Hi[ In Salzburg, you could consider a dinner /concert in a very elegant concert room at the Stiftskeller. In operation since 803. www.haslauer.at The 'fortress' also has dinner/concerts and The Mirabell Palace has a lovely concert room. www.mozartfestival.at Also, this web sire has great downloads for some of the places you will be visiting. Richard www.inyourpocket.com/

I completely agree with you, Palenque! I spent 2 nights in Hallstatt before moving onto St. Wolfgang (with lunch and a palace tour in Bad Ishcl on the way!)

The Mozart dinner concert that Richard recommends at the Stiftskeller was very good. I attended it 2 years ago. Food was surprisingly very good for such an event! And, if you mention the Rick Steves guide book, you can get a pretty good discount!

My husband's photo of Hallstatt was "featured" on Webshots a couple of years ago.

http://travel.webshots.com/photo/105...11574650deRoxj

Molker, thanks for the info on Weimer cafe. I realized that I need to know more about all the coffees they have. It's eye-opening for me!

Palengue, I'm studying the sound of music tour now. I suppose the scenery will be beautiful in mid May? If the logistics are too complicated to figure out, I'll just sign up for a tour. And please excuse my ignorance: what does IMO stand for?

Richard, the Mozart dinner sounds great. But I cannot find pricing on the Stifskeller website. Would you know what price range it is?

Joannyc, I am traveling by myself so no plans for car rental on this trip. Your suggestion on an overnight at St. Wolfgang is very tempting - I am seriously considering adding one night there at the expense of Munich, where I plan to stay for four days before arriving in Salzburg.

So another question arises: Should I cut down Munich to three days, and allocate it to St. Wolfgang instead?

Would you rather spend that night in a large city or a small lakeside village?

We usually stay in St. Gilgen but St. Wolfgang is larger and some people like that it has more shopping, etc.

There is so much to do in the area that you could spend a week, but if you only have a day, you'll certainly enjoy it I'm sure.

You can take the bus from Salzburg to St. Gilgen, then take a boat from St. Gilgen to St. Wolfgang.

You can find ticket prices at this site for the Mozart dinner Concert. Richard www.skg.co.at

LOL! Different strokes for different folks, I guess. I respectfully need to disagree... St. Wolfgang is not a large city, by any means. When I think of large cities, NYC, Chicago, Paris, etc. come to mind... but certainly not St. Wolfgang.

St. Wolfgang is a small town albiet a bit larger than St. Gilgen, but not terribly much. Both are located directly on the Wolfgang See and you can take a ferry between the two (or you can even hike it, if you prefer and have the time).

I found St. Gilgen to be mostly shut down in late September-early October so it may be much the same in May before it gets warm, I don't know. I chose St. Wolfgang because it affords you a better choice of restaurants and hotels, the steam train to the top of the mountain, etc. and the same great views as you get in St. Gilgen.

St. Wolfgang isn't a large city (google it to see). I live in NYC. I could walk from one end of St. Wolfgang to the other in less than 30 minutes at a slow stroll's pace. It is a charming town. I checked into St. Gilgen before making my hotel reservation and didn't find any hotels/B&Bs/etc. there that I liked although so many people seem to recommend it.

I also travel alone but do rent a car. I find it convenient but can certainly understand your wanting to use public transportation!

In Salzburg, if you want to see the outdoor theater that the Von Trapp family 'escaped' from after the music festival (in the movie), you need to book an independent tour of the Festival halls (they really didn't escape that night and climb over the mountains to Switzerland... it would have been over 500 miles walking, they took a train to Italy... not to burst any bubbles). Also, the graveyard scene where the family hid after the music festival scene was filmed in Hollywood but based on the graveyard at St. Peter's. And, Maria's abbey is not included in the SOM tour either, you need to go on your own. The altar is spectacular and the frescoes in the back of the church are too! But, again, they really don't have anything to do with the movie, I believe they did some outside filming here. Bring change to light both of them! And, sorry to say, this abbey isn't where they were married in the movie. The movie used the basillica at Mondsee which you will see if you take a SOM tour. Beautiful!!!!

