hi, y'all,

the plan is to pick up the car in vienna, and return it to Vienna 10 days later. so far so good.

the snag is that we are flying back from Bratislava [good ole' Ryanair, the pilot is an optional extra, only €40!], and on our last day, we need to drop off the car, get the train to Bratislava from the sudbahnhof, and then get the bus to the airport. it therefore occured to me that the easiest way to do this would be to use a car hire firm that has a depot at or near the sudbahnhof.

can I find one? - well obviously not, as I'm asking you lot.

if they had an office near the Hotel Austria [very central, in the Fleischmarkt] where we could pick it up at the end of our stay in Vienna, that would be a bonus.

regards, ann

Autoeurope does list an agency on the south side of Vienna which might give you a direct connection to the train station.

Are you sure that there is no airport limousine from Vienna to the Bratislava airport, as there is between Paris and Beauvais (Ryanair's airport)?

Sixt Car Rentals has an office next to the Vienna Sudbahnhof
www.sixt.at

also various easy bus connections from Vienna to Bratislava airport.
www.eurolines .at
bus from Erdberg U-3 stop and also from Vienna Airport. Most all major auto rental firms with offices at the airport .
Anotheralternative is the Terravision bus transfer service
www.terravision.eu

Hertz and Europcar both have offices on the Ringsdtrasse, a short ride by streetcar from the Hotel Austria

So you have many easy alternatives.

... and you better pop for that extra €40 !!

hi, folks,

thanks for the tips.

Molker - I will definitely look at Sixt as well as the buses. The terravision bus is the one run by or associated with Ryaniair- I looked at that but the times are a bit iffy - involving loads of time waiting at the airport.

and dropping the car at vienna airport and then connecting with bratislava was not something I'd thought of - good idea.

michael - by airport limo do you mean a coach like the terravision one - or a REAL LIMO, as in stretch? the latter sounds a bit pricey! [but cheaper than missing the flight of course].

Paris/amsterdam - I was only half joking about that €40 for the pilot. when we booked, the "headline" rate with £2.99 for the outward flight; in fact it was more like £50 with taxes etc. then if you want to check a bag [only 15kgs, mind] online check in costs £20, whereas it's nothing if you check-in online without a bag. which is illegal under european law, according to a radio programme i was listening to just after we booked. AND it is being reported they are going to charge to use the on-board toilets!!!!! what if you have a medical condition? or are pregnant? or mean?

again, thanks for the ideas,

regards, ann

I meant a bus dedicated to transporting passengers to the airport.

another transfer bus schedule
www.slovaklines.sk

hi, just an up-date.

we are booked on the twinliner catamaran from Bratislava to Vienna on the way out, [€19 each, very convenient fo our hotels in both cities.

on the way back, we plan to return our hire car to vienna airport, and catch the slovak lines bus that goes from Vienna airport to Bratislava airport every hour on the half hour, and takes 60 mins. the 12.30 pm one should get us there in good time to book in for our 15.30 flight.

Very convenient.

thank you all for your ideas and help.

I'll let you know how it works out!

regards, ann

Just pray your bus doesn't break down!

yes, betty, you have deftly identified the flaw in my planning.

I am already fighting the desire to change everything round to avoid this possible pitfall.

however, I am reasonably confident that the timings work so long as we get an early start from Graz, and if the worst comes to the worst, we'll get a cab. the €70 it appears to cost is pricey, but cheaper than missing the flight.

travel can't be completely risk -free, can it?

thanks for all your help,

regards, ann

ps - i've been looking at the map again working out our route to the Kehlstein, and it looks as if there's a fun back route which we can use, avoiding Salzburg. i heard back from the tour co, and they say they only do tours for groups. so i guess we'll just have to wait to see what we find when we get there.

Ann, hopefully you will see the same sign we did when we arrived at Kehlsteinhaus about tours in English.

The important thing to remember is when you arrive at the entrance, make your return reservation for the bus IF you have any time constraints or you might not get back when you need to.

Our GPS took us down some strange back road. DH and I were giving each other these looks like "what the heck?". But we went through some great scenery and the road eventually tied back into the 305 near Berchtesgaden. It cut quite a bit of time off our drive.

And you are right. We can only do so much planning -- some things will be out of our hands!

hi again,

betty, that's a very useful tip. so I can work out which return bus to book, how long did you spend at the top?

in fact, i'm not too worried about timing on this leg - we are only heading to Kitzbuhel, after all. your little back route to Berchtesgarten sounds fun.

thanks again,

regards, ann

According to my notes, we arrived a little after 11 AM, waited a few minutes for the 11:40 AM tour, and took the 1:30 bus back.

The tour took a little over 30 minutes and then we wandered around on our own for probably another 30-45 minutes. I also remember sitting around outside the entrance for a few minutes waiting for the buses to arrive to take us back down.

They have a restaurant up top so you could also get a bite to eat. However, we waited until we got back to Berchtesgaden and had a late lunch at the Watzmann Hotel.

betty - you are a mine of useful information.

we will try to aim for the 11.40 tour in the hope it still exists! we might think about eating at the top, depending on what our pension breakfast turns out to be like. I'll also try to remember about the Walzman hotel in case that suits better.

thanks again,

regards, ann