AUSTRIA
 

My wife and I are seeking advice for a trip to Austria. Where would you fly in to? What sites are must see/do for about 6 days. We are thinking Vienna, Salzburg. If we could work in a trip to Venice, Italy that would be great.
My wife is a musician so the more concerts/music sites the better. We also enjoy art and the outdoors. 65 yrs old and in good health. Have been to several cities in Italy but not Venice. Have traveled in Europe by train but have not been brave enough to drive there.

Vumit - you don't have time to go to venice as well as Vienna and salzburg in 6 days.

you could fly into Vienna, spend 4 nights there and then get a train to Salzburg and finish your trip there, or vice versa.

however, given your wife's musical interests, you might like to see what's on in Vienna before you commit yourselves to salzburg -i n Vienna as well as world-class performances at the Staatsoper, there are the Volkstheatre, the Musikverein, and I'm sure many more.

there are also concerts in Salzburg particularly at certain times of year - when are you planning on going?

There's the Salzburg Festival: http://www.salzburgerfestspiele.at/summer

But for 6 days I would stay in Vienna with some side trips to the Wachau valley. m A guidebook on Vienna proper might be in order.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/...7622927111169/

Well, Vienna and Salzburg concerts are mutually exclusive - the festival in Salzburg is in August, when Vienna concert venues are mostly closed (because all people is going to play in Salzburg) - so it depends on when you are visiting the country.

Venice is almost one full day travelling from Vienna, so it not possible as a side trip.

The largest airport in Austria is Vienna, Salzburg has mainly regional and low cost flights (sometimes Munich is used as a substitute airport for Salzburg as it is only a couple of hours distant).

You could start your trip in Munich and train to Salzburg (90 minutes) for a couple of nights, then train to Vienna (3 hours) for the remainder of your stay and depart from VIE, or do the trip in reverse. You would get to sample both cities that way.