Abbynicole’s first Trip Report: Venice was just like I’ve always dreamed, the French Riviera was sunny and relaxing, Paris was like seeing an old friend, but I lost my heart to Austria!
Aug 11th, 2005, 06:59 PM
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Abbynicole’s first Trip Report: Venice was just like I’ve always dreamed, the French Riviera was sunny and relaxing, Paris was like seeing an old friend, but I lost my heart to Austria!
Well, it’s been 2 ½ weeks since I got back from Europe, and I’m sorry that it’s taken me this long to start my trip report. Life has been a little crazy – I’ve been moving to a new city and finding a job! But now that I have a job in place and am somewhat settled in, it’s time to do my trip report. So here we go!
Background note: I was traveling with my friend Heather, and we are straight-out-of-college budget travelers, so if you’re looking for NICE hotel recommendations, you won’t find them here! We stayed at some very nice B&B’s in Austria, but it was mostly cheap hotels and hostels!
The trip there:
We left June 8th at 5:30 AM, and thus began the longest traveling day of my life. It took 8 hours to drive to Calgary, 3 hours before the flight left, 9 hours on the plane, a 5 hour layover in London, and then 2 hours to Paris, since our flight was delayed! By the time we got to Paris I was so tired that I felt sick, and was completely ready to splurge on a taxi to our hotel, instead of the bus and metro, as we had planned. It was 60 Euros, but it was so worth it! Those of you who have said ‘take a taxi’ over and over, are so right. If it was a shorter trip I would do the metro, because I know the system very well. But after being awake for more than 24 hours, that taxi ride was heaven itself.
Note: for our connection in London, we had to go from Gatwick to Heathrow. We saved some money by going in and out of London, which, if you have the time to do it, is very easy. In Gatwick airport we went to the Railway counter and bought a combined ticket for the Southern commuter train into London and the tube ride to Heathrow (if we had wanted to go somewhere else, it was also a 24 hour pass for the tube). It cost 10 pound, which is the cheapest airport transfer you’ll ever find. If you’re not good at finding your way around on trains, it might be worth it to do the direct buses, but for us it was easy and cheap to go in and out.
Paris:
We arrived at Hotel Tolbiac on the evening of June 9th, exhausted and ready to sleep. It was a decent hotel for the price (32 Euro per night, per room) but very bare-bones and kinda noisy. Pretty much a hostel, but you get your own room, which we were thankful for. We went straight to sleep.
Friday June 10th – Heather had never been to Paris, but I lived there for 6 months a couple of years ago, so I played tour guide and we went to the major sites – Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame. We also did some shopping and had picnic meals – yogurt and croissants for breakfast, and baguette sandwiches for lunch and supper. (Other than the occasional restaurant meal, that was our typical traveling meals)
Background note: I was traveling with my friend Heather, and we are straight-out-of-college budget travelers, so if you’re looking for NICE hotel recommendations, you won’t find them here! We stayed at some very nice B&B’s in Austria, but it was mostly cheap hotels and hostels!
The trip there:
We left June 8th at 5:30 AM, and thus began the longest traveling day of my life. It took 8 hours to drive to Calgary, 3 hours before the flight left, 9 hours on the plane, a 5 hour layover in London, and then 2 hours to Paris, since our flight was delayed! By the time we got to Paris I was so tired that I felt sick, and was completely ready to splurge on a taxi to our hotel, instead of the bus and metro, as we had planned. It was 60 Euros, but it was so worth it! Those of you who have said ‘take a taxi’ over and over, are so right. If it was a shorter trip I would do the metro, because I know the system very well. But after being awake for more than 24 hours, that taxi ride was heaven itself.
Note: for our connection in London, we had to go from Gatwick to Heathrow. We saved some money by going in and out of London, which, if you have the time to do it, is very easy. In Gatwick airport we went to the Railway counter and bought a combined ticket for the Southern commuter train into London and the tube ride to Heathrow (if we had wanted to go somewhere else, it was also a 24 hour pass for the tube). It cost 10 pound, which is the cheapest airport transfer you’ll ever find. If you’re not good at finding your way around on trains, it might be worth it to do the direct buses, but for us it was easy and cheap to go in and out.
Paris:
We arrived at Hotel Tolbiac on the evening of June 9th, exhausted and ready to sleep. It was a decent hotel for the price (32 Euro per night, per room) but very bare-bones and kinda noisy. Pretty much a hostel, but you get your own room, which we were thankful for. We went straight to sleep.
