I have most of my trip mapped but can't get the last 4 days before we need to get back to Vienna. We are coming from selva Val Gardena back to Austria. I'd like to do the grossglockner but also would like to see Graz. Is it too much to drive from Heilingblut to Hochosterwitz castle/Graz over the course on a day? We would spend 2-3 days in that area. We won't want to come back to Austria the other way through Bolzano. I then thought we could then spend a day driving from Graz back to Vienna. Distances don't look bad but that's never reality! My son put in a request to see hochosterwitz as he loves castles/fortresses.

Is your plan to drive the Grossglockner and then drive to Hochosterwitz in one day?

Unless you are interested in seeing some of the castles and palaces along the route from Graz to Vienna, most of the drive is pretty uninteresting in terms of scenery (mostly just Autobahn), especially the latter half as you head from Graz toward Vienna. http://www.schloesserstrasse.com

You are driving from Val Gardena through the Drau Valley to Heiligenblut, which takes about 3 hours.

Then you drive up the Großglockner Road which will require half a day with photo stops and walks. So you stay overnight in Kaprun or Zell am See and drive from there to Hochosterwitz (about 3 hours). Or you stay at one of the lovely lakes and drive from there to Hochosterwitz on your way to Graz. From Krumpendorf on the Wörthersee to Hochosterwitz it is a 20-minute-drive.

From Hochosterwitz to Graz, it is again about 2 hours, and from Graz to Wien another 2 1/2 hours.

Bolzano/Bozen is by no means along the itinerary from Wolkenstein/Selva to Vienna.It might be easier to give you a good answer if we knew your whole itinerary from Vienna up to Vienna.

We are starting at Vienna then going to Salzburg. From there we will head to selva Val Gardena which we'd come by way of the brenner pass. We have a few days in Dolomites then need to cone back to Vienna. Effectively a big loop. We have 4 days to make our way back to Vienna so are trying to decide how best to use those days.