new2eur

Hi,

I am travelling with DW and 2 year old - mid May to early June. We get to Zurich and have already figured out the details for Bernese Oberland and Vienna.

Current plan is to spend 2-3 days in Salzburg and possibly in Munich. I would appreciate suggestions for a 6 day trip in Salzburg/Munich surrounding areas.

Appreciate your help.

bettyk

I'd spend 3 days in Munich and 3 days in St. Gilgen on Wolfgangsee. From St. Gilgen, you can easily make a day trip to Salzburg. In SG, you can take a boat ride on Wolfgangsee on a 100+ yr old steam driven paddleboat and a steam train to Schaftberg and/or take a cable car ride up to the Zwoelferhorn.

From my trip report notes:

The Zwölferhorn is considered one of the most beautiful lookout mountains in the Salzkammergut with magnificent views over seven lakes. The summit station is at 1476 meters.

We sailed on the popular Wolfgang Amadeus and it took about 30 minutes to get to St. Wolfgang. Wolfgang is a beautiful little village with many more shops and tourists than St. Gilgen. We walked toward the Bergbahnhof where we would get on our steam train to the top of the Schafberg. We came to the lovely lakeside church which had unbelievable views over the Wolfgangsee. We took the 2 PM train up the mountain. The train ride to the top takes 50 minutes and makes one intermediate stop not far from the top. It is rather bumpy going up but the views are just awesome. Once on top, you have to make your return reservation. The Schafbergbahn is the steepest cog railway in Austria and has been running from St. Wolfgang to Schafberg since 1893. In a little over 45 minutes, it travels 1190 meters of altitude over a track 5.85 km long. On a clear day, you have a 360° panoramic view of the Salzkammergut lakes. Today we saw Wolfgangsee, Mondsee, Attersee and Traunsee. You can also see some of the most majestic mountains in the region including the Höllengebirge, Dachstein, Löser, and the Watzmann. Before long, it was time for us to get in line for our return train, which would be a diesel this trip. We arrived in St. Wolfgang about 15 minutes before our boat departed for St. Gilgen. This time we got to ride on the 1873 Franz Josef I steam paddlewheel boat.

We stayed at the lovely Schernthaner Hotel. The location is great and their prices reasonable.

http://www.hotel-schernthaner.at/sei.../anreise_e.htm

http://www.wolfgangsee.at/alias/wolfgangsee/en

bettyk

If you would like to see some of our photos of Wolfgangsee, here's the link:

http://travel.webshots.com/album/561...xDcvw?start=84

znstravels

We went to Munich/Salzburg in June 2003.

In Munich we really enjoyed the Marienplatz, Englisher Garten, Schloss Nympenberg (SP?), and Alta Pinakothek. Also the markets (Viktualien) are quite something (produce, etc.) There is a good view of the city from the Frauenkirche though I recall walking up some steps to see it. I found Munich to be a clean city and it absolutely glowed at night.

In Salzburg, we stayed at the Hotel Bristol which was pricey but extremely beautiful. We had an amazing view of the city from our room. The hotel staff was fantastic and the restaurant was very good. My initial impression of the city was it was crowded and dirty but the city really grew on me. We went to the Marionette Theatre (very Sound of Music) for the Barber of Seville. Another city that glowed at night. The Mirabell Gardens at night are spectacular (during the day quite crowded). Don't miss the Fortress. It really impressed me more than I expected. We also went to Mozart's Wohnhaus (interesting) and saw a classical music concert @ Schloss Mirabell.

I also loved the Melk abbey (jaw dropping beauty), St. Wolfgangsee (also breathtakingly beautiful) and Durnstein. Yes they may be crowded during the day but at night you have the place to yourself and it's quite something.

Hope this helps!

ira

Hi N,

> I would appreciate suggestions for a 6 day trip in Salzburg/Munich surrounding areas.

With or without a car?

new2eur

thanks bettyk - I was thinking of staying in Salzburg and then taking day trips to St Gilgen area. Would you recommend other way around?


znstravels - many thaanks! The plan is to do a day trip to Melk Abby from Vienna. Do you think spending 3 nights in Vienna would give us time for Melk Abby and may be boat ride on Danube?

ira - we haven't thought of renting a car. Originally we weren't planning on going to Munich but now that we are (thinking about) going there, it might be a good option to rent a car for 5-6 days (rent in munich and drop off at salzburg) before we move on to Vienna. I have total 6 nights between zurich and vienna and I am tring to figure where to go (have never been to europe before) without wasting too much time in transit.

BTilke

In Salzburg, you, your wife and your child would enjoy Schloss Hellbrunn. The trick fountain displays are delightful and the Salzburg Zoo is on one side of the Hellbrunn grounds.
http://www.zoohellbrunn.at/Info.7.1.html

Hellbrunn is easily reached from Salzburg's old town by the #25 bus.
http://www.hellbrunn.at/hellbrunn/en...tart/index.asp

bettyk

It's easy enough to see most of the old town of Salzburg in a day. Then you'd have a couple of days to explore St. Gilgen and all it's lovely surroundings.

new2eur

thanks bettyk!

In past two hours, I have been reading many posts here. I didn't realize earlier that munich-salzburg drive time is about 2 hours. I am really leaning towards renting a car now for the whole week or atleast for 4-5 days.