On another note, I spent a night in C. Krumlov at Hotel Dvorak and really don't highly recommend it. Great location, but the room was disappointing... stained carpeting, scuffed walls, thin mattress and pillows. But the bathroom was great!

Just another SOM note... the opening scenes in the movie are filmed from above St. Gilgen. If you take the SOM tour, it's a stop... so the next time you see the movie, you can say... "That's St. Gilgen and the Wolfgang See! I've been there and saw that!"

Have fun!

joannyc, I was comparing MUNICH (large city) to ST. WOLFGANG (small lakeside village). Wasn't that the OP's question? (" Should I cut down Munich to three days, and allocate it to St. Wolfgang instead?").

Having been to both St. Gilgen and St. Wolfgang a couple of times, I know they are both SMALL. But, St. Wolfgang IS bigger than St. Gilgen.

Are we on the same page now?

bettyk,

So sorry... I thought you were comparing St. Gilgen to St. Wolfgang!

No problem, joannyc. I was hoping you had just misread my post.

Bettyk, I understand where you're coming from. You asked a good question - the choice between the a metropolitan city and a heavenly village is indeed a tough one for me. Whatever I decide on, this is a region that calls for numerous future visits. I do think I can enjoy the village even more when there're friends with me, boating, hiking, biking...etc. So I think I'll take the sound of music tour this time, and save the stay at St. Gilgen and St. Wolfgang for my next trip with friends.

I don't blame you. Salzburg is wonderful too and the SoM tour will be great fun.

We are going these same places in October. I have a question about the SOM tour. We will have a rental car and can see these places on our own at quite a bit of savings on the price of the tour. For those of you who have done the tour, do you think this is a good way to go - or do you think the tour is a must do?

Also, we are looking at staying in Salzburg for two or three nights, two nights in Hallstatt (would St Gilgen or St Wolfgang be better and why?), and then another night in the Danube area on the way to Vienna. Suggestions for places to stay in all the above places would be appreciated. I've read many trip reports already, but could use suggestions too. I haven't seen many lodging suggestions for the Danube area, however.

In my opinion, Hallstatt has the biggest WOW factor but all three towns are in beautiful surroundings and lovely in their own right.

Salzburg is only about a 3 hr drive from Vienna so you really don't need to spend the night in between.

However, I understand Linz is worth a visit altho we've never actually been. Melk has the lovely Abbey so that could make a nice stopping place. And, finally, there is Durnstein which is a charming little village on the Danube. It's only about an hour outside of Vienna, however.

Palengue, I'm studying the sound of music tour now. I suppose the scenery will be beautiful in mid May? If the logistics are too complicated to figure out, I'll just sign up for a tour. And please excuse my ignorance: what does IMO stand for?

In My Opinion IMO
In My Experience IME

I would think the Sound of Music country would be abloom with wild flowers, etc. - i would think it would be a a lovely time to go - still not high season, etc.

Vienna - Salzburg - Prague - Vienna $157.00 child-$79.00

Well these are the prices of the new Central European Triangle Railpass - good for three individual train trips in a one-month period -so not like a pass in that you get 3 days of unlimited rail travel

So like $52-53 per train trip - probably stacks up fairly well with ordinary tickets - at least Rick Steves site says so and you can just hop on any train for the most part.

Palenque, thanks for explaining IMO/IME. Finally I know what it is! Since I'm taking buses between Vienna/Cesky Krumlov, and onward to Prague as well, I probably won't use the Central European Triangle Railpass this time. But I'll need railpass for Germany, where I"ll be for totally three weeks. So I'll check the Rick Steves site to find out the pass that works best for me. Thank you!

I am glad to opted out of this wonderful railpass - Rick Steven IMO talks a lot of rubbish about passes specially East European one's- probably vested interest.
The trip Vienna, Salzburg, CK, Prague, back to vienna would cost you 80 euros if bought in advance from Austrian railways.
How does that stack up with the pass -ehh it does not.

Can anyone recommend the SOM tour versus seeing the SOM sites on your own? We will have a car and are just thinking we could see these sites on our own without the costly SOM tour price. For those of you who have taken the tour, what do you think? Or those who have gone on your own, did you feel it was just as good?