Austria - 8 Days in September
 

Hi,

We are a couple in our late 20s and will be visiting Austria for the first time this September, for about 8 days.

Can anyone offer any ideas on what cities that we must visit ? We are considering Vienna(2days), Salzburg(3days) and Innsbruck(3days). Are we missing some "should-not-be-missed" place ? Our interests are mainly in nature, scenic drives, easy-moderate hiking, a little bit of history and culture, and some music - in that order.

Also, if there are any opinions on what the must-do\must-see things are in Vienna, Salzburg and Innsbruck - we'd love to hear about them.

Finally, to put things in context, we will be flying into Vienna from the US and then traveling to Switzerland.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions !

For Vienna you might want to check out my trip report:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34517351

I would skip Innsbruck, a town of more than 150,000, and spend time on the the Wolfgangsee with day trip to Hallstatt and Gosausee. Be sure to stop in Melk and Gmuden as you drive from Vienna west. Search and find the village of St. Gilgen as your base.

Innsbruck can be seen in one day. I hear Graz is an amazing place to visit maybe someone here can verify that.

Thanks for the info. So if I remove Innsbruck from our trip, how would those 3 days be spent best ?

I'd love to drive around Austria - what would be a good 3 day route from Vienna ? We are mostly interested in nature, open countryside, rolling hills, etc, and on the man-made side, we'd love to visit some old castles and historic landmarks.

Given this - can someone suggest some good places to visit from either Vienna or Salzburg (I've already noted Graz, Melk, Gmuden, etc from the earlier replies) ?

Thanks !