Friday June 10th – Heather had never been to Paris, but I lived there for 6 months a couple of years ago, so I played tour guide and we went to the major sites – Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame. We also did some shopping and had picnic meals – yogurt and croissants for breakfast, and baguette sandwiches for lunch and supper. (Other than the occasional restaurant meal, that was our typical traveling meals)
Aug 11th, 2005, 08:15 PM
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Hi abbynicole, well with your long trip to get to Europe plus moving and also getting settled into a new job I think you are fantastic to post a trip report just 2 1/2 weeks after your return. I look forward to the next installment. Take care, and get some rest!
Aug 12th, 2005, 07:51 AM
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Saturday June 11th – We took the Orlybus from Denfert-Rochereau to Orly airport. It was cheap (5.90 Euro) and easy – I would highly recommend it as a budget option to get to and from Orly airport.
We flew Sky Europe from Paris to Bratislava, and took their shuttle bus from Bratislava to Vienna. Sky Europe is a typical low-budget airline – we left late, but other than that there were no problems. I had to laugh at the English on my seat tray though – it said “LIVE VEST UNDER SEAT”!
Vienna:
We took the U-bahn to the Westbahnhof, and walked to our hostel, the Do Step Inn. I really liked the set-up of the Do Step Inn. It was pretty much an apartment, with 3-4 double rooms, (we had our own room with a key and everything) a kitchen, and 2 bathrooms. So, you got to meet other people, hang out in the kitchen, but you still had your own room and could lock your stuff in there. During the 3 days we were in Vienna, there were 2 other Canadian girls staying in another room, and it was fun to chat with them at the end of a day of sightseeing.
On Saturday we only had a few hours of daylight left by the time we checked in, so we stayed in the area around our hostel – sat in a park for awhile, got some groceries and had supper, etc.
Sunday June 12th – a full day of sightseeing – we saw the inner ring, and then went out to Schonbrunn palace. We also did a bit of shopping on Mariahilferstrasse (THE place to shop!).
Schonbrunn is a mustard yellow palace – not our favorite that we saw – but the grounds are incredible. We wandered them for a couple hours, joking that the reason they painted the palace yellow was so that you could spot it when you got lost on the grounds (“Just find the yellow building when you’re done playing, honey”).
We went out for supper on Sunday to Wienerwald (a big chain in Austria) and had some pretty good wienerschnitzel for a decent price.
We followed a recommendation by someone on here (thank you!) for the best ‘eis’ place in Vienna, and it was very good, with very reasonable prices. My hazelnut ice cream was a little stronger than I like, but it was so smooth and creamy! It’s located at Tuchlaubenstrasse and Klebattsgasse.
We flew Sky Europe from Paris to Bratislava, and took their shuttle bus from Bratislava to Vienna. Sky Europe is a typical low-budget airline – we left late, but other than that there were no problems. I had to laugh at the English on my seat tray though – it said “LIVE VEST UNDER SEAT”!
Vienna:
We took the U-bahn to the Westbahnhof, and walked to our hostel, the Do Step Inn. I really liked the set-up of the Do Step Inn. It was pretty much an apartment, with 3-4 double rooms, (we had our own room with a key and everything) a kitchen, and 2 bathrooms. So, you got to meet other people, hang out in the kitchen, but you still had your own room and could lock your stuff in there. During the 3 days we were in Vienna, there were 2 other Canadian girls staying in another room, and it was fun to chat with them at the end of a day of sightseeing.
On Saturday we only had a few hours of daylight left by the time we checked in, so we stayed in the area around our hostel – sat in a park for awhile, got some groceries and had supper, etc.
Sunday June 12th – a full day of sightseeing – we saw the inner ring, and then went out to Schonbrunn palace. We also did a bit of shopping on Mariahilferstrasse (THE place to shop!).
Schonbrunn is a mustard yellow palace – not our favorite that we saw – but the grounds are incredible. We wandered them for a couple hours, joking that the reason they painted the palace yellow was so that you could spot it when you got lost on the grounds (“Just find the yellow building when you’re done playing, honey”).
We went out for supper on Sunday to Wienerwald (a big chain in Austria) and had some pretty good wienerschnitzel for a decent price.
We followed a recommendation by someone on here (thank you!) for the best ‘eis’ place in Vienna, and it was very good, with very reasonable prices. My hazelnut ice cream was a little stronger than I like, but it was so smooth and creamy! It’s located at Tuchlaubenstrasse and Klebattsgasse.
