bobchicago28

We are going to venice, vienna, salzburg, munich and interlaken in May.
We trying to determine the order.. where to fly into and then in which order to go to each location.
Price of flights and length/availability and aesthetics of the train ride are considerations.

As of now our two top options are:
1. fly into vienna.. then train to venice - interlaken - salzburg - munich (fly back)
2. fly into vienna.. then train to salzburg - munich - interlaken - venice (fly back)

Flying out of munich seems a little cheaper than the others and with direct flights. But that means three long train rides instead of two.

I've spent some time on the eurorail sites and it seems trains out of interlaken to and from munich and venice are about 8 hrs and no overnighters. For the long train rides we'd probably prefer overnight.
I've also read on this forum that people enjoy the train ride b/n munich and salzburg.

Anyone have any advice on the best order?

suze

bob, when you don't put spaces in your title it makes the whole column of 50 posts run off to the right so people can't read 'em.

you might want to let this one sink and repost your question with a title including spaces. kindly, s.

Intrepid1

Fly into Venice and train to Vienna, then Salzburg-Munich-Interlaken and fly home from Zurich.

bob_brown

I am not sure of all the places you looked for train information, but your best travel time from Munich HBF to Interlaken West is 7 hours, 16 minutes with one change in Karlsruhe.

I would do it Munich, Interlaken, Venice, Vienna, Salzburg, Munich, if I were including Venice.

The Munich airport is well out from town with no Deutsche Bahn trains originating or terminating there.

You are going to have 3 long rides any way you go about it. Munich to Interlaken is long, Interlaken to Venice is 7 hours plus, with changes in Spiez and Milano.

Venice to Vienna is a long one too.
Almost 7 hours if you leave about 6:30 in he morning.

I am curious why you are interested in pursuing a trip that involves so much time riding trains.

Also, when I see Interlaken, I am curious why? The Swiss Alps in May usually finds the snow still melting and the mountain villages in "repair mode".
The mountains are not really visible from Interlaken; you need to journey south to either Grindelwald or Lauterbrunnen for that. Even there, the better views are higher still.

#2 with no Venice makes more sense.
You can spend quite a bit of time in Vienna, perhaps 3 days in Salzburg, infinite time in the Alps, and 3 days in and around Munich and still have something left over. I have done a similar route and used up over 2 weeks.
Of course it depends on what you want to see in all of these places.

If not too much more expensive, start in Venice and go from there to Vienna to Salzburg, to Interlaken (9 hours), and Munich. Still a lot of train riding.
Fly open jawed from Munich.

Salzburg to Venice is about a 6 hour trip at best, with a wait in Villach.

You could fly to Vienna, then Salzburg, Venice, Interlaken, Munich.
Home from Munich.
I have done similar routings.
Still long train trips any way you slice it.

bobchicago28

thanks bob_brown.
We don't want to take a lot of long train rides but not sure of how to get around it and still make it everywhere we want to. Looking to minimize it as much as possible.
Why Interlaken... we want to go to Switzerland and have a friend that lived there for a year or so. They may have contacts there that can help us out.

Looking like getting to/from Interlaken is going to be a problem..
Have you ever taken train b/n Interlaken and Venice, Salzburg or Munich? In other words, what's the best stops before and after interlaken?

bob_brown

I have gone to Salzburg from Interlaken. About a 9 hour trip all told.
Munich to Interlaken, I did that just this last summer.

Where else to stop?
I think Austria needs a car to see the mosts because the really scenic places are off the main rail line along the Inn River. Innsbruck is a logical place to get a car, and from there you can go up or down several scenic valleys and even to Garmisch.

Munich to Interlaken? Schaffhausen maybe for the falls of the Rhine.
But that means coming in via Stuttgart or backtracking a little from Zuerich.

In Interlaken, if you have a place to sleep, then take it. From there oodles of places to go. Grindelwald, Wengen, Muerren, Jungfraujoch, Schilthorn, Swiss Life Museum near Brienz, Meiringen, Kiental, Kandersteg, and lake cruises to Brienz or Spiez and Thun.

I can go on and on. Favorite place in Austria. I have 2 other than the cities.

The Oetztal south and west of Innsbruck and Heilgenblut, well south of Salzburg over the Grossglockner highway.
It probably will not be open in May, depending on whether or not it is late May and the snow pack was lighter than usual.

Hallstadt is a nice place too.
Lots of quaint places in Austria.

bob_brown

Too add a little more. Salzburg to Vienna is about 3 hours to 3 hours and 30 minutes depending upon which train you take. The fastest ones make the run in under 3, but they are not frequent.

Vienna to Munich is 4 hours, 30 minutes at best with other connections being slower.
The express leaves at 8 am from Wien West and there is no change of trains.
Most of the others require a change in Salzburg.

I know people ask about scenic train rides. I don't know of any that I would call really scenic outside of the mountain trains in Switzerland. I thought the trip from Zürich to Salzburg and Vienna was tedious at best. Most of the time the tracks are in a deep cut or a tunnel except in Switzerland where the landscape is fairly flat between Zürich and Sargans.

bob_brown

Let me amend that above statement somewhat.
Venice to Villach is a good trip on the way to Salzburg or Vienna.

The trip from Speiz down the Kander Valley and through the rail tunnel to the Valley of the Rhone is also fairly scenic. Once out of the tunnel on the south side, the drop from Goppenstein to the Rhone is considerable for a passenger line.