alane

i am planning a 2 week trip car trip to austria and switzerland and need some help. can i use interlaken as a base for 5 days and see bern and luzern on day trips? and spend 3 nice days in the mountains? also getting from switzerland to vienna i would love to spend a night in a tirolean village. that seems about 1/2 way. doing salzburg on the way back. thanks

treplow

You certainly can see Bern in one day from Interlaken. However, you might be better off just to take the train. Or, unless ypou heav your heart set on Bern, why don't you take the train to the smaller, closer and very picturesque Thun, and take the boat back to Interlaken. Luzern by car is really a haul for just one day, even by train. I suggest you include it on your trip to Vienna.

Now a couple of questions and suggestions: (1) Get your rental car on the last day of your stay on Interlaken. Take the train to Interlaken. From there, all the worthwhile sites are easily (and most are only) accessible by train or cable car, and you won't have the problem of parking (and paying for parking) the car. (2) Where will you end you trip by car? If in Switzerland, OK; if in Vienna, it's very expensive. In Europe for picking up a car in one country and dropping it off in another, the drop-off charges are high; there no drop-off charges for leaving the car in the same country (regardless of city) where you picked it up.

Let me know if you want to continue travelling by car to Vienna. I'll be glad to give you a couple of different routings. Just tell me how much time you plan to take for this trip. You should allow at least 2 days.

annhig

hi alane,

you seem to be trying to cram an awfl lot into 2 weeks. [not that I blame you, we had an awful job eliminating places from our up-coming trip to austria.]

i always find it helpful to write it all down in a list:

at the moment, you have this:

5 days interlaken [including daytrips to Bern and luzern]

3 days in mountains [in switzerland?]

2 days driving to Vienna

? days Vienna

1 day driving back to Salzburg

? days in Salzburg?

? days returning to Switzerland.

I agree with treplow that a inter-country one-way hire could be very expensive. much easier and better to get the train to, say, Innsbruck, then pick up car, returning it in Vienna. this would enable you to spend more time covering the tirol and salzkammergut; there are too many beautiful places to want to rush past them.

regards, ann

regards, ann

alane

thanks so much....picking up the car and returning in zurich....cold easily spend one day in lucern before getting to the bernese oberland ..... then use it as a base to see bern....then driving to vienna....would love to spend one night in a town south so i dont have to retrace my steps when i retunr to salzburg from vienna. thansk

alane

i msorry ann i was confusing ...my 5 days in interlaken include 3 days in the mountains 1 in bern nad 1 in lucern... thans k

annhig

ok, alane,

makes more sense now.

in researching our trip to austria, we too wanted to look at southern austria. we have ended up doing this:

4 nights in Vienna

4 nights in st. wolfgang [about 30 mins from salzburg]

2 nights in Kitzbuhel, then through the Grossglockner pass to

Heiligenblut - 2 nights

1 night in Graz.

the Woertersee near Klagenfurt in southern austria looks lovely, but I'm afraid we will have to by-pass it this time. and Graz is apparently very beautiful. I'm sure that you could find a couple of nice place to stay along this route.

my map of austria says that the driving time between Graz and Klagenfurt is about 1 1/2 hours and from Klagenfurt to Kitzbuhel is about 3 hours. but to do the route properly would take at least two days. [or weeks!]

regards, ann

treplow

Allane: Since you are determined to cover all the cities you mention, here is what I did a couple of years ago: Train from Zuerich airport to Interlaken, Lauterbrunnen. A few days Berner Oberland. Picked up car in Interlaken (through AutoEurope and Avis, an Opel). Drove to near Salzburg (family lives there). Returned quickest way to Zuerich Kloten. For more detailed routing, see below.

For Salzburg to Vienna and back to Zuerich:

From Salzburg you could take the Austrian A-1 directly to Vienna, and either return that t way, or drive along the Danube as far as Linz, then back on the A-1 to the German border, and the A-8 to the Inntal Dreieck (near Rosenheim). Pick up the Innsbruck autobahn (Austrian A-12). Take it as far as Dornbirn, past the Arlberg tunnel, switch over to the Swiss A-13 nortbound, and pick up the Swiss A-1 to Zuerich/Kloten. Because of the location of the airport relative to the city, this is the better route than the more southern A-3.

Now, for my suggested route to Salzburg.

From Interlaken, take the A-8/Route 4 to Luzern. Spend the night in Luzern. After Luzern, take the northern route along Lake Lucerne (Vierwaldstaetter See) to Schwyz. There decide, do you want to take the Klausenpass from Altdorf to the Autobahn A-3, or the easier Route 8 to the A-3. Both routes take about the same time, although the Pass is more fun, but also more exhausting driving. Where the A-3 meets the A-13, head north on the A-13 to the Buchs, Lichtenstein exity. From there head to Feldkirch in Austria, where you pick up the Austrian autobahn to Bregenz and Lindau(Germany). The latter is a nice old island town. From there take the German A-96 to exit 4, and take the B-308 (Deutsche Alpenstrasse - German Alpine Highway) all the way to Hindelang (past Oberstaufen- Immenstadt- Sonthofen) . At Hindelang drive the short Oberjoch Pass to the Austrian border. Take the B-199 to Weissenbach and the B-198 to Reutte and -by-passing Fuessen - the B-179 to Leermoos and Moetz, where you pick up the Austrian Autobahn A-12 past Innsbruck to the Exit #59, (Oberau). From there take the B-172 east to Walchsee, Koessen and Reit im Winkl. Reit would be the "typical mountain village" you are looking for. Depending on how much you want to spend overnight, there are several places in Reit, or just before Reit, before the Austrian - German border, there is a more expensive place, the Peternhof. The driveway to it is on the left side of the road and marked.

From Reit, take the B-305 (Deutsche Alpenstrasse ) toward Fritz am Sand (watch for the B-305 turning right shortly after Fritz), Schneizlreuth, Berchtesgaden, Salzburg, where you pick up the A-1 to Vienna.

alane

ann...thank you so much for your info....i was especially excited about your comments on southern austria....
treplow....i am printing out your directions and taking them with me ....thanks !!!