I don't want to spend more than 2 nights in Munich. As much as I want to see Munich, I feel that we will enjoy smaller towns, laid back places more.

How would you loop around in that area (Bavaria - Wolfgangsee Salzburg) and where would you stay, and for how long? On the 7th day, I would be driving or taking a train to Vienna.

Please help!

new2eur

And forgot to mention earlier - we can drop the car off in Vienna. On our way to Vienna, we can visit Melk Abbey.

All I have so far is

Day 1 - Munich
Day 2
Day 3
...
...
...
...
... 7
Day 8 Vienna

elnap29

We traveled in that area in 2006. Our greatest delight was in the small medieval village of Burghausen (has the longest castle in Europe). Our hotel was across the river in Ach, Austria (Hotel Burgblick) with an amazing view of Burghausen. Burghausen often has arts or music festivals. Very quaint and friendly. I think Munich was about 1 1/2 hr from Burghausen and 45 min from Salzburg.

bettyk

You could do 2 nights in Munich, 2 nights in Salzburg and 2 nights in St. Gilgen OR

You could do 2 or 3 nights in Munich and 3 or 4 nights in St. Gilgen, with a stop in Salzburg on the way. (Salzburg is less than 2 hrs from Munich.)

There is soooo much to do in this area that it's really hard to just pick a couple of places. You could spend a month in that area and never get bored!!

The 7th day you could drive to Viena with a stop off in Melk.

ira

Hi N,

>rent in munich and drop off at salzburg

<br>NO!</b/r>

You will pay a beastly drop off fee, plus you will have to by an Austrian tax sticker.

Pick up the car in Salzburg and drop it somewhere else in Austria.

ira

That was supposed to be <r>NO!</r>

ira

Well, it was supposed to be a bold, red NO!.

bigtyke

Salt mines at Hallein
Ice caves at Werfen

Bostboy71

I went last year to Munich and thought that the Zoo there was spectacular, very much a park-like setting.

Then went up to Fussen, an hour or so train ride, I believe. Very cute town out in the country at the base of the Alps. It was a great base to tour Ludwig's castles and there are also some trams to take you up to the tops of various mountains. It was minutes away from the Austrian border on the way to Salzburg.

Paragkash

Hi,
I have got this route from several books and old threads. am planning to do this in may. Can give you a feedback after I return.
1. Munich- Fussen( 2 to 3 hrs)- See Neushwanstein & Ludwig Castles
2. Munich- Reutte ( 30 min)
3. Reutte- Garmisch ( 1 to 1.5 hrs- Check this, I am not sure about the time taken)
4. Garmisch- Eibsee- ( 1 hr)
Take a cable railway to ZUGSPITZ( 10 min.)
5. Come back to Eibsee
6. Eibsee to Garmisch 1 hr.
Garmisch to Innsbruck ( 1.5 to 2 hrs)
7. Innsbruck- Spend the night
8. Innsbruck- Salzburg

There is one more day trip from Salzburg to Burchtesgaden - Hitlers holiday resort- 1 to 1.5 hrs drive.

There are lovely places in Salzkamargut- area

Best Luck

new2eur

You all have been extremely helpful! bettyk, ira, znstravels, BTilkes and everyone - thank you!

ira - I talked to autoeurope yesterday. Currently budget has this special offer - you can pick up car in munich and drop it off anywhere in austria or switzerland without any additional charges.

I am *almost* certain that this is what I want to do

Day1 - Take AM train from zurich to munich. Night in Munich
Day2 - All day Munich. Night in Munich
Day3 - All day Munich. Night in Munich
Day4 - Rental car in AM. Ludwig castles, Zugspitze. Night in Pinswang at Gutshof zum Schluxen
Day5 - Drive to Salzburg area. Night in Salzburg
Day6 - Salzburg. Night in Salzburg
Day7 - Lake district. Night in St Gilgen/St Wolfgang (not sure what to pick here!)
Day8 - Drive to Melk Abbey. Drop off car at Vienna. Night in Vienna
Day9 - Vienna. Night in Vienna
Day10 - Vienna. Overnight train to Lucerne. Night in Train.
Day11 - Lucerne. Night in Lucerne
Day12 - All day Lucerne. Evening train to Wengen. Night in wengen.
Day13 - BO. Night in wengen
Day14 - BO. Night in Wengen
Day15 - All day BO. Evening train to Zurich. Night in zurich

I won't be spending lot of time in museums so I think 2 full days in Munich and Vienna will be enough. I am wondering if 1.5 days in Salzburg and little over 1 day in St. Gilgen or St. Wolfgang will be enough. Or should I take half a day from Munich and add it to salzburg area?

BTilke

St. Gilgen/Wolgang are close enough to Salzburg that IMO it's not the best use of your limited time in the area to check out of one hotel and check into another. Decide which of those areas appeals to you most and stay there for your entire time in the Salzburg region.

Another option is to stay outside Salzburg itself at the edge of town and catch a bus into Salzburg and drive to St. Gilgen, etc. For example, the Hotel Friesacher is in Anif, close to Schloss Hellbrunn (one of the best sights in Salzburg), with a bus stop right by the hotel that takes you into Salzburg's old town. It's also good for drivers as it has its own parking and is easy to reach from the highway. Restaurants and pool on-site, so if you don't want to go out again after a busy day's sightseeing, you can relax with a good meal in the hotel.

http://www.hotelfriesacher.com/