Thanks so much for all the help on my munich/germany/budapest thread. I think we've agreed to drop Budapest and save it for another time. Now our plan is something like:
* fly into Munich
* see Munich
* day trip up Romantic Road
* day trip: Neuschwanstein
* something involving the Alps - any snow-covered mountain will do
* Salzburg
* Hallstat or similar (would love to see salt mine, etc)
* Vienna
* fly out of Vienna

We've got now more like 9-10 days.

Found a fare on United out of Washington Dulles, into Munich, back home from Vienna (direct flight) for about $780. Is that high?

Any further recommendations for towns to visit, particular towns that might be a good base of operations for some of those activities in between Munich and Vienna, would be appreciated.

Also, we love to hike. Any good resources or ideas of places for 3-5 hour hikes?

Thanks a million! We are getting excited about this trip.

Impossible to evaluate your airfare without knowing what month. sounds mediocre or high for February, quite good to better-than-average for July.

Best wishes,

Rex

I might fly into munich, stay first two nights in Munich and see city...then you should decide if you would rather see the romantic road and Neuschwanstein or stay a couple nights near the alps(say in Garmisch) If you stayed in Garmisch you could also see Neuschwanstein. I would stay there 2 nights. You could stay in Salzburg 2 nights and leave early the next day for Hallstadt. I would stay there 1 night to leave 3 nights for Vienna. Vienna really needs 3 nights because there is alot to see. That would be 10 nights.

i agree more with the above...place yourself in the very south near the castles (there are 3 in the area) and drive up the romantic str. from there (its sort of boring, i will warn you...you could spend your time better along the austria/german border...
there is a salt mine between berchtesgaden and salzburg...stay in Berch....its a beautiful town...there was snow last month on the mountains in that area...
you could then work your way east to vienna

Ah, sorry to not be clear...this is in late May/early June.

Thanks for all the tips so far! This is really coming together!

It's a good price for that time of year, especially with the different entrance/exit cities.

Driving will be very easy once you get outside the cities, but make sure you very explicit directions for finding your hotel if you're in the city center.

As for the itinerary, I would do 2 nights in Munich, 2 near the mountains (Garmisch, Oberamergau), 2 in Salzburg, and 2 in Vienna. That's 10 days, since your first night is on the plane.