In August, our family will be traveling with our church choir on a concert tour of Romania, Budapest, and Vienna. We will spend the bulk of our time in Transylvania, where we will have the wonderful experience of staying for several days in the homes of members of our partner church in the village of Szekelykerestur. We will end our tour in Vienna. After two days there, most of our group will depart for home, but my husband, two teenage sons, and I will extend our stay for several days (either 4 or 5), and we'll be on our own. So, we need to decide how to spend our time - do we stay in Vienna, or go somewhere else for a couple of days? We need to end up in Vienna, because we have to fly home from there (a requisite of the tour company making the arrangements), so if we go somewhere else, we will need to backtrack. Is the traveling involved worth spending our limited time? I'm thinking that the most feasible places to go are either north, to Prague, or east, to Salzburg, and/or into Bavaria in Germany. I'd love some advice from you experienced European travelers. My boys and I spent a couple of days in Prague last year, a day in Salzburg, and three days in Vienna on a high school tour (our first time in Europe), but my husband has never been to Europe. We loved both Prague and Salzburg, and especially felt we had not had enough time in Prague. Although I liked Vienna a lot, it was, for me, the least favorite of the three, because it seemed more western and more like any big city (although it has a lot of wonderful things to see). The weather was really cold and rainy during our whole trip, too (in April).<BR><BR>It seems that on the limited amount of time we have, If we travel outside of Vienna, it would be more efficient to rent a car to give us more flexibility (and is probably cheaper for four than going by train back and forth from Vienna ), but my husband is nervous and wondering how difficult it would be to drive in Austria and/or the Czech Replublic or Germany when we don't know the language(s) at all. Is deciphering traffic signs, etc. difficult? Is driving that much different than in the US?<BR><BR>It's hard to figure out driving times between places, also, and difficulty of border crossings. What are your thoughts on :<BR>A) spending all of our time in Vienna (6 days total).<BR>B) going to Prague for a couple of days.<BR>C) Going to Salzsburg, and maybe even into Bavaria for a couple of days? I think that the Salzburg Music Festival would be going on then, so it may be crowded, and accomodations might be difficult. I've also seen suggestions on this forum to stay in Berchtesgaden nearby, is there public transportation from there to Salzburg so that we wouldn't have to drive in and find parking? How long a drive from Vienna is this?<BR><BR>What about going to Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau Castle, and the surrounding area? I've always thought these would be neat to see. How long a drive from Salzburg would that be? Is it worth doing with the amount of time we have? Keep in mind that we will be touring Bran Castle in Brasov, possibly another castle in Hungary. If we do this, is there another interesting route to drive back to Vienna to keep from totally retracing our steps?<BR><BR>We need to make a decision about what we are doing in a little over a week, as the tour company needs to know about our flights, and whether we're keeping our hotel room in Vienna. I know I can count on good advice and information from the great folks on this site. Thanks.

Sara,<BR>Since you’ve previously been in Prague, Budapest, Salzburg and Vienna, I’d suggest you do rent an auto and travel west from Vienna to the Salzkammergut region. You might consider the charming town of St. Gilgen on the shore of the Wolfgangsee. It’s about 175 miles and a three hour drive from Vienna to St. Gilgen. I suspect most of your exposure to Europe has been in large cities; a trip to the Salzkammergut will expose you to the delights of rural Europe and its scenery, slower pace of living and pleasant accommodations and dining at reasonable cost.<BR><BR>You could devote a day to touring St. Gilgen then driving to Hallstatt, a town in a magnificent setting on the shore of the Hallstattersee. One of the earliest settlements in Europe (dating to the Iron Age), Hallstatt is delightful and has a fine small heimatmuseum featuring both regional folkcrafts and relics of the Iron Age found in archeological digs in the area. Hallstatt is less than 30 miles and 30 minutes from St. Gilgen.<BR><BR>From St. Wolfgang on the shore of the Wolfgangsee opposite St. Gilgen, you could devote a day to ascending Schafberg. Its summit, about 6000 feet and accessible by rack rail, offers a stunning view of a number of alpine lakes and German and Austrian mountain ranges.<BR><BR>It’s not feasible to visit Neuschwanstein from St. Gilgen. The drive is about 153 miles and more than three hours. Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Oberammergau, Ettal and Ludwig’s castle in Linderhof constitute a more reasonable day trip from St. Gilgen, about two hours drive time.<BR><BR> <BR>

Sara,<BR>To alleviate your husband's concerns regarding driving in Europe, be advised that German and Austrian drivers are excellent as are the respective countries' road systems. Michelin's website, www.viamichelin.com is an excellent resource for plotting driving itineraries. You'll be given mileage, drive times, recommended accommodations and restaurants and the ability to print a detailed written and mapped itinerary. Simply click on Driving Directions and enter your starting and ending destinations. <BR><BR>The website www.ideamerge.com/motoeuropa<BR>is also of value for the first time driver in Europe. Click on Online Guide. In the column captioned On the Road, you can find graphics for all of Europe's varying road signs. Other subjects, phrasebook for example deal in many languages with phrases covering situations you may encounter when driving, i.e., "Please check the oil", "There's a strange noise coming from the differential", etc. You can also find driving rules and regulations for each individual country and translations of temporary road signage, i.e., detour, speed bumps ahead, one way, do not enter, etc.<BR><BR>If you do choose to drive, make your rental arrangements in your home country; don't wait until your in Europe. Renting from home will result in significant savings. Check Kemwel, AutoEurope for best rates. Both, as well as all major rental companies have websites. <BR><BR>

Add to Salzburg - go to the Ice Caves in Werfen. Also do a salt mine tour - either at Hallstatt or Hallein.

Wes and Steve, thanks for your helpful replies. Does anyone else have an opinion or suggestion for me? What about Durnstein?Also, would the Salzkammergut region be similar, or markedly different from the area in the Carpathians we will be visiting? We will be spending a fair amount of time in the countryside while we are in Transylvania - but I do love beautiful rural areas, and would enjoy visiting some if there's enough to do and see there to keep my family interested. Thanks.

Salzkammergut has to be the choice. You can't really go wrong -- from Traunsee, Attersee, Mondsee, Wolfgangsee Hallstatt, etc., it's all beautiful and cheap.