jdraper

Hi. We are leaving for Munich next week, spending five days in Munich, with some side trips. We will be renting a car and traveling to Salzburg and surrounding areas, whereever the wind blows us. We have booked the Uhlander in Munich but have not booked in Salzburg as we want to have a fairly flexible schedule for the last five days of the trip.

Is there anything happening in Salzburg and surrounding areas that would make it difficult to find a hotel at the last minute from October 20 through 25th?

Any recommendations for good, reasonably priced hotels in Salzburg and the surrounding area? By reasonably priced I consider that to be a good three or four star hotel between 100 and 150 Euro. Cheaper is nice but probably not possible for three or four star.

Last question - for anyone who lives in Munich or Salzburg area or has visited recently, how is the weather at this time of year? Planning on layering clothing but hoping it's not so chilly that I have to bring a lot of heavy clothes.

Thank you in advance for any suggestions or comments. JD

DAX

I don't know what event they're having n Salzburg on those dates, but in general the hotels in old town are booked up when you get this close without a reservation. What's left are mostly away from oldtown: Castelani which is a nice hotel but far removed to the south, Auersperg is nice but deep in the east side of town and has no elevator in the villa building). Take a look at Bayrisch Hof near the train station which is an OK area for practical reasons but not for charm. The Goldener Hirsch (Sheraton reservation) is still available for Mon & Tue but costing a bit above your budget. It's really worth the splurge for nice old town location and ambiance, the bedrooms are also fine though not the best in old town. I would book it now if I were you and cancell later if you decide not to use it. You don't have much left to choose from in those days.

jdraper

DAX - Thank you for your prompt reply. It sounds like our choices are going to be fairly limited in Salzburg proper but we will check out the Goldener Hirsch. We don't mind going over the budget a bit if the hotel is worth it.

Any other suggestions out there? Luckily we will have a car so if we can't stay near old town at least we can easily get into the area and there is always public transportation as well.

Trophywife007

Check out:

bestwestern.com
romantikhotels.com

They have several locations in / near Salzburg in your price range. Don't be afraid of Best Western... In Europe, they are not the cookie cutter places you may associate with the U.S.

annw

We stayed at the Elefant right smack in town. Well located, nice room; we had to forage for some towels (previous occupants got out late and maids had gone home) which was the only tarnish in an otherwise pleasant stay.

DAX

Elefant would be my first choice for price/quality value in oldtown, but it's sold out. If you stay at the Goldener Hirsch, there is an underground public garage nearby. I think 2 nights is enough for Salzburg, you may want to hang out in the Salzkammergut area (eg. Bad Ischl, Hallstadt)or Mittenwald/Innsbruck are(hotel galore) before heading to Salzburg. Many people on this board likes the hilly village of Berchtesgaten in Germany which is close to Salzburg, but I personally prefer the Salzkammergut area in Austria. Happy travel.

BTilke

I'm not sure I'd want to stay in the heart of the old town with a car, unless you don't mind parking the car a bit away.
In May, we stayed in the 4-star Best Western zum Hirschen, about a 5 minute walk from the train station. The hotel has its own parking. It's a nice, classic hotel with spacious rooms, free Internet access in a salon off the lobby, small sauna and fitness center. We paid 115 euro for a double with breakfast (booked through www.hotels.de). The on-site restaurant was much better than we'd expected and specializes in serving organic food, even organic beer (Hirter's bio pils, quite good). One of the funny things about the hotel is that one of its tv channels shows nothing but the Sound of Music, 24/7. So if you wake up at 3 am and feel like a little do-re-mi, you'll find Maria and the children singing away.
From the hotel it's a 15-20 minute walk to the old town, passing the Mirabell gardens along the way. Or 5 minutes by bus (bus stop around the corner).
We are doing a driving trip to Salzburg over Christmas and have opted to stay in the 4 star Hotel Friesacher, which is out near Schloss Hellbrunn. Ordinarily, I would have no problem staying at the BW zum Hirschen again, but we are traveling with our dog and would like to have a more country setting where we can go for long walks in the woods--hopefully, snowy woods! It also has easy access to the highway.
If you can't find the hotel that's just right for you in Salzburg, you could also try the lakeside towns like St. Gilgen (one of the prettiest and with good bus service to Salzburg).

