backyardcritters

Hi, we will travel to Salzburg next month and will arrive at the city by train. Due to ticketing, it would be around 5am in the morning when we arrive. I was told somewhere else briefly that almost nothing opens around that time and most shops and bus services runs from around 9am. What can we do in between this time? Is the train station good for a brief rest before we heading out? We'll travel with kids. Is it walkable for kids if we tackle the distance between the train station and the town center? Is there a breakfast place that opens early that we can be "fueled" before the journey?
I would greatly appreciate any inputs and comments!

kjenn

It is a decent distance to the town center from the train stop, but it is walkable. I would estimate about a 20 min. walk, I don't know how well kids would do on that distance. When we were there some type of carnival looked to be going on right outside of the train station, but that's probably not the norm! There were some cafe's near the train station as well as in the terminal buildings, and I believe there was a Burger King there too! If you get to the town center you could walk along the river, or walk the old town area under the fortress while no one is there. Have a good trip, Salzburg is beautiful!

backyardcritters

Thank you very much for the informaiton. I really appreciate it! Really look forward to the trip.

mdmomof7

It might depend on the day of the week you arrive as to what will be open. Sunday AM was quiet. Maybe take a taxi to the hotel where you are staying, the taxis were all BMWs and Mercedes, very nice and not too expensive to the city center from the train station. I bet the driver could tell you where to have breakfast that early. Contact your hotel to leave your luggage there if you can't check in yet. I highly recommend the lovely Pension Am Dom. Then take an early morning bike ride through the city. That was the highlight of our brief 2 days in beautiful Salzburg, taking a Sunday AM bike ride through the sleepy city. You can rent the bikes in the Residenzplatz and they are very reasonable, 4-5 Euros for an hour.

Yow will LOVE Salzburg, clean, beautiful and easy to get around.

Kristinelaine

It is hard for me to imagine that Salzburg would have a bus service that didn't begin until 9 a.m. (unless possibly on a Sunday, but even then ...) I don't know where you are staying, but there are some hotels in the area of the train station. Perhaps yours is there as well.

mdmomof7

Here's the bus info from the Salzburg tourism website. I think it gives the different lines and their schedules. It looks like some lines start running at 6:15 and others at 7:30.

http://www2.salzburg.info/praktisches_397.htm

The actual bus website was only in German. http://www2.salzburg.info/praktisches_397.htm

bob_brown

First, arriving at 5 am in Salzburg expecting to have some place to go with children is absurd. Pardon my bluntness, but it is as I understand it.

I don't think you want to walk from the train station to the old town with luggage and 2 children. The distance is about 3K, or close to 2 miles to reach the old town.

Mirabell Gardens is closer to the train station by about half.

I must admit I am baffled why you have to arrive at Salzburg at 5am due to ticketing. Trains come and go between Salzburg and other major European cities all day long.

I have ridden Austrian trains several times, so I am wondering where it is you are coming from. Are you taking a night train from somewhere?

I looked at the Salzburg bus and trolley map and the bus schedule. If you want to go from the Hauptbahnhof to the old town, the best route is #25. That particular bus route crosses the Salzach near Mozartsplatz. You will want to get off at the second stop after you cross the river. Or, you can get off at the Rathaus, which should be the first stop after crossing the river.

Line 6, the trolley bus, will do it too.

But nothing will be open. The bus will be running about 5:30, but whereto? Your hotel, if you are staying there, will not be ready for you until about noon. Other guests have to checkout and the room has to be cleaned before you can occupy it.

That is why I am saying I don't see why you chose 5 am in the morning to arrive in a city where you have no place to go.

backyardcritters

Bob, thank you for your reply. We will ride an overnight train from Paris. And this is the only option I could find through Rail Europe. I knew it's insane especially with kids involved, but I do want to see Salzburg. Your information is very helpful. I do really appreciate it!

backyardcritters

And mdmomof7, thank you so much for the bus info. I will definately check it out. You don't know how much I appreciate it!

tcreath

I dealt with a similar situating, having arrived in Florence at 6:00 a.m. after an overnight train from Vienna last year. Unfortunately I don't have any good advice. My husband and I arrived in Florence extremely groggy and disoriented from our overnight ride (we had a private sleeper, but were woken up only about 10 minutes before we arrived), and found absolutely nothing to be open and being too tired to do anything. We dropped our luggage off at our hotel and ended up getting back on a train to Pisa just to take a nap for another hour or so because I knew that there were very frequent trains between the two places.