Aug 12th, 2005, 08:26 AM
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Great trip report...can't wait to read more! I think I've lost my heart to Austria too, sometime in the midst of our last trip! Of all the countries I've visited in Europe, I do believe that so far its my favorite.
Thanks for posting and best wishes with the new city and job!
Tracy
Thanks for posting and best wishes with the new city and job!
Tracy
Aug 12th, 2005, 06:05 PM
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Monday June 13th – After another day of sightseeing and shopping, in the late afternoon we went to the Sudbahnhof to buy tickets for our trip to Sopron, Hungary. It took us a little over an hour to get there, and when we got off, it was kind of a big letdown. I had read a few posts on Fodors (old ones, mind you) that said that Sopron was a great daytrip, and one of the most beautiful towns in Hungary. Well, I’m sorry, but that doesn’t say much for Hungary! It had a couple nice buildings and churches, but on the whole it seemed very rundown, and made you want to clutch your purse a little tighter, if you know what I mean. We spent about an hour walking around and then headed back early, and spent some time at our hostel chatting with the girls before bed.
What made it even worse is that it cost a fair amount more for the train tickets than I was expecting – I had looked up prices on the Austrian railway site before we left and budgeted those prices, but didn’t realize that there was taxes on those. So all the train tickets we bought in Austria (Vienna-Hallstatt, Hallstatt-Salzburg, etc) were over budget for us. Fortunately we had left room to maneuver, and still managed to come in under budget overall. (Minus our plane tickets that were booked ahead of time, we spent about 750 Euros on a three week trip in Europe!! Not bad at all.)
Regarding our trip to Sopron, we were happy to get another stamp in our passports, but other than that it was kind of a waste of time and money, IMHO.
Tuesday June 14th – This is the day that I died and went to heaven… but I am back and here to tell you about it – its name is Hallstatt! I know that this town is much talked about here at Fodor’s, but everything they tell you is true! It’s a tiny magical mountain lake town in the countryside of Austria. We got there at about 1:00 pm on Tuesday, after a long train ride from Vienna. We got off the train and took the little ferry across to Hallstatt, and for about the first hour we were there, we were so enthralled that we couldn't even take pictures - we just had to soak it in. Imagine a town that is the dictionary definition of 'cute', and is located on the edge of a lake, and right at the base of a mountain. I took more pictures here than anywhere else, although Heather and I agreed that pictures don't even come close to capturing the magic of Hallstatt. You have to experience the smell, the sounds, and the beautiful vistas all around.
Our bed and breakfast was Haus Cijan, and the owner is a very cute old lady – we reserved by email and she offered to pick us up from the ferry when we came in, and she took us back the next morning as well. It’s an easy 10 minute walk from the center of town, and located on a very cute road with a river running beside it. There are much nicer B&B’s in Hallstatt, I’m sure, but it was simple and cute and available for staying only one night, which can be hard to find. It cost 20 Euro per night per person.
After a couple hours wandering around the town, we took a path from where the funicular goes up to the salt mines, and hiked up to the waterfall. It was a good hike for us, being pretty out of shape, and I was pretty sore the next day, but at least we worked off some of our pastries!
Wednesday June 15th – It was a bit foggy in the morning as we took the ferry back across and then got on the train to Salzburg. I had fallen in love with Hallstatt, and was quickly falling in love with Austria. Vienna is a typical European city, and it’s nice, but not as special as some, IMO. But the Austrian countryside and the city of Salzburg are incredible! So beautiful, so fresh and green.
We made it to our B&B in Salzburg by about 2:00 PM.
We stayed at Haus Am Moos for 4 nights, and I absolutely loved it there. It is located on the outskirts of Salzburg, where there is greenery as far as the eye can see, and a mountain to boot. It has a pool, and gardens that feel like you're in the middle of a park - you can hear birds chirping, and the air smells so fresh. They have a gorgeous breakfast room that has a buffet available from 8:00 to 10:00 in the morning. The B&B is a house all to itself, and the family that runs it (the Strassers) have a house of their own on the same lot. They are very friendly - they come and sit and talk with guests during breakfast, while they take care of the breakfast tables. They even let us use their computer for email for free. The only downside is that it’s about a 15 minute bus ride out of the city center, but for us it was worth it – we only paid 23 Euro each per night, for a beautiful comfortable B&B.
(Note – if you decide to stay here and are going by public transport, the directions are a bit confusing – their website says “Take bus Nr. 1 from the train station to Hanuschplatz. Change bus to Nr. 16 and leave it at bus stop Lehrbauhof. On the right side we are!” What we didn’t realize is that when you get to Lehrbauhof, you have to go back 20 feet and THEN turn right onto their section of Moostrasse. We walked all the way to the end of Moostrasse and were very confused, because it didn’t seem like their house number existed!)
