TheVillageIdiot

I realize most will say Salzburg is best seen in 2-3 days, but with a package trip booked to Vienna, I think I'd only be looking to do a day trip to Salzburg this time around.

When looking at various options that are available w/ the package trip, one of the options it mentioned was a day tour of Salzburg. However, when I tried booking my package beginning another day, that option disappeared.

I tried googling, but to no avail. Can anyone recommend any day tours from Vienna to Salzburg? I'm mainly interested in seeing the Mozart highlights and possibly some Sound of Music landmarks, if such a combo is available...but most importantly Mozart. Is this something I should book before I leave or can I book it once I get to Vienna? I figure with so much to cram in a day, having a tour guide would be best (since I get lost ridiculously easily and am traveling solo for the first time), but would this day trip be do-able on my own? Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance for any comments.

munich_madl

Hi,
I looked at the Austrian train timetable (OBB) and it takes 3 1/2 hrs to get by train from Vienna to Salzburg. It is obviously going to take longer on a bus just to get there. You would be sitting on the bus (or if you go by train) more than 7 hrs in total. And the train fare is not going to be cheap.

But why go to Salzburg? You can also catch the Mozart celebrations in Vienna. Here is a link in English:
http://www.wienmozart2006.at/jart/pr...;reserve-mode= . If the website offers a pre-booking facility for the event you want, then I would do so. It is not so easy to get tickets sometimes.

If you are still intent on going to Salzburg, the Sound of Music tour in Salzburg takes you to the various landmarks but you will need at least 1/2 a day. So with travelling time, it will be hard to fit it all in.

I would just stay in Vienna. There is so much to see. If you have an evening free and a trip is not included to a 'Heuriger', then grab some tour members and go to one. This is like a beer garden (if you know what that is) but instead of beer, they serve wine (made by the winery which owns the heurige). Food is also served. Great atmosphere.

BTilke

My first visit to Salzburg was a solo day trip from Vienna. One possible itinerary: take an early morning train, then walk from the train station to the old town (it's very easy...you just have to follow the main street down). Have breakfast in the old town. Or, if you want to have breakfast with the locals, walk down the main street from the station to the small shopping center across the street from the Shell gas station. Go down to the basement level. There's a nice cafe by the Billa grocery store--have coffee, juice, some bread. Cheaper than breakfast at cafes in the old town.
Continue to the old town, stroll the streets, visit the cathedral, perhaps the Mozart Gebursthaus (http://www.mozarteum.at/default.asp?...&deflng=en). Then I would flip a coin: either catch the funicular up to the fortress and explore there or catch the #25 bus to Schloss Hellbrunn, about a 10 minute bus ride from the old town. At Hellbrunn, you can take a guided tour of the trick fountains and a self-guided tour of the schloss. If you go out to Hellbrunn, I recommend climbing the hill to see the Folk Museum. Few people go there, but it's interesting and you get nice views.
Have a bite at one of the cafes in town before you head back to the train station in late afternoon for your return to Vienna.
If you really want to take a guided tour, you could walk from the train station down to the Mirabellplatz and pick up one of the Sound of Music tours. But they won't take you through the old town and you'll be spending a lot of time sitting on a bus--not something I'd want to do the same day I'm spending 7 hours on a train.
FYI: there is a post office in the Salzburg train station, so if your have postcards to mail, you can send them from there.
http://www.hellbrunn.at/hellbrunn/en...tart/index.asp
You may want to buy the Salzburg Card, which would allow you to use the buses (including the bus to Schloss Hellbrunn) and admission to city attractions.
http://www2.salzburg.info/sehenswertes_281.htm

Note: there is a Salzburg tourist info office in the train station by platform 2a. They can help you with maps, orientation, etc.

Happy travels!

