ilana

Hello,
My wife and I intend to travel from Munich to Vienna on August 20 to September1. 11 net days. We haven't yet decided on the exact track.
1.We noticed that there are many B&B aroung Salzburg and Innsbruck. Do we need to book in advance at this time of the year or is it possible to decide on the way and still find good places?

2. We will appreciate suggestions regarding what areas to see and some practical advices how many days we should devote for each place. We wouldn't like to hurry from one place to another. We will rent the car in Munich and return it in Vienna. We will not spent time in Munich but we do wish to devote sometime to Vienna.
Thank you,
Michael

Cowboy1968

I would book in advance at least some accomodation for the first night(s). While there are tons of hotels, B&Bs, and private rooms in the Alps, the better known or favorite destinations fill up quickly -- especially during high season, and extremely over weekends.

For a first time visitor, I would recommend advance reservation for the whole trip when travelling in August. Otherwise you will to start to look for rooms by mid-day on each day, which may add unnecessary stress to your trip.

You may also want to check how much of a "penalty charge" you will have to pay for dropping off your car in another country.

ira

Hi il,

Why waste valuable vacation time hunting for a place to stay, especially since you are going at the height of the season?

In salzburg, I can highly recommend
www.ammoos.at/main.php?language=en&m=home

You might find my trip report helpful:
http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=35014078

You will pay a hefty fee to pick up in Germany and drop off in Austria.

Why not take the train from Munich to Salzburg and get the car there?

You will need an International Driver's Permit for Austria. You can get it from the AAA.
www.aaasouth.com/travel_drivers.asp#idp

You will also need a road tax sticker (vignette) for driving the highways in Austria.

If you get the car in Germany, buy the sticker at any gas station near the border.

If you get the car in Austria, it should have one.

Enjoy your visit.

bob_brown

Booking wise, I recommend knowing where you are going the first two or three nights. Salzburg is heavily visited in the summer, even the early fall.

When it comes to car rentals, I would check out Auto Europe first, get a good comparison of prices, and then see if you can beat the price elsewhere. I could not because Avis offered me a free upgrade of one car class.

Price wise I think you would be ahead of the game to both rent and return in Germany. I just returned a Munich rental in Switzerland and the drop charge was over $100.

A Bayern Ticket for rail travel between Munich and Salzburg for up to 5 people is much cheaper than that.

If you rent in Austria and return in Austria the cost will be higher per day than if you rent in Germany and return in german. Also, beware of the charges for a second driver. I found that they were ridiculously high when doing business with Hertz or Avis even if I was going through AutoEurope and had a AAA discount.


If you rent a CDMR class vehicle from Avis in Salzburg you will pay a basic charge of $412.15 USD per week. If you rent the same car at the Salzburg airport, you will pay $473.

By comparison you will pay $340 for the same class of car at the Denningerstrasse office in Munich.

This assumes pick up and return from the same country.

The difference in price starts at about $70. Now you would have to buy the Austrian vignette which can be obtained in a short term version for about $9.00. (I actually don't recall what I paid 2 weeks ago. I just got it, stuck in on the window, and went.)

If you pick the car in Germany at either the airport or the main rail station, you pay about 15% more. Of course you have to factor in the cost of getting to a rental office that is not where you arrive.

There are quite a few Avis rental offices in Munich. I selected one that was both the lowest cost and convenient to the Astoria Hotel.

Another ploy would be to rent in Germany at a town near Salzburg, e.g. Berchtesgaden and return it there. Or you can rent in Munich and return in Berchtesgaden for the same price.

Berchtesgaden is a reasonable bus or train ride from Salzburg.

Besides right now rentals at some German locations are offering a free upgrade.

I lucked out this past trip. I had a free upgrade promised. When I got to the rental fofice, no one class upgrade was available. So I got a two class upgrade - at least.

We drove off in a B class Mercedes.
I decided I would ride in the back, let my talented wife drive, and pretend like I was King Ludwig III.
(Not really. A friend of ours and her son were in the backseat.)

Now for areas to see. Around Salzburg it is like Yogi the Great Philosopher said: When you get to a fork in the road, take it.

Seriously, go just about anywhere around Salzburg and the views are nice. The lakes, the hills, the forests, the fields, everything is highly viewable!!

If you want a real mountain drive, head south toward the Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse. It is a well engineered road and the views are stunning. Yes, it is a toll road, and yes you pay toll to go through tunnels. The Austrians get you both ways: tolls and the vignette.

If you head south, spend the night in Heiligenblut. It is a pretty little mountain town on the south side of the range of eastern Alps.

BTilke

My recollection is that the hugely popular Salzburg Festival takes place in August, so you have that to contend with in addition to the usual summer travelers. Doesn't seem like the best time to "wing it" to me--your choices will be limited to places most people have decided they DON'T want.

However, I suggest you check a booking site like www.hotels.de and see what comes up in Salzburg on the dates you have in mind. If you get more than a dozen choices IN Salzburg and also in your price range and reasonably well reviewed on TA (read the fine print, you may find some of the hotels that pop up as available are some distance away), then go without reservations if you really want to.

If Salzburg is full, another option to consider is Bad Reichenhall, just over the border in Germany. Very nice little town with some nice little BnBs and hotels and frequent post-bus service to Sburg (so you don't have to drive if you don't want to). If you can drop off your car there, so much the better...the post buses will take you right to the Sburg train station where you can catch a train to Vienna.

TravMimi

As mentioned already, the music festival is in Salzburg in August. Make reservations ASAP.