swood

Hi all
My husband & I will be arriving into Munich, spending a couple of nights to recover from jetlag (flying in from Australia) and then picking up a car. Our preference would be to get down to the Austrian Lakes, Hallstatt is where we're thinking, but not sure if we'll be able to do it comfortably considering it will be our first day in a new car, driving on the "wrong" side of the road. Particularly as we won't really want to try out the Autobahns on our first day. Anyone with thoughts on this matter. Cheers!

DAX

I haven't driven into Hallstatt but I took the train from Munich and the ferry across the lake to arrive in Hallstatt. I would strongly recommend it since you can't drive inside Hallstatt and the most magical view of the town is from the lake.

AisleSeat

It is just a couple of hours down the autobahn to Salzberg and a pleasant place to stop to see Herren Chiemsee, Ludwig's copy of Versaille along the way. From there is is about 70-80 miles on into Hallstatt, a very scenic drive throught eh Saltzkammergut. If you worried about the autobahns just remember to drive in the right land and only use the left lane to pass and keep your eye on the rearview mirror while you are passing because those porsches and mercedes can come up fast.

treplow

Actually, driving on the Autobahn (which connects directly to the Munich airport) is a good introduction to driving "on the wrong side". On the German autobahn, unles you are passing, you should be driving in the right lane. And the Germans are sticklers or that. The left lane on the autobahn is only for passing (and the speed demons).

Take the "dual carriage road" from the airport to the Autobahn A-9 (Nuernberg - Muenchen). Before you get to Munich, follow the sign to Salzburg and the Munich by-pass (A-99); it's on your right. Follow the A-99 to the next sign (about 25km) to Salzburg. Take that exit, it will put you on the Munich - Salzburg Autobahn A-8.

Driving all the way to Hallstatt after a long flight is probably not advisable. I have found that Prien, about 100km from the airport via the by-pass A-99/A-8 Salzburg autobahn is a nice place for overnight. It is 10km north of the autobahn (Bernau exit), has some nice hotels down by the lake (Chiemsee), and if you want to, you can take the boat across the lake to the Herren Insel (Gentlemen's Island), where King LudwigII (of Neuschwanstein fame) built his own version of a Versailles palace.

The next day you then have less than an hour on the autobahn to the interchange that takes you to the A-10 Autobahn south. You should take to the Golling exit off the A-10 and turn east on sceondary roads to Hallstatt.

Don't forget: You must have an Autobahn user's decal before you enter an Austrian Autobahn. You can get them at any service station along the German autobahn and at the Austrian- German border.

DAX's idea of going by train is good, if you don't want to have a ca r later on. To pick up a rental car Austria is not the best country for reasons of costs and paperwork. Alsoit is prohibitively expensive to pick up a car in one European coun try and dropping it off in another. However, there is no drop-off charge for picking up a d leaving a car in the same country, even in different cities.

PalQ

Fantastically scenic drive after you get to Salzburg - via Salzgammergut (Sound of Music country) to Lake Wolfgang, then Bad Ischl then up river valley thru Alps to Halstatt - you can drive to town but not in it. If don't linger in Salzburg, or go around it, easy day's drive.

DAX

Stopping in Herrenchiemsee as suggested by Aisleseat & Treplow is really worth it if you're into palaces. It's a copy of the Versailles built on an island. You do need to allow at least half a day since you have to take a slowboat to the island then you can either hike or take the horsedrawn cart to get to the palace for a scheduled tour.

I remember how stressful it was driving on the "wrong" side in Sydney and in the UK. I can't imagine having to do that surrounded by aggressive & assertive german drivers. I would recommend at least combining some train ride to reduce your driving stress.

swood

Thanks for your thoughts. We are actually picking up a leased Peugeot from Munich airport so there's no option to train it out of Munich to the lakes (limited pick up options for the Peugeot). We're hoping that 2 nights to recover from jetlag will help us out and have us somewhat ready to tackle the European drivers! I'm thinking we might just have to head for Hallstatt and see if we make it in the one day.

janestuart

We drove from Salzburg to Hallstatt. It was very easy and took about 1 1/2 hours. You will drive through a long tunnel before you get to the gated entrance to Hallstatt. You can park in the tunnel and take stairs down into town. (As I remember, to do this you will have to go all the way through the tunnel, turn around and go back to the parking areas. In the small parking lot in front of the gate there is an attendant who will give you a one time pass if you are staying in a hotel in town - you'll have to look for him. At the hotel they will give you a more permanent pass. There is a parking lot just past the little square. We stayed there 6 nights and loved it. We highly recommend Hotel Simony, if you plan to spend any nights there. We had a balcony overlooking the spectacular lake and mountains.You can take the boat over to the train station and come right back to enjoy the view from the lake. Or take out smaller boats.

swood

Thanks Janestuart for your post, particularly the detail about arriving in Hallstatt by car. Very informative and welcome!

terrydaa

Via Michelin suggests it will take 2hr 20min to do the 210km.

http://www.viamichelin.com/viamichel...;devise2=Other

The hardest part will probably be finding the right autoban from the airport.