you can attend to the opera "Der Freischütz" at the Seebühne (open air theater partly in Lake Constance), with top artists and orchestras from Vienna and Prague.

There are cruise ferries from Bregenz via Lake Constance and Rhine river up to Schaffhausen/Rhine Falls in Switzerland, with stops at Lindau Island (medieval German city), Friedrichshafen (Zeppelin Museum), Meersburg (medieval castle), Unteruhldingen (partly rebuilt Celtic Lake Dwellings), Mainau (subtropical gardens), Konstanz (medieval city center), Reichenau Island (Roman churches, Unesco site), Salenstein - Arenenberg castle (place where Emperor Napoleon 3rd grew up) - Stein am Rhein (scenic small city with castle).
Schaffhausen is 1 hr by train from Basel.

Melnq8

visiting places that I don't think warrant more than 2 nights like Salzburg, Zurich, Basel...(although please correct me if I am wrong!)

You are very much wrong! Especially in the case of Salzburg.

But if they don't interest you, why go?

peteryoon3411

Not for me, but for my mother who is traveling with us and lists Sound of Music as her favorite musical of all time.

peteryoon3411

Wow! Thank you neckervd! There is a treasure trove of travel insights in your response. Much appreciated.