What made it even worse is that it cost a fair amount more for the train tickets than I was expecting – I had looked up prices on the Austrian railway site before we left and budgeted those prices, but didn’t realize that there was taxes on those. So all the train tickets we bought in Austria (Vienna-Hallstatt, Hallstatt-Salzburg, etc) were over budget for us. Fortunately we had left room to maneuver, and still managed to come in under budget overall. (Minus our plane tickets that were booked ahead of time, we spent about 750 Euros on a three week trip in Europe!! Not bad at all.)
Regarding our trip to Sopron, we were happy to get another stamp in our passports, but other than that it was kind of a waste of time and money, IMHO.
Tuesday June 14th – This is the day that I died and went to heaven… but I am back and here to tell you about it – its name is Hallstatt! I know that this town is much talked about here at Fodor’s, but everything they tell you is true! It’s a tiny magical mountain lake town in the countryside of Austria. We got there at about 1:00 pm on Tuesday, after a long train ride from Vienna. We got off the train and took the little ferry across to Hallstatt, and for about the first hour we were there, we were so enthralled that we couldn't even take pictures - we just had to soak it in. Imagine a town that is the dictionary definition of 'cute', and is located on the edge of a lake, and right at the base of a mountain. I took more pictures here than anywhere else, although Heather and I agreed that pictures don't even come close to capturing the magic of Hallstatt. You have to experience the smell, the sounds, and the beautiful vistas all around.
Our bed and breakfast was Haus Cijan, and the owner is a very cute old lady – we reserved by email and she offered to pick us up from the ferry when we came in, and she took us back the next morning as well. It’s an easy 10 minute walk from the center of town, and located on a very cute road with a river running beside it. There are much nicer B&B’s in Hallstatt, I’m sure, but it was simple and cute and available for staying only one night, which can be hard to find. It cost 20 Euro per night per person.
After a couple hours wandering around the town, we took a path from where the funicular goes up to the salt mines, and hiked up to the waterfall. It was a good hike for us, being pretty out of shape, and I was pretty sore the next day, but at least we worked off some of our pastries!
Wednesday June 15th – It was a bit foggy in the morning as we took the ferry back across and then got on the train to Salzburg. I had fallen in love with Hallstatt, and was quickly falling in love with Austria. Vienna is a typical European city, and it’s nice, but not as special as some, IMO. But the Austrian countryside and the city of Salzburg are incredible! So beautiful, so fresh and green.
We made it to our B&B in Salzburg by about 2:00 PM.
We stayed at Haus Am Moos for 4 nights, and I absolutely loved it there. It is located on the outskirts of Salzburg, where there is greenery as far as the eye can see, and a mountain to boot. It has a pool, and gardens that feel like you're in the middle of a park - you can hear birds chirping, and the air smells so fresh. They have a gorgeous breakfast room that has a buffet available from 8:00 to 10:00 in the morning. The B&B is a house all to itself, and the family that runs it (the Strassers) have a house of their own on the same lot. They are very friendly - they come and sit and talk with guests during breakfast, while they take care of the breakfast tables. They even let us use their computer for email for free. The only downside is that it’s about a 15 minute bus ride out of the city center, but for us it was worth it – we only paid 23 Euro each per night, for a beautiful comfortable B&B.
(Note – if you decide to stay here and are going by public transport, the directions are a bit confusing – their website says “Take bus Nr. 1 from the train station to Hanuschplatz. Change bus to Nr. 16 and leave it at bus stop Lehrbauhof. On the right side we are!” What we didn’t realize is that when you get to Lehrbauhof, you have to go back 20 feet and THEN turn right onto their section of Moostrasse. We walked all the way to the end of Moostrasse and were very confused, because it didn’t seem like their house number existed!)
Aug 12th, 2005, 06:47 PM
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The food in Austria was pretty good, but since we were budget travelers, we didn't eat out much! Mostly stuck to picnic food (sandwiches) and the occasional pastry (mmmm... pastries).
We had 2 restaurant meals - wienerschnitzel in Vienna and Bauernschmaus (sp?) in Salzburg - it's fried sausage and ham with potatoes and dumplings and sauerkraut. We enjoyed it =)
We had 2 restaurant meals - wienerschnitzel in Vienna and Bauernschmaus (sp?) in Salzburg - it's fried sausage and ham with potatoes and dumplings and sauerkraut. We enjoyed it =)
Aug 13th, 2005, 09:27 AM
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Hallstatt sounds amazing. How far away was it from Salzburg? How do you get from one to the other.
