How many days in Austria?
 

From Munich,Traveling to Salzburg and Vienna . Planning on staying 2 nights in Salzburg, but how many days are needed in Austria to see the sights? Solely depending on public transportation. Do I look at Rail Europe website for transportation for this part of my journey? Any day trips worthy from Vienna? Thanks

The Austrian rail website is:
http://www.oebb.at/

Or you can always use the forever reliable German rail website:
www.bahn.de

For day trips from Vienna, absolutely go see the Melk Abbey and then cruise down the Wachau region of the Danube to Krems. You can take the trains to/from the region, or you can join a bus tour that includes the abbey visit and the cruise.

Thanks, will check out the rail websites and added trip to Melk and cruise on my itinerary.

I think Vienna is worth many days IF you like classical music, particularly opera. Die Volksoper is cheaper than Der Staatspper, but for certain types of music it actually can be better.

For example The Merry Widow, actually Die Lustige Witwe, was one of several productions I enjoyed greatly. Die Fledermaus was also a very good production.

I think 2 nights in Salzburg is enough to see the highlights in some depth.
I think you will enjoy the Marionetten Theater. The people who manipulate the marionettes are wizards with their fingers.

The usual presentation involves an opera performance. The music is recorded and the marionettes act out the plot.

I really think you need a couple of good guides to the city.

Train service is such that Budapest can be done as a long day trip.

Based on my experience, I agree that the German rail web site is detailed and accrate for Austria and most of Europe. As far I am concerned, the RE site is about useless.
I rarely use it because Germany, Switzerland and Austria national rail system web sites are superior.

All systems have English as an option. However, some of the descriptions are not in English. The other day, I used my limited German to read some of the material.

At the stations themselves, I have found that many people speak English.

I may be mistaken in my assessent, but my reaction is that many Austrians speak English well, and they do so willingly.

Let me describe once incident to you as an example. We were touring the Festspielhaus in Salzburg with a guide who spoke English and German. She would make her presentation in English first for about half the group; then she would repeat it in German. At the 3rd stop, the native German speakers told her she need only present in English. The group was a mixture of people from the USA, Germany, Austria, and various other nations where English was the first language.

It's difficult to say without knowing what sort of sights you're interested in and how thorough your sightseeing is, but highlights of Vienna include

-Schonbrunn palace - the 'summer palace' where you can do a tour of the interior and visit the zoo and the plant house in the grounds - this probably takes a half day if you skip the zoo.

-The kunsthistoriches museum - the traditional art museum - I won't guess a timescale as it depends how much you like art

-Kunsthaus Wien - designed by Friedrich Hundertwasser, this is a small art gallery but the main reason to visit is the crazy architecture - this is about half a day (and has a very nice cafe for lunch).

-The Hofburg - the Habsburg's winter palace where again the interior tour is worth doing. About 2 hours.

-Stephansdom, the main cathedral

There are loads of other things to do and see - the modern art museum, natural history museum, music museum, town halls, opera houses (you can tour the Staatsoper), Donauturm, Grinzing (a wine-producing village accessible by the ??42 tram, but only popular at certain times of year), other cathedrals...

If your time is limited I'd consider only spending one day in Salzburg to have more time in Vienna.

All of the above named places are worth visits. The art museum always seems to have something special going on.

The one museum I was disappointed in was Das Haus der Music, the House of Music. It is devoted to the great musicians associated withs Vienna, minus a few notable ones like Anton Bruckner.

Given that the museum has such famous persons as Beethoven, Mozart, Strauss, and Brahms to work with, I expected more than what I saw. Perhaps in the intervening 2 years the exhibits have been improved.

The Belvedere Palace was something of a downer, too. The original furniture was sold, and the building is now an art museum.

But Vienna has its own charm and personality like all great capitals.

Thanks for the info this is a beginning in helping to plan the last part of our vacation. We are visiting Paris and Normandy, have that part planned, prior to Munich. My daughter's first interest is art and architecture and music last. My husband wanted to go to a concentration camp so we will fulfill that in Munich and since we were that close to Austria we thought why not go on to Salzburg and Vienna. Is the Sound of Music tour worth the 1/2 day of Salzburg visit? We were thinking of 4 days in Vienna but are flexible to add some days if needed. Do we need to purchase train tickets for the Munich to Salzburg to Vienna prior to departure here in USA or do that in Munich? Never traveled abroad so I am having a difficult time putting this together. May seek travel agent help before this is complete. THanks again, I really enjoy reading all the info on this board and it is very helpful in planning.