My advice, especially since you have kids with you, would be to consider paying for the hotel for the night before you arrive so you have somewhere to go when you get into town. I know its an added expense, but it was one that I would have gladly paid when I got dropped off at Florence exhausted and with hours to spare before anything opened. The night trains are great but many find it difficult to sleep, making the arrival very early in the morning to be even more difficult.

Regardless of what you choose to do, I wish you the best of luck. We just got back from Europe a few days ago and visited Salzburg for the first time. We found it to be a very beautiful and interesting city. You'll surely have a great time.

Tracy

backyardcritters

Thank you for your kind reply, tracy! I am not expecting to get a lot on the day in Salzburg. I am squeezing in Salzburg on the way to Vienna and later to Budapest,only because I want to see Salzburg, even for just a bit.

tcreath

Salzburg is certainly worth a look, even for a few hours. If you can get some sleep on the train and arrived fairly refreshed, you should be fine. Just walking around Salzburg is a joy. There are many cafes around the city and Austrian pastries are wonderful. After you arrive in the city, you could go to a cafe (when they open; not sure of the normal opening times) and spend some time drinking some coffee and juice and eating some pastries before you start exploring. A walk or bikeride alongside the river was an excellent idea. There are several bridges that offer excellent views of Salzburg and its fortress and make for great pictures. The city is fairly small and compact making it easy to stroll around in.

Tracy

bob_brown

If you want some help reading that Salzburg map that is in German, let me know. My dictionary is ready to help us.

mdmomof7

Here's a PDF file with a detailed bus route map. Sorry the above links were the same, I guess once you're hunting around from the main page the links default to the main page.

PDF - http://www.stadtbus.at/media/pdf/pdf290.pdf

Are you not spending the night in Salzburg? I'm beginning to think you are only there for the day?

For breakfast try Cafe Tomaselli. It is picturesque and just off the Residenzplatz. It opens at 7AM
http://travel.yahoo.com/p-travelguid...ction=describe

We enjoyed a pleasant, atmospheric dinner w/ a view at Cafe Glockenspiel.
http://americanairlines.wcities.com/...19/record.html

Musicteacher

The train you are considering is evidently the "Orient Express," which leaves Paris at 17:17 and gets to Salzburg at 4:44. I think you would do better with the later night train that leaves Paris at 22:55 and gets to Munich at 8:58. In this case you would have to change trains in Munich and it is another hour and a half on to Salzburg. To me a change of train is preferable to arriving at the destination at 4:44.

treplow

Let mew preace my comment: I have been living and visiting for many years near Salzburg. My suggestion: Go to http://bahn. de (the web site of the German RR, which is better than any other site I know) and see if there is not a better schedule for you from 1aris to Salzburg.

For exampleI looked up the following: Leave Paris at 22:52,rrive on a sleeper train. Arive Munich at 8:58 ; leave Munich at 9:17, arrive Salzburg at 10:54. With 19 minutes time,at a fairly civilized hour, you will have no problem to change trains in Munich. It is a head station, i.e. the trains come in and go out in the opposite direction. So you will have lots of time to find your (hopefully ) reserved seat.

mari5

We were in Salzburg just three weeks ago,..(and 7 yrs. ago , and 30 yrs ago). Love it,...serene, interesting etc.
Can you spend ONE night there? Walking the city and old town is fun, and the kids (and you) might like the Sound of Music 4 hr. tour. A little hoaky but most people love it anyway, and you see the countryside as well as around the city.
AND of course there is the Mozart home, and the musical feel of the city.
Next month at 5 AM it will probably be light, or getting light...and of course the idea of taking a taxi to the hotel is great....however it sounds like you might just be stopping for the day.
A little more info and you'll probably get some more suggestions.
There are some nice hotels within walking of the train station....3 lovely Best Westerns as a matter of fact.,,,4 or 5 blocks.
We stayed at the BW Zum Hirschen...family owned, beautiful,big buffet breakfast...mostly all organic foods (high percentage of organic in that area)..very nice owner. I think they opened around 6:30, you could email them ahead of time to ask...and I'm pretty sure the breakfast is open to the public. (It was included in our room).

backyardcritters

Thank you everyone for helping me sorting this part of the routes out. I am so grateful for all your suggestions, offers,ideas and concerns. Your informations will be very helpful to get us prepared. I'm not able to change my ticketing now. I think we will have fun even with awkward schedules. Most of the fun for a trip is with whom you travel with, right? I just feel lucky that I found this board before my trip. Thanks a lot, folks. I will not stop asking questions until we leave for the trip.