Palenque

and not needing a car til we leave there. not sure how many mountains we'll see though.>

Well a sweet drive from Vienna goes along the Danube's Wachau Valley - between Krems and Melk (uber famous abbey) - little wine towns like Durnstein where richard-lion-hearted was gaoled in the now ruined castle standing sentinel above this cute wine village around which vineyards swirl

and then head west to Hallstatt - the essence of ice-clad peaks - salt caves - a pristine Alpine lake and then drive back to Vienna via the less direct but prettier southern route, perhaps.

The Hallstatt area is one of the most awesomely pretty and relaxing areas i have ever seen.

thursdaysd

With the new time constraints you might consider flying to Innsbruck from Vienna (Airberlin has flights for 29 euro) and renting the car there, assuming the drop-off fees aren't outrageous. Then you can drive back to Vienna via the lakes and/or Zell and/or Graz.

annhig

hi, pal,

questions -

how long would you allow for the drive along the wachau valley?

could we get to Kitzbuel [see above] from Hallstadt easily in a day?

Where would you recommend staying in Hallstadt?

if we decided to have two mountain bases, assuming Hallstadt is one, where would you stay for the other?

could we make it back to Vienna in a day going the "prettier southern route"? [clues as to where that goes exactly?]

Nice to have your input, pal

regards, ann

Palenque

Actually the Sound of Music Country around Lake Wolfgang and the Hallstatt area would make a wondrous place to putz around - St Wolfgang on the placid lake of the same name - areas where parts of the film were filmed.

There is also a steam train going up a mountain from St Wolfgang. Bad Ischl is an interesting town and it has an interesting museum/house where one of the Franz Josephs lived - full of hunting trophies and a sundry collection of weird stuff.

You could also stop coming from Vienna at the notorious concentration camp Mauthausen - a few miles from St Valentine on the main road route.

Palenque

Why are you going both ways on the hydrofoil rather than taking one way the cheaper (i think) and quicker train? Just curious. I think the scenery is industrial at many points but not sure.

annhig

Hi thursdays - sorry I missed your earlier post. that looks a good idea. I'll have to look up the flight and car rental costs.

hi pal,

yep, that question had occurred to us too. it rather depends on how we plan the rest of the trip, as we are still in a quandry - 10 nights or 14. DH favours 10 [he gets home sick round about then] but recognises that it'll be dificult to do everything we want to if we limit our time that way. OTOH, I usually prefer longer trips, BUT i have realised that our dates clash with Wimbledon, and wimbledon fortnight is the closest i get to participative sport, nowadays.

as things stand at present,, we'll be going on a friday, coming back 10 days later on a monday. [the flights only go mondays and fridays, in case you were wondering]. we will arrive about 3pm and probably take the ryanair bus straight to Vienna.

on teh way back, we wil have a whole day to get back to Vienna, retur nthe car, and get to Bratislava. so we might take the hydrofoil so we can have a look round, but somehow I doubt it.

IF we were to do the longer trip, the flight back is earlier, so we would return the car the day before in Vienna, and get the hydrofoil to Braislva, spending the night there before we get the plane home.

decisions, decisions.

regards, ann

thursdaysd

ann - in Hallstatt I stayed here: http://zauner.hallstatt.net/index.php?lang=en. I would also consider - http://www.brauhaus-lobisser.com/ - where I ate rather well, and which is right by the lake.

annhig

thanks,thursdays,

I'd already bookmarked the first one, but I hadn't come across the 2nd. would you prefer to stay there than at the zauner? I do rather fancy a lake view!

regards, ann

thursdaysd

ann - I didn't look at the rooms at the second, but my room at the Zauner only had a sliver of a view, so if I were going back I'd try the second. (The staff there seemed friendlier, too.)

annhig

thanks thursdaysd -

that's what I thought too, looking at the web-site.

our plans seem to change [at least] daily. DH is coming round to the 14 day plan but won't be deflected from seeing Bratislava.

to give us a bit of flexibility, and make sure that DH doesn't get too bored with "seeing" rather than "doing", I'm now looking at the following itinerary:

Days 1-5 [4 nights] fly in Bratislava, Ryanair bus to Vienna, stay at Hotel Austria.

Days 5-8 head to Salzkammergut via Melk. stay 3 nights in Hallstadt/st. Gilgen/st. Wolfgang.

Days 8-10. Drive to Kitzbuel, stay 2 nights at Villa Licht.

DAy 10-13. 3 nights wherever we like, making our way back to Vienna.

Day 13 - return car to Vienna. Take train/hydrofoil to Bratislava. Stay 1 night.