DH and I are taking our parents to Germany/Austria in June 2007 and this town sounds like something they would love.
DH and I are taking our parents to Germany/Austria in June 2007 and this town sounds like something they would love.
Aug 13th, 2005, 12:30 PM
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Rex - that was 750 Euro each, but yes that covered pretty much everything. We bought all plane tickets ahead of time, and the night train ticket from Venice to Nice, but everything else was budgeted at and came to 750 Euro. Accomodation, train, food, etc. Mind you, we did stay with friends in both Venice and our two days in Paris at the end of the trip, but other than that it comes down to being cheap and great budgeters!
TexasAggie - You can take the train from Salzburg to Hallstatt, but you have to change trains at Attnang Puchheim (sp? I think that's right but I'm not 100% sure). Lots of people do it as a daytrip (it's about 3 hours by train), but B&B's are everywhere and not very expensive, so do try and spend at least 1 night! There's not much to do there besides the salt mines, or boating excursions, so unless you want lots of time for those sorts of things, one day is sufficient for exploring the tiny town.
TexasAggie - You can take the train from Salzburg to Hallstatt, but you have to change trains at Attnang Puchheim (sp? I think that's right but I'm not 100% sure). Lots of people do it as a daytrip (it's about 3 hours by train), but B&B's are everywhere and not very expensive, so do try and spend at least 1 night! There's not much to do there besides the salt mines, or boating excursions, so unless you want lots of time for those sorts of things, one day is sufficient for exploring the tiny town.
Aug 13th, 2005, 12:39 PM
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Thanks abby,
My mother has such mobility issues that we are thinking about renting a car... with 6 of us going (me, DH, sister, mom and dad, father-in-law) it seems like it wouldn't be much more costly than train tickets. I will look into how the driving route would be
My mother has such mobility issues that we are thinking about renting a car... with 6 of us going (me, DH, sister, mom and dad, father-in-law) it seems like it wouldn't be much more costly than train tickets. I will look into how the driving route would be
Aug 13th, 2005, 12:52 PM
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<<Rex - that was 750 Euro each, but yes that covered pretty much everything. We bought all plane tickets ahead of time, and the night train ticket from Venice to Nice, but everything else was budgeted at and came to 750 Euro. Accomodation, train, food, etc. Mind you, we did stay with friends in both Venice and our two days in Paris at the end of the trip>>
Okay, so we haven't heard your itinerary yet (how many nights in Venice?)... so a cost per day can't calculated. Probably under 50 euro per day... for a total of (how many?) days... my wife and I found out earlier this spring that we could do lodging and three meals for under 50 euro/person/day - - but then again, we had a fairly lavish budget for transportation (on our constantly moving whirlwind itinerary) on top of that - - rental car, tolls, fuel and one overnight train trip, and bus transfer to CDG.
It has been my observation that if you have an itinerary with low transportation costs (cities/trains), it is harder to keep the expense of lodging/meals down... and vice versa.
If you kept the lid down on both, congratulations!
Okay, so we haven't heard your itinerary yet (how many nights in Venice?)... so a cost per day can't calculated. Probably under 50 euro per day... for a total of (how many?) days... my wife and I found out earlier this spring that we could do lodging and three meals for under 50 euro/person/day - - but then again, we had a fairly lavish budget for transportation (on our constantly moving whirlwind itinerary) on top of that - - rental car, tolls, fuel and one overnight train trip, and bus transfer to CDG.
It has been my observation that if you have an itinerary with low transportation costs (cities/trains), it is harder to keep the expense of lodging/meals down... and vice versa.
If you kept the lid down on both, congratulations!
Aug 13th, 2005, 02:21 PM
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Rex,
You have to remember that we're college students, who have limited funds, so picnic-ing and hostels were the usual order of the day! We treated ourselves to a restaurant meal every 2 or 3 days, and stayed in B&B's in Austria because they're so cheap, but those were our "extravagances"!
But thanks for the compliment on our budgeting skills!
You have to remember that we're college students, who have limited funds, so picnic-ing and hostels were the usual order of the day! We treated ourselves to a restaurant meal every 2 or 3 days, and stayed in B&B's in Austria because they're so cheap, but those were our "extravagances"!
But thanks for the compliment on our budgeting skills!
