Geonev

I'll be in Alpine Austria next year with a group of friends. We want to ascend one mountain on a cable car/funicular/lift/rack railway, but the excursions can get pricy (20, 30 euros, even more). Hoping to identify the one ascent that produces the most bang for the buck (prettiest view, most spectacular scenery and most worthwhile excursion for the expense).

Here are the candidates:
• Innsbruck, Nordkette all the way to the top.
• Zell am See, cable car, Schmittenhohenbahn or Sonnenalbahn
• St. Wolfgang, Schafbergbahn

Our itinerary also includes Hall in Tirol, Werfen and the Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse south of Zell, so if there are any candidates along the axis Innsbruck-Kimml waterfall-Zell-Werfen-Hallstatt-Bad Ischl-St. Wolfgang that I don't know about, I'd be glad to hear about them.

Thanks, all!

elberko

I'd choose the place you are the day the weather is spectacular and clear...

~Liz

pja1

Hi,

As for cable cars in Austria, the Nordkettenbahn, for 27 Euro pp, isn't bad. Hard to find a good cable car trip much cheaper than that. We did the trip from Innsbruck up to the Seegrube station (1 stop below the top/Hafelekar) in November and the views were fantastic. You save 4 Euro pp if you drive up to Hungerburg (overlooking Innsbruck) and catch the cable car (Nordkettenbahn) there.

An hour away from Innsbruck is the Zugspitze, from Ehrwald, Austria. It's 35.50 Euro pp but spectacular.

www.zugspitze.at

We have photo's of both at:

www.worldisround.com/articles/362561/index.html

www.worldisround.com/articles/351441/index.html

Paul

molker

Look for the local offers of individual town vacation cards-- these are often a great money savers.

In Innsbruck - why pay the full price for the Nordkettebahn ( 25 euro or so ) Nordkette with fantastic views to the city of Innsbruck, Inn Valley and major distant peaks
Innsbruck offers the Innsbruck card -just less than 30 euro for 24 hours -
includes all innsbruck and nearby bus service - free or doiscounted admissions to sightseeing.
I find the Zugspitze often prone to poor and changeable weather conditions- an expensive ride-

One of the best offers is that in Salzburg -
their Salzburg card 25 euro - including ride on the Untersburg Cable car with excelent views ( this reide by itself about 20 euro - always take a mountain trip only in good weather )

Salzburg Card with free admission to most Salzburg sights
public transport too.
www.salzburg.info

Other towns like Mayrhofen in Zillertal - an activ card for money saving offers
including good mountain lifts

nz101

bookmarking

nicksgirl88

We visited Werfen this past May - my husband is a big "Where Eagles Dare" fan and the movie was filmed there. We enjoyed walking around town before heading up to Hohenwerfen Castle on the funicular. It's a beautiful area and we highly recommend it. Here's a link to the prices.

http://www.salzburg-burgen.at/en/wer...iten/index.htm

Just be aware that if you are arriving by train, do not do as the website says and exit at the Pfarrwerfen stop. You will need to get off the train at Werfen. Otherwise you will be walking back toward Werfen and the castle for about 40 minutes. We mentioned this to the personnel at the castle and they were supposed to be correcting this on the website, but it appears they haven't yet.

Enjoy your trip!

Geonev

Thank you, one and all, for your suggestions. Believe it or not, I hadn't thought about scheduling our mountain ascent for a clear day. I imagine that would have occurred to me if our day came and the mountain was socked in, but now I can plan backup activities just in case.

The suggestions about the various city cards (Salzburg, Innsbruck) is also most welcome. Good ideas. Many thanks!

singfree

The Salzburgerland Card offers many mountain lifts, 6 days for 46 Euros. One of the days can be used in the city of Salzburg. We've used the Salzburgerland card on several trips and found it to be an outstanding value. There are many lifts, castles and museums included when using the card throughout Salzburg and Salzburgerland.