I am planning a trip around a 5 day conference in Innsbruck in the beginning of August, and was wondering about including Salzburg in our travels. Coupling the normal crowds (and heat) of August with the Mozart anniversary, do you experts out there think it will be just too crowded to enjoy?

Frankly, I think it would be, overall, a lot more exciting than Innsbruck, crowds or not.

Crowds come and go depending on the time of day don't forget. Some of those streets in the so-called "old town" section of Salzburg will seem crowded no matter what.

If not Salzburg, what is your alternative?

I guess the problem is that we have lots of alternatives. We have airfare in and out of London (good sale),16 nights, and the only definite is that we have to be in Innsbruck 3-5 nights. After the conference, I was thinking about renting a car for a couple of days, driving the Grossglockner highway, and visiting some of the small towns towards Salzburg, before heading to the Berner Oberland area of Switzerland.

So, we have plenty of choices including London, Munich (if we fly there to get to Innsbruck), Ludwig's castles... Now I need to start narrowing down those choices.

Are you looking to do day trips out of Innsbruck or renting a car and staying nights as you go?

It really depends on how long we need to be in Innsbruck. If we need to be there the whole time, then I'm looking at day trips. Otherwise, I thought we could spend 1-2 nights somewhere else, drive back to Innsbruck return the car and take the train to Switzerland.

I honestly think that Salzburg is worth the effort, crowds or not.

Were I doing this I would arrive as early as possible and do as much as possible in the Old Twon section. You might also consider a visit to the Schloss Helbrun to experience the "trick" fountains while you are there.

Thanks for the feedback, Intrepid.

Why not go to Vienna instead of Salzburg? We were in Salzburg in December, before the start of the Mozart celebrations, and it was wall to wall people. Our guide warned us to avoid the city in 2006.

Your possible plans, as expressed in your second posting, kind of take you back and forth unneccesarily.

First, flying from Munich to Innsbruck, unless you are already ticketed, is a waste of money. The train from MUC to Innsbruck, either by high speed train speed via Rosenheim,or slower train via Garmisch-Partenkirchen is quite scenic. Sit in the right side of the train for views. Look at your alternatives on www.bahn.de (the German Railway/Bundesbahn website.)

No matter where you will be in August, it's likely to be crowded. If you definitely plan to go to the Berner Oberland, I would either skip Salzburg and go from Innsbruck by train to the Berner Oberland, and spend the time there, OR Rent a car out of Innsbruck and spend the nights in Zell am See or Saalfelden for day-trip trips to the Grossglockner,to Hallstatt, to the Kitzsteinhorn Glacier and the Schmittenhoehe near Zell as well as a day trip to Salzburg, via Lofer, Berchtesgaden. Chances are that by now you will be hard put to find lodgings in S.

Parking will be a problem in Salzburg, so enter the city from the road that takes you past the airport and park in the car park at the tunnel. That car park is blasted into the rocks and -as you leave it - you are actually entering the old town.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Underhill - Vienna is even further from where we are going to be, so I was really only entertaining shorter trips from Innsbruck.

Treplow - I think you misunderstood. I meant we were probably flying into Munich, not Innsbruck. Then if we have time between our stay in Innsbruck and Switzerland I was considering 2 or 3 days seeing the countryside. I assumed we'd have to go back to Innsbruck to return the car, but maybe not.

Treplow - I went to the bahn website, to see my options as you suggested, and picked random dates and times, but the scenic Garmisch route did not show up. Well, maybe it did, but it didn't specify it. Can you please help this train, newbie. Is there a way to see all my options at once, or do I have to specify Garmisch in the "via" section if I want to see that route? Thanks!

bd,

When you do the search on bahn.de, be sure that the box "prefer fast connections" is not checked.

When the trains are listed, click on "details for all" trains. The next page will show you the border crossing point for each train. Mittenwald is the crossing point for the trains through Garmisch.

I went on the website (the same way JoE suggested). There are daily trains every 2 hours, leaving Munich on the even hours, plus 32 minutes (e.g. 10:32, 12:32, etc.) arriving in Innsbruck 2 hours and 50 minutes later (e.g. 13:22, 15:22, etc.) They are Interregio and Regio trains, that is non-express trains.

Check with someone on this board who is more familiar with the Bayernkarte to see if you can use it between Munich and Innsbruck. I know you can use it between Munich and Salzburg (also in Austria), but I don't know aboutInnshruck. This would save you a great deal of money. A Bayernkarte costs EUR18 for one person, EUR 23 (or EUR28, I'm not sure) for up to five people travelling together on the same ticket. You would have to leave Munich after 9AM, and you trip has to be completed by 3AM the next day. It's good all over Bavaria, but only on Interegios and Regios.

Thank you both very much. I really appreciate the help. I checked into the Bayern ticket, and I can't use it to Innsbruck, but supposedly I can save money using it to go to Mittenwald and from there buying a ticket to Innsbruck.