Austria itinerary (Salzkammergut area)
 

My friends and I will be touring Austria in late May. We are planning our itinerary now and would like some feedback. We will be staying 5 to 6 night each in Vienna, Salzburg and Innsbruck. We are interested to also stay in the Salzkammergut area for a few days to tour the lakes but are wondering where to stay as a base in that region.

I am wondering if we should stay more days at Salzburg and take daytrips to areas like Hallstatt and Wolfgangsee, or stay at Hallstatt which I know is a lovely place. What I am worried is that we have to take ferry to and from the train station at Hallstatt, which make it inconvenient to take trips to other areas. I read that we can also take buses from Hallstatt to other places in that region but is the bus station in the town centre? Anyone know of any website with more info on the bus service around that area?

Or is there a better place to stay in the Salzkammergut area which allow us to make daytrips easily?

St. Wolfgang, on the pretty lake and the venue of some Sound of Music scenes makes a great base - postal bus service from Salzburg via Bad Ischl to Hallstatt, a don't miss gem, plus boats on lake. From St Wolfgang a famous steam train climbs a mountain for a stupendous view of the lake-ful Alpine wonderland. St. Wolfgang is a lovely chalet- and flowerbox-studded town.

We stayed in Hallstatt for three nights and daytripped from there, but we had a car. I don't know that I'd like to do that without a car...we liked the freedom of going where we wanted when we wanted. It is absolutely gorgeous, but so are many of the towns around there. St. Wolfgang is beautiful too. I think 6 nights in Salzburg is a bit much...its a great town, but fairly small. Two or three days is plenty, then I'd head out for the countryside. Enjoy your trip!

Anne

Thanks for the info guys! I heard about the Schafbergbahn at Wolfgangsee. Is there a combi-ticket that combines both train and lake rides? I saw the website but the info is in German:

Kombikarten Schiff/Bahn, Hin und zuruck

I assume the above is refering to the combi-ticket?

And I have a further query:

I saw on the Austrian railway website (www.oebb.at) there's this ticket called "1 PLUS - Freizeitticket". Anyone know what it is? The website is in German again,

http://www.oebb.at/Angebot_Reisen/oe...eitticket.html

Can someone translate the page for me? Whenever I search the train schedule on their website, they quote several prices and this 1 PLUS - Freizeitticket seems like a good deal. Just wondering if it's only for a restricted group of people (eg locals, or families, etc).

hello,

i had a look at the website, and the ticket you talk about is offering the following :
- 1 person pays full price
- 2-5th person in group get to pay less
and if you have bikes, they will take them for free on the train as well.
there is no limit as to where it is valid.
I hope this helps !
enjoy austria !

We like to stay in St. Gilgen on the Wolfgangsee--a fairyland village with easy access into Salzburg and the ferry boats on the lake. Hard to beat.