JC98

I'd like to thank everyone on Fodors who helped me with the planning for our recent last -minute trip to Europe. I received so much help, and would like to extend the same favor to future travelers. Please let me know if I could be of help answering your questions.

Our high level itinerary is below:
* 2 nights, 3 days in Salzburg area
-- Hotel: Sheraton Salzburg
-- Activities: Salzburg, Hallstatt, Eagle's Nest, Berchtesgaden, Neuschwanstein Castle

* 4 nights in Munich (DH had conference)
-- Hotels: Sheraton Arabellapark, Sheraton Munich Airport
-- Activities: Munich, biergartens, Deutches Museum, Nymphenburg Palace

* 4 nights in London
-- Hotels: Radisson Edwardian Kenilworth (on the same street as the British Museum), Sheraton Heathrow
-- Activities: London, Stonehenge (2 days before the summer solstice)

JC98

Some random tips I have from my trip:

* Gas is cheaper in Austria than Germany (about 10 to 15 cents cheaper per liter). We bought our Austrian Vignette at a gas station in Germany near the border of Austria, and made the mistake of filling up the car there instead of waiting to do it in Austria.

* We rented our car from Avis. But Sixt is a pretty popular rental agency in Germany and cheaper.

* We stayed in the Sheraton Salzburg. A very average Sheraton with dated furnishing and carpets. No pool. If you don't care about getting SPG points, cheaper and better to stay in the Villa Carlton (one block from the Sheraton). Read that it was just renovated in April and offers free WiFi. Location wise they're similar. Close to the Mirabel Garden and walkable to Old Town across the river.

* Free parking on the streets on the weekend right in front of the hotel.

* Salzburg. Make sure you go up the hill behind Old Town. By foot (we did this), furnicular or elevator. It's very nice to have a panaromic view of Salzburg, the river and surrounding hills. We went there close to sunset and all the churches were taking turns ringing their bells. One even rung the to tune of "Do Re Mi" from the Sound of Music--cute.

Ok, more later..

bettyk

I have never found Sixt to be cheaper than Avis when we have booked through AutoEurope or Gemut. Of course, we always try to pick up our rental car at a site off airport due to the higher taxes.

Looking forward to more of your report.

JC98

Right before our trip, my DH also booked with Sixt, and it was about 30 euros cheaper per day. But he forgot to book an English GPS, and they ran out when we got there. So we went with Avis instead.

We picked up our Avis rental at the Munich airport and returned it in the city, near our hotel--Sheraton Arabellapark. The city office lets you drop off the car after hours. It's closed at 6 p.m. and you just drop off the key in a mailbox slot, and park the car anywhere on the street. We were uncomfortable with that, as afraid it might get vandalized. And it's a Mercedes too! But I guess Munich is pretty safe. We took pictures of the car when it was parked in case we needed to show evidence that there was no damage on the car.

Also, you can return the car any time after 6 p.m. (beyond your 24 hours limit) without penalty. If we had known that, we wouldn't need to rush back to Munich.

TeaLoverDenise

Hi, we live in Greater London. What a timely post. Just earlier tonight my husband and I (we are in our 50s) decided that we wanted to take a holiday to Salzburg, having never been before. We have some Delta airmiles but not sure if we want to fly or try to find a coach trip (via Eurostar). Anyway, we love museums, history, music, good food, exploring, shopping, people-watching .... anything you'd like to tell us/suggest about Salzburg would be great. If a 3-4 day holiday, should we stay in Salzburg the entire time? Thanks again.

JC98

Hi TeaLover,

To start, I'd suggest you look at one of Rick Steve's travel guides--either Austria or Germany or Western Europe would have Salzburg. You may be able to find his books in your local library. I checked all my gudebooks out from my city's public libraries.

Rick Steve's guides are good for first timers since he pretty much hand holds you throughout your travel. But what he covers is more limited, as he filters out a lot of stuff according to his taste. For restaurant picks, it's better to use Fodor's and suggestions elsewhere.

For a 3-4 day holiday, you shouldn't stay in Salzburg the whole time. Maybe spend a night in Austria's Lake District -- Hallstatt, St Gilgen, St Wolfgang, etc. We didn't do it, but others on this Forum could tell you more.

You may also want to go to Berchtesgaden National Park in Germany(30 mins drive from Salzburg), and go to Eagle's Nest -- Hitler's mountaintop resort, if you're not sensitive about this type of history. It rained heavily on the day we were there, so we didn't do any hikes or take the boat tour on the lake. Not much to the town to see other than walking around for 1/2 hour or so.

JC98

Also, are you planning to take public transportation or drive? Driving around Salzburg is easy. Hardly any traffic when we were there and the roads are really excellent.

In terms of museums, we didn't go see any in Salzburg. From what I read, Salzburg's charm is more in its Old Town taken as a whole and its locale--right on the river with rural scenery around it. Heard mixed reviews about the Mozart's museums, so we didn't go. Just walked by. It's nice just to wander around Old Town, and climb up the hill behind it.