shereene1

We will be in Salzburg for 4 nights, 3 days, in the middle of September, hoping to take a train to Munich for 1 day for Octoberfest. Is this a good idea? Also, wondering what are the must sees in Salzburg? Are the Salt Mines worth going to? Eagles Nest ? We're open for ideas, have never been to Austria before. Out of Salzburg we will be going to Dornbirn for a couple of days and plan on hitting Neuschwenstein from there.

After Austria, we will be heading to Lucerne, for 3 days. Planning on going to Mt Pilatus but open for other suggestions as well. Would love to do some sort of easy bike tour , hiking, if anyone knows of anything around Lucerne. We will actually be staying in Horw. Thanks for your help.

ira

Hi S,

Have you looked up Salzburg under "Destinations"?

shereene1

I have, there is so many, guess I was just looking from input from travelers that have been there for their suggestions, highlights, as we will never have time to see all that they mention in the "Destinations" thanks for the suggestion though

michelhuebeli

www.salzburg-burgen.at/en/hohensalzburg

http://www.panoramatours.com/en/salz...music-tour-28/

One or more of these: www.salzwelten.at/en/home/

Go hiking: http://www.salzkammergut.at/en/hikin...kammergut.html

All the Mozart stuff that will leap out at you

michelhuebeli

Pilatus - up one side, down the other: www.pilatus.ch

Also: www.rigi.ch

Public boats up and down the strangely-shaped lake Lucerne (in the local language: Vierwaldstättersee): www.lakelucerne.ch

Train to Brünigpass-Hasliberg region, or a bit beyond to Brienz and up on the www.brienz-rothorn-bahn.ch/en.html

About bikes: Note that the most-used term in Switzerland is "Velo" or, more formally, Fahrrad. These guys organize biking meets and tours incl. Horw - if they don't have one planned while you're there at least they can be a resource if you contact them: www.pedalkraft.ch

Also www.bergwerk.ch

And in nearby Kriens: www.veloberger.ch

shereene1

Thanks so much michelhuebeli, I'll check out those web sites!

asps

Your first Salzburg destination should be Niemetz pastry shop

PhillyFan

I think Berchtesgaden is definitely worth checking out.

My family liked the salt mine tour, also the nearby alpine slide.

What we also liked a lot was the Hellbron (sp?) palace with it's trick water fountains - fun!

Delaine

I enjoyed: walking through the old town; Schloss Mirabell; Hohensalzburg Fortress (up the funicular); Schloss Helbrunn (slightly out of the center but accessible via bus - trick water fountains).

shereene1

Asps.. Thx for the pastry shop info, we'll check it out. Phillyfan & Delaine...great suggestions, thx for your input, how long of a trip is it to Schloss Hellbrunn?

shereene1

Phillyfan ... The Salt mines or Eagles Nest in Berchtesgaden ? Time frame to do both? or in your opinion was one better than the other?

Delaine

I don't think it was more than 15 min. There is a bus stop right near the entrance. It's fun, especially if you make sure to stand in the dry spots during the tour of the water gardens. You can also go in the Schloss itself and visit the gazebo from the Sound of Music (moved from it's original location).

Mozart's Birthplace (house) is in Salzburg, but I didn't find it that fascinating. The Dom is nice, though.

I also liked Cafe Tomaselli in the Alt Market. I thought their tortes and pastries were better than the Sacher (home of the famous -- but not fabulously tasty -- Sachertorte).

PhillyFan

Yes, we drove to Schloss Helbrunn and it wasn't more than 15 mins. The castle itself is nice and some of the water features are pretty incredible. What's nice is that they don't try to get you wet - if you want to, they can make sure you do, but they warn you, for example, that the long concrete table actually has jets in the seat that can squirt up at you while you're sitting there! (I think my younger son was the only one who chose to remain there, LOL).

I think the Eagles Nest takes at least 1/2 day - you have to go on a tour and take the bus up. We didn't see the Eagles Nest, but did go to the Documentation Center. (This is next door to the parking lot for the Eagles Nest). If you are interested in WWII history, you would find the Doc Center interesting.

There's also a 1/2 day boat tour you could do at Lake Konigsee, which isn't far from Berchtesgaden. (The boat tour takes about 90 mins. round trip, but allow half day to drive to the Lake, buy your ticket and do a hike at one of the stops).

IMO, the salt mine tour is interesting, and it's fun to go down the long slide (my kids especially liked this). But...with limited time, I don't think this would not be one of my Top 3 choices.

There is a lot to do in the surrounding area of Salzburg.

Bellarosa70032

Hanger 7 near the airport is a pretty cool exhibit. It has airplanes, cars, motorcycles etc with the Red Bull labels on them.

brmsimmons

Perhaps venture a little south of Salburg to Werfen to check out the ice caves and Hohenwerfen, a huge medieval fortress that also has a falconry display.
http://www.austria.info/us/vacation-...t-1478538.html
http://www.austria.info/us/vacation-...s-1852238.html

spiral

We have just spent four nights in Salzburg and found that the 3 day Salzburg card was well worth the money. All the public transport was included as were all of the following places we visited.

We very much enjoyed the cable car trip up the Untersberg and then walking along the top there. We called in at Hellbrunn palace on the way back as this is on the same bus line (25). We wandered back to the bus via the Zoo which was also fun.

In Salzburg itself Hohensalzburg fortress was fascinating and the funicular made it easy to reach and we also enjoyed the Cathedral museum (which was nearly empty) as it enabled us to get a great view of the cathedral from the organ loft.

We never got around to taking the free boat trip but having the card did stop us feeling too cheated by the fact that Mozart's residence seemed only to have portraits and images of Mozart and no real feel of the man himself.

>> Hohenwerfen, a huge medieval fortress that also has a falconry display.>>
We went to see this, a drive of about 25 minutes south of Salzburg, on our last morning as my husband,a big film fan, knew it was used as the fortress in "Where Eagles Dare". A very interesting trip provided you are happy with stairs and heights as they take you up to the top of the Bell tower on the guided tour. (The Salzburg card got us 20% off here too.)

We really enjoyed our time there - hope you do too.

MiamiBeachMomma

We LOVED the Sound of Music bicycle tour. I highly recommend it. It was a really nice way to see the city. If we had more time we would have gone back to see some of the places we saw on the tour as we passed by. We also visited the Mozart childhood home.

asps

Mozart was born in the Getreidegasse house but spent most of his Salzburg years in the Makartplatz house, also open as a museum. He did not really like living in Salzburg so he fled as soon as possible to Vienna, where he lived in several houses, one of them again open as a museum. As the fellow was quite elusive a personality and was never really bound to a single place, you should not feel cheated if it is difficult to make a museum truly representative of him. IMHO the only way to get a feel of him is by reading his manuscripts....

latedaytraveler

Definitely Eagle's Nest - fascinating with great views. We were told that mornings are the best time - less fog. Who knows?

asps

Well, usually in the Alps clouds build up during the day. This is why trips and hikes are better programmed to begin in early morning than in afternoon.