Lostmymind

I agree with Btike, i loved that hotel and it was only a ten minute walk to the old town. it was fairly cheap when i stayed.

DAX

I don't understand how walking from the train station area to oldtown is 10-20 minutes. It was more of a 30 minute walk through some ugly area near to the train station when I did it. We paid the 7-8 Euro taxi fare for the commute after that experience. We stayed near the train station once because we had no car & needed easy acess to the train station to go skiing by train.

We have also stayed at the boring Sheraton near the Mirabell garden closer toward the oldtown, but I find staying inside the oldtown is best if we want to soak the atmosphere of Salzburg & the Hohenfestung above it.

We actually stayed in oldtown 3 times and had no trouble parking the car in the public garage below old town (driver access is close to Goldener Hirsch). For a first visit to Salzburg, you may appreciate having the luxury of being in the oldtown lanes as soon as you step out of the hotel. It has a clean & lively atmosphere surrounded by all the oldtown attractions (Mozart house, Dom,St Peter, Residenz,Festhall, etc) plus a lot of good restaurants, beer brauerei & stores.

BTilke

Dax,I did not say walking from the train station took 10 minutes. I said walking from the BW zum Hirschen to the old town took 15 minutes. I made that walk several times in May and it was a pleasant walk past some interesting shops, the Mirabell gardens, etc.
Have no idea why it took you so much longer. We actually preferred to NOT be in the heart of the old town, where the streets were so crowded during the day. Also, we did day trips almost every day, so it was more practical for us to be near the train station and postbus terminal.

BTilke

By the way, I had no idea the taxi ride cost that much. We only took taxis twice, to and from the airport, which cost us 12 euros each way.
While we were in Salzburg, we paid 11 euros for a weekly bus pass, which covered all the local buses, including the buses to Hellbrunn. In light of what you paid for a single taxi ride, it was a good value.

DAX

BTilke:
I suppose because I was walking in the wintertime, it was rather cold to stand still waiting for the bus, that's why we had them called for taxis everywhere we went. FYI Zum Hirschen seems to be missing from BW website, it is now an Achat chain hotel. I envy where you live BTilke, you can fly to just about anywhere in Europe for a weekend getaway.

jdraper:
As an alternative choice, you may also consider Castelani if the preference is to stay away from the oldtown, it is a nice 4/5 star hotel for a low price due to its non-oldtown location.

dfr4848

Hi jdraper - I suggest you try Gruenaur Hof. It's in "suburb" of Wals, about 20 min from city center by bus which runs every 30 min from front of hotel; probably shorter if you have a car. We stayed there this past June and turned out to be one of the most enjoyable stays we've had in Europe. It's a classic Tyrolean lodge and has been run by the same family for decades. It looks across meadows with views of the Bavarian Alps. Our room was one of the larger ones, extremely well-done, very modern with large bath, balcony overlooking the Alps and included very large breakfast buffet. Costs was less than 100E. Dining room had excellent meals with fantastic staff. Also had ample free parking as I recall (we didn't have a car). There is a very nice outdoor patio for drinks, etc, but might be a little cool this time of year. In short, a thoroughly enjoyable experience and highly recommended. If you type in the name you should get their web site with no problem. Good luck.

meo

We also stayed at the Hotel Friesacher in Anif, which is just outside of Salzburg and very convenient. They have a wonderful staff and an excellent breakfast is included. Our Junior Garden Suite was 175 Euros per night. They have bicycles for guests and they are on the bus route. They also have an underground parking garage that is so clean you can eat off the floor! I would highly recommned this hotel. Down the street is the Goldener Hirsch, which is excellent for dinner.

meo

oops - I was mistaken when I referenced the Goldener Hirsch (that's in the old town). We went to an excellent restaurant, Schlosswirt, in Anif. It is a very short walk from Friesacher. The website for Friesacher is www.friesacher.com.

meo

Oops again (don't know what my problem is today!). The correct web address is www.hotelfriesacher.com

jdraper

A big thank you to everyone for all of the wonderful suggestions. We leave in just two days and you have given me some wonderful ideas of places to look when we get to town. As I said, we are not reserving in advance because we want to leave the schedule fairly free to come and go as we want but I feel much more comfortable with all of these great suggestions to look into. Again, thank you very much.