Itinerary help please.- Quick swing through Prague and Austrian Alps
 

Hello all. My wife, college-aged daughter and I area going to Prague in mid-March to visit my son who is studying abroad there for the semester. My wife and I will arrive in Prague on Saturday afternoon and will spend a couple days exploring Prague on our own until our son returns from spending St. Patrick’s Day in Dublin on Monday, while our daughter doesn’t arrive from her school until Tuesday morning. Our flights back to the U.S. are the following Sunday morning. From Tuesday to Saturday our kids want to visit the Austrian Alps. I’m thinking we would take the train to Vienna for a day or two, spend a day or two somewhere in the Alps, then stop in Salzburg on the way back to Prague. I have had no time to start planning so I’m not sure how feasible that itinerary is. Any suggestions on how long is needed to just hit the high points in Vienna, Salzburg and/or the Alps would be most appreciated.

Also, suggestions for a hotel and/or tour guide for my wife and I in Prague would also be helpful.

Thanks for the help!

How will you get around?

Will the four of you travel together from Prague to Vienna some time on Tuesday? That would leave you Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and part/most of Saturday.... 3.5-ish days total to visit Vienna, somewhere in the Alps and Salzburg. The train from Prague to Vienna takes about 4.5 hours, Vienna to Salzburg 2.5 hours, and Salzburg to Prague at least 5.5 hours. You could probably take a day trip by train from Vienna to one of the mountain resorts without changing hotels.

Your time everywhere would be extremely rushed... barely a day in each. For me, it's way too much. Flying home from Vienna would help a lot, but at a minimum I'd skip the Alps idea or Salzburg. Heck, I'd skip both and just enjoy Vienna.

We plan to take trains to get around.

Yes, we will travel together from Prague to Vienna on Tuesday. I was roughly thinking Tuesday and Wednesday nights in Vienna, Thursday night somewhere in the Alps, and Friday night in Salzburg, but again I haven’t really planned things out. My daughter really wants to spend time in the Alps - we love hiking in the mountains more than cities - but since we need to go through Vienna to get there I was thinking we should spend some time there. But we could spend just one night there just for a taste to give us more time in the mountains or Salzburg. As between Salzburg and Vienna, I’m not sure I have a preference.

The Alps in March? You're not going to be hiking. Skiing, maybe. Hiking, likely not.

We lived in Vienna for seven years, and I recently returned from a weeklong visit back to our former adopted country. By no means does this make me an expert on that part of the world, but I do appreciate the enthusiasm of wanting to see everything.

However, your itinerary is...too much. You can't hit the high points in five days, including all the travel. Getting around the Salzkammergut on public is time-consuming; you'll lose so much time moving around; and you'll experience nothing. (You also won't be hiking in the Alps in March.)

Look at the travel distances and actual timetables. Prioritize your sightseeing, and go from there.

Ok, appreciate the feedback. Sounds like we would need to rent a car to really visit the Salzkammergut, which may require more planning than I have time for, and more time than we have. So perhaps we just visit Vienna and Salzburg from Prague? Is 4 nights enough for that (still contemplating using public transit) or is that still pushing it and we need to focus on just one or the other?

If we wanted to prioritize the Salzkammergut over Salzburg/Vienna, is it advisable to rent a car on our own or book something with a guide or tour company?

Thanks again for the feedback.

Salzkammergut is easily reached by public transport - just take bus 150 from Salzburg. There's also a ferry to St Wolfgang from St Gilgen. It makes a nice enough day trip, but you'll have to be selective as the area can easily fill many days.

Here's a cable car in the Salzkammergut that will get you up into the mountains:

https://www.zwoelferhorn.at/en/winter/

And I disagree about hiking in winter - we do it all the time. You'll need proper footwear and winter clothing and you'll want to seek out groomed winter hiking trails.

https://wolfgangsee.salzkammergut.at...er-hiking.html

If you just want to see a mountain, from Salzburg you can easily get to the Untersberg by public bus then take the cable car to the top for some nice views:

https://www.salzburg.info/en/sights/...car-untersberg

You can also easily get to Berchtesgaden from Salzburg by public transport - there you'll find the Jennerbahn:

https://www.jennerbahn.de/

No, four nights is not enough to do more than run around checking in/out of hotels and catching trains and buses from one destination to the next. Again, prioritize what everyone wants to see and do. If it's the Alps, then skip Vienna. If it's Vienna, then skip the Alps and perhaps consider a Salzburg day tour. We recommended Bob's Special Tours for Salzburg to visiting friends and family and everyone enjoyed their time, but there are numerous tour operators out there.

fourfortravel - good to see you here, it's been awhile.

Vienna alone is worth 4 nights. So it's either Vienna or Salzburg and Alps. You could do Vienna and Salzburg but not worth it over 2 nights.

As someone else mentioned you are not likely to hike in March in Alps. Well you could hike up to the castle in Salzburg.

You must just decide whether you will go to Vienna, to Salzburg, to the Salzkammergut or to the Alps.
Salzburg and Salzkammergut can be combined.Everything can easily be reached b y public transport.

Thanks. The empty nester project 115 year-old Farmhouse we bought (just the house and not the lifestyle) hasn't left us with time but for a few hops over to Ireland to see the youngest, a couple of swings to the West Coast to visit the oldest and the recent Vienna fling. We're finally getting back into traveling.