Hi, I would greatly appreciate some opinions on itinerary for a 10 day trip, arriving and departing from Munich. Meeting a friend that is teaching school for a year in Salzburg. There will be 4 gals traveling together. We love to hike (we're in Search and Rescue)we want to immerse ourselves in the culture of the countries and plan to stay in hostels to help keep cost down. We will have a car. Some of the places we'd like to see are Salzburg, Hallstatt, Vienna, Tirol...... Thanks in advance! Tammy

u may consider some German towns e.g. Fuessen (2 hrs fr Munich by train), Augsburg (45 mins fr Munich via train) and may be Rothenburg (around 2-3 hrs fr Munich by train). all these town are along the famous German Romantic Road. Plenty of clean and decent hostel and b&b in these places.

I think your best bet would be to base yourselves in the Berchtesgaden area - a beautiful area and hiking galore! Near to Salzburg and easy access to Hallstat and the Salzkammergut.

Hi NW,

I don't think that I would include Vienna in this trip.

How about: 2 nights Munich, drive to Salzburg 3 nights, drive to Hallstatt 3 nights and tour the Salzkammergut, drive back to Munich for 1 night, fly home?

Take a loook at a good detailed map of Austria/Tirol/Salzburg) and Southeastern Germany (Berchtesgaden, Chiemsee, Reit im Winkel). area

Since you have a car, you may want to make Saalfelden/ Tirol or nearby Maria Alm (a bit more "atmosphere" but also more tourists per square foot). From there you can take day and half day trips to Salzburg, Hallstatt, Grossglockner, Zell am SAee, Saalbach Hintergle valley, Wilde Kaiser region (Reit im Winkel) and visit King Ludwig's Herrenchiemsee palace, etc.

I like Saalfelden as a base because it is not overun with tourists and has good road access to the places mentioned above.

For hikers, there are lots of opportunities in the Steinerne Meer mountains (right above Saalfelden),the Kitzsteinhorn (near Kaprun), the Wilde Kaiser, and vitually near all the other places I mentioned above.

I can't recommend the Berchtesgaden area enough. Its just absolutely lovely, and can be used as a base for exploring Salzburg, the Salzkammergut (Hallstatt, St. Wolfgang and St. Gilgen, etc) and the towns around Berchtesgaden like Ramsau and Bad Reichenhall. The hiking is divine and a boatride on the Konigsee is magical. You could easily spent 4-5 nights here.

Tracy

Thanks so much to all of you, these are all great suggestions and I will forward them to my traveling companions to help us plan our trip. Tammy