Flying into Austria, Vienna v.s. Salzburg, Rental Car Pick-up???
 

Hello All-

My mom & her cousin are going on a European vacation and will start their journey in Austria, basing in Salzburg. The question: Do they fly into Vienna and pick up rental car at airport-drive to Salzburg or take the connecting flight from Vienna into Salzburg and pick up car there? I see it's about 3.5 hours to drive the distance between the two towns. I'm not quite clear if both airports have the rental car agencies on site or if they are off site. If either place is offsite-are there shuttles to take them to their car?

*Note: I know pubic transportation is easy in Salzburg and they really don't need a car-but they insist as they will be leaving there and going to other countries. Their dream-their decisions :)

Thank you in advance, have an amazing day!

If they don't plan to see anything between Vienna and Salzburg, they can fly into Salzburg. Otherwise they would just waste gas on an only mildly scenic motorway.

If they want to visit other places after Salzburg and need the car, why not take a taxi from Salzburg airport to the hotel (not really a distance to the Old Town from AP), and pick-up rental car once they leave Salzburg?

And they better drop it off in the country where they picked it up. Otherwise usually a steep surcharge for cross-border one-way rentals can apply. Check the fineprint.

Finally: If money is an issue they could check rates for rental cars from nearby Freilassing, Germany. Often it is much cheaper to rent in Germany than in Austria. Unless this would mean a drop-off in another country as mentioned before. Though the penalty charge for cross-border rentals between Germany and Austria or v.v. is often not as steep as elsewhere..

If they haven't decided about the actual flight and aren't going to do anything IN Vienna then they should look at the possibility of flying into Munich as well. Easy to take a train to Salzburg which takes only 1.5 hours. Lots of possibilities here.

At Salzburg airport there are several rental agencies in a garage connected by a walkway to the terminal. The Salzburg airport is quite compact and the reply to the original posting would be that it is better to fly to Salzburg and rent there, as the drive between Vienna and Salzburg is longer than you think and not particulary interesting. Check rental conditions about bringing the car to other countries, as from the airport in Salzburg you risk going over the border with Germany without even noticing.

Hi,

You left a lot of important info out of your post.

How many nights/days are they basing in Salzburg? Where else are they taking the car? Will they return the car where they pick it up, or at least in the same country? Where do they plan (or would like to) to fly home from?

With the limited info provided, I'd suggest flying into Munich and getting the car there. Munich is closer to Salzburg than Vienna, plus car rentals are cheaper in Germany.

As stated above, they could fly to Munich, train to Salzburg and then pick up a car in nearby Freilassing, Germany.

Paul