Hi All,

Hope everyone is doing well.

We have planned for a 3-day trip to Austria this May '22. We'll be landing in Vienna in the morning hours(Day 1 10 AM) and would be flying out on Day 4 (10 AM). I would love to get some ideas and suggestions that would be really helpful to decide our travel plan. We might be renting a car for the 3-days but not sure about that, else it'd have to be public transport.

We're a group of 6 friends looking to spend some good time in the country. I wouldn't mind spending some time in the capital just so we don't miss the beautiful architecture but our interests would be to experience the beauty of the country away from city life. I have read about Salzburg, Austria, Innsbruck and Wolfgangsee. We would love to cover those kinds of locations.

Day 1 - ?
Day 2 - ?
Day 3 - ?
Day 4 - ?

I would really appreciate inputs or suggestions of where to halt (should it be a central place or should we book in 2 different places), which areas to visit and how to plan our travel.

Thanks in advance everyone.

Hi Tarun,
While others may suggest places in Austria , but here are my inputs on your schedule and the the time you have available.
Day 1 : If your flight lands at 10 AM, assuming you dont have immigration formalities to complete , you would pick your bags and be out of the airport by 11 AM, else it could be 12 PM or later. Then the time to travel to your accomodation. So on Day 1 you would have time only from 1 PM onwards
Day 2 : Full Day available
Day 3 : Full day available
Day 4 : Since your flight is at 10 AM, you will not have any sight seeing that day

So all in all you have only 2.5 days for your trip and the 3 nights, hence pls plan accordingly.

On personal front I spent almost 3 full days only in Vienna to visit Schloss Belvedere, City center, walking the Opernring etc.
Pls plan accordingly.
Please note I am not Expert in Austria and Vienna
I did separate trips to Hallstatt and Lake Konigsee from Salzburg.

To consider.
Jet lag the first day, depending on length of arrival flight.
Size car needed for six people and luggage.

With such a short visit to Austria, I'd be inclined to stay in Vienna and enjoy the city. Its a very cool with with a lot to see. As mentioned by others, with your schedule, you really only have 2.5 days to work with. If you want to see more than Vienna, you could potentially take a day trip by train to Salzburg - it is about 2 hours 20 minute trip each way, so you would spend a significant amount of your day going back and forth, but it is doable. And Salzburg is a compact city, so you can see some things on a day trip.

Austria is beautiful but, yup, 2.5 days is all you have. I'd recommend:
Day 1 (afternoon) -- walk the center of Vienna, get a feel for the city layout, enjoy the architecture.
Day 2 -- take whatever tours and museum visits in Vienna that interest you.
Day 3 -- day trip to Salzburg. Good scenery along the way, hilltop castle, shopping (expensive).

On your timetable Innsbruck is out of the question. Hitler's Eagle's Nest is close to Salzburg and worth seeing but takes at least half a day by itself. The Austrian Alps are beautiful but at the other end of the country. You would need to add two days to your trip to do anything there.