Germany/Austria trip
 

Itinerary is finalized. Finally. We are NOT going to buy a long term German Twin Rail pass. We may buy one for 3-4 days, but the Bayern pass may suffice. Still figuring that part out. I have copied my itinerary below.

For the Salzburg portion, we know we will spend one day exploring the city and one day traveling to Berchtesgaden. I'm looking for suggestions for a day trip for our third day. Is Zell am See worth a visit? Halstatt? Other ideas? Just checking if people have suggestions I shoudl look into. Thanks!

22 May - Arrive Zurich 8:40 am, travel to Lindau, spend day in Lindau and Lake Konstanz region.

23 May - 7:25 am train to Salburg, arrrive aroudn noon. Check into hotel, then explore Salzburg

24 May - Day trip to Berchtesgaden

25 May - Day trip from Salzburg TBD

26 May - Early train from Salzburg to Munich, leave luggage at station, travel to Dachau. Visit memorial, then travel back to Munich and explore Munich. Late train (maybe 8:00 or 9:00) to Garmisch.

27 May - Garmisch region / castles

28 May - Garmisch region or castles

29 May - Mittenwald, then leave from Mittenwald, via Innsbruck, to Zurich. Stay at airport hotel.

30 May - Leave 10:10 am

I don't think half a day in the town of Salzburg is enough time. I wouldn't do that second daytrip and instead see more of Salzburg, unless you have been there before.

I also don't think you will see much of Munich. After the train from Salzburg to Dachau and seeing the Memorial and getting back to Munich it will probably be dinner. We went to Dachau from Munich and didn't get back until dinner. If you haven't been to Munich, or want to see it again, you really need a day for it, probably more than 1.

Alright mjk!!!

I tend to agree that Salzburg deserves more than one day but you will have 1.5 plus the three evenings.

A personal observation - Berchtesgaden (Eagles Nest, if that is your goal) is not that "exciting". It's a restaurant now and your time might be better spent in the outdoors you came to see. Take a look at Koenigsee and the boat trip down the lake. It's beautiful.

As for another day trip, I don't consider Zell am See a must see. I think that a trip to Hallstatt is the real winner in this area. The train takes about 2.5 hours though. I don't know if there is a better option by bus. St. Gilgen and St. Wolfgang are also worthy towns to visit, and they are easily reached by bus from Salzburg.

If you have any interest in driving, this is the place to do it and rent a car for 2 days in Salzburg. It will make getting to the best mountain locations easy and quick.

Currently, if we followed our planned itinerary, we would be at Lindau by 11:05 (if we can catch the 9:28 train - we are scheduled to land at 8:40). If we chose to skip Lindau and instead head right to Salzburg, we would be there between 3:40 - 4:00, depending on which train we get on.

Should we give up Lindau and instead travel right to Salzburg. We would have the late afternoon and evening to relax there, then 3 full days to explore, instead of 2 1/2 days. How nice is Lindau and the Lake Konstanz region? Our original thought to go there was so that we would have something to do on our arrival day other than mostly sit on a train. Lindau was what we came up with.

Hi mj,

You are scheduled to land at 08:40 and plan to be on the train at 09:28 - not even an hour?

Is there a reason why you don't wish to see a bit of Zurich the first day?

I agree about skipping Berchtesgaden.

Will you be buying the Salzburg Card?
http://www.salzburg.info/de/sehenswe...card/index.htm

((I))

Well, I can confirm that it normally takes less than an hour to get from your airplane to your plane at the Zürich airport. It's a great airport!

Normally I'm standing at the train tracks within 45 minutes -- after stopping to buy some deli.

That's true so long as your flight isn't late.

Have fun!

s

Ira, I've already been to Zurich multiple times. We had bought a ticket to Zurich with the original idea of exploring more of Switzerland, but decided to instead visit other regions where we have never been (thus Salzburg and the Bavarian Alps).

Munich and Dachau seem awfully far out of the way on your day's trip from Salzburg to Garmisch.

Both are certainly worth seeing but I question the wisdom of such a detour for squeezing them in.

Also, Have you considered renting a car for the days you are based in Garmisch? I will make for visiting the area castles and outlying village (including Mittenwald) much easier.

Well, my wife and I have discussed and decided to skip Lindau and take the train right to Salzburg on our arrival day. we would get to Salzburg around 3:45-4:00 and have the early evening to walk around a little. That way, we will eliminate one more hotel change and have three FULL days to explore Salzburg and the environs. We can even choose to take a day trip to Munich/Dachau on one of those days and then be able to travel right to GAP on our move day. Lindau sounds lovely, but we figure there will be other lake town options during our time there.