Day 14 - get taxi to Airport, fly home.

for our stay in Salzkammergut, we are looking for a hotel by a lake with possibilities for excursions by boat, bike rides, cable cars etc. the garni in St. Gilgen recommended by BettyK looks very good and I like the look of the brau-haus in Hallstadt too. any other ideas, folks? [perhaps I need to start another thread?]

regards, ann

annhig

hi, in case you're interested [wel,, i am anyway,] we're off on Friday to do the following:

Day 1 – Leave home at 7am, Check in @ Bristol by 10.30, flight leaves at 11.30, arrives Bratislava 14.55. Taxi to hotel http://www.hotelmarrols.sk/ [1 night]
[€99 excluding breakfast]

Day 2 –Twin city liner Hydrofoil to Vienna, leaving 10.30, book in by 10am. arrive Vienna at noon. Stay http://www.hotelaustria-wien.at/ [€144 /night] [4 nights]
Visit MAK [in stadtpark, free on Sats.]

Day 3- Sun 21st Vienna. am – visit Wienmuseum – Karlsplatz. Free on Sundays. pm- Tram D to Grinzing/Doebling [wine area] to visit Heuriger/walk amongst the vineyards.

Day 4 –Vienna. am – visit Schonbrunn palace.
Evening: Staatsoper Aida. 7pm. Buffet ordered.

Day 5 – Vienna. am – visit Picasso exhibition in Kunsthaus + hunderwasserhaus. Pm- museums? Plus shopping?

Day 6 – Check out . Pick up hire car. [probably at city airport terminal, about 10 minute walk from hotel].Leave Vienna and drive along Danube to Salzkammergut area. Check-in http://www.garni-buchinger.at/ Gaestehaus Buchinger, St. Wolfgang. €30 pppn. [4 nights]

Day 7, St. Wolfgang
Day 8, St. Wolfgang
Day 9, St. Wolfgang

Day 10 – Leave St. Wolfgang. Drive to Kitzbuhel. check into http://www.pension-hinterseer.at/ [base of Hannenkahm cable car] €45 pppn. [2 nights] via Berchtesgarten/eagle’s nest. [drive to obersalzburg then bus]

Day 11, Kitzbuhel

Day 12 – Leave Kitzbuhel. Drive east then south over the Grossglockner pass. Stay at http://www.ederhof-heiligenblut.at/ €30/pppn for 2 nights

Day 13, Heiligenblut

Day 14 -Leave Heiligenblut and drive to Graz. Stay http://www.pension-graz.at/ [€39 pppn plus €6 parking in Orpheus garage]

Day 15 -Drive to Vienna and return hire car to Vienna airport. Take airport bus to Bratislava airport. [leaves every 30 mins on the hour, takes one hour].
Check in Bratislava airport by 14.20, flight leaves 15.20, arrives 16.55.

Phew.

i hope we haven't tried to do too much. particularly there's quite a lot of moving about in the 2nd week. but we aren't covering too much ground, so there should be plenty of time to stop and stare.

comments, anyone?

regards, ann

thursdaysd

Hi ann - have a great trip, I'm looking forward to reading your TR, lol! Hope you enjoy Graz and the pension.

Palenque

You will drive to Hallstatt from St. Wolfgang - the drive via Bad Ischl is easy and after that dramatically scenic

In Bad Ischl - which is close to St Wolfgang there is an interesting old residence of a Franz Joseph that is loaded with his hunting trophies

I would not miss seeing Hallstatt and its area

Palenque

Oh i forgot to add have a Gute Fahrt, as they say in German for a good trip i believe!

annhig

Vielen Dank, alte Freund.

wir werden bestimmt einen Ausflug nach Hallstatt und Bad Ischl machen. vielleicht beim Rad.

Tschuss.

[which all means that yes of course we're going to Bad Ischl and Hallstatt, and we might even go by bicycle].

cherylgirl

Ann, We stayed at the Brauhaus-lobisser in a lakeview room and it was wonderful! We were right above the outside dining area and could watch the people and the band entertaining the diners. We extended our stay there, it was so lovely.

StCirq

Do A, I say. It's close enough to Italy you might get a breeze from Ventimiglia or something.

annhig

hi cherygirl/st. cirq

we're pretty well locked into this itinerary now - leaving on friday!

i looked at the brauhaus, but i think it wa sbooked ofr our dates. I'll try to remember to pop in there and listen to teh band.

st. cirq - a friend of mine went on a 7 day walking holiday with a donkey in this area last year - the donkey is used to carry your luggage. this is highly ecological, and also, as we have two donkeys, something that would probably work well for us. have you ever heard of this?

regards, ann

yk

Hi ann, have a wonderful trip! I'm jealous!

annhig

thanks yk. I'll try to remember to take notes for the TR.

regards, ann