BTilke

P.S. One of our favorite Vienna souvenirs is Meinl brand coffee. Every time we brew up a pot, the delicious aroma takes us back to Austria. You can get it at Meinl on the Graben in Vienna, of course, or at many regular grocery stores.

ben_haines_london

The most comfortable and least tiring way is to travel between cities by train, and by bus for the four hour Sound of Music tour. Express trains leave Vienna West station at 0614 and 0615, you can take breakfast with juice, coffee and omlette, and reach Salzburg at 0853, and 0858. For afternoon tours you could leave Vienna West at 0930, lunch on the train, reach Salzburg at 1227, and meet the tour bus in a hotel about 1400.

Organisers usually pick up from central hotels, and I expect they would name a hotel near the main railway station where they would pick you up at 0920 or 1350. They ask you to include the details of your train when you book and you should ask them to say where they will collect you. If a central hotel, you can ask them how to go there by bus or taxi (taxi drivers speak English, and you can show them your reservation voucher). You must call the organiser at least 24 hours prior to your tour to reconfirm the tour and departure details.

Google took me to three organisers of such tours

http://www.salzburg-sightseeingtours...0004&SP=uk shows a four hour tour for 35 euros at 0930 and 1400 daily

Panorama tours. E-Mail: [email protected]
WWW: http://www.tiscover.at/panoramatours
Meeting Point on Mirabellplatz, directly in front of St. Andrä Church, not in hotels, a four hour tour for 35 euros at 0930 and 1400 daily

http://www.affiliate.viator.com/jsp/...M_AUD-PRICE_FR
Cost USD 41.65 per person. Starts 0930 and 1400 daily. The contact details will be listed on your voucher.

Trains run back to Vienna hourly or more often. For example an express with a car for dinner leaves Salzburg at 1858 (1904 on Sundays) and reaches Vienna non stop at 2148 or on Sundays, with two stops, at 2143. If you stay for a concert you can leave Salzburg at 2134, dine, pass Melk abbey about 2250, and reach Vienna at 0043.

Ben Haines, London
[email protected]

BTilke

Ben, it is not necessary to go to a hotel for a pick-up for a SoM tour. As I noted above, you can join the tour at the Mirabellplatz, which is an easy walk from the train station down the main street and also the main departure point for the tours. The tours are all similar, so any one of them will cover the SoM landmarks.

kwren

Do any of the SOM tours include a luge ride? I heard that one does, but don't know which one.

TheVillageIdiot

Thanks for the info everyone. I have 6 nights in Vienna so with that much time, I figured I might as well try and venture somewhere else. I think seeing the birth town of Mozart is pretty cool (esp this year) and I'm kind of obsessed w/ the SOM so I would like a trip there.

I was planning on doing an tour originating in Vienna, which provided transport to Salzburg (about $150 US), but I can't seem to find any of those tours online.

The express trains to Salzburg are about 2:40, which isn't HORRENDOUS. Long day, for sure, but not impossible. Can someone help me out w/ the cost though? I can figure out 1st class/2nd class, which are about 43 Euro one way; I assume the VORTEILScard wouldn't apply to me? (that's for frequent travelers right?)

Should I not even bother trying for a tour from Vienna and just do a trip myself to Salzburg by train?

I could take the 6am train which arrives in Salzburg at 8:40. I definitely want to hit the Mozart Gebursthaus (I'm assuming I don't have to buy admission in advance), and the more I think about it, I think I want to go on the 2pm SOM tour. With the tour being 4 hours, and it taking ~3hrs to get back to Vienna, I figure that would be the end of my day. What do you guys recommend seeing in the 4 hours or so in the morning when I first arrive? Sounds like the old town is where I should go - any must sees you folks would recommend?

Please remember I'm a directional twit and would have to end up at Mirabellplatz for the 2pm SOM tour. MTilke - are you sure I can pick up a SOM tour at Mirabellplatz? Do you have a link for a tour that would originate there? In the links provided it states that the tours end there, but that they begin at your hotel. Also, thanks for the coffee tip! I'll definitely check it out.

Thanks again!

BTilke

Yes, at least some of them start there. The first one I took, I picked up there. And on the 4 hour one we took in May, we were picked up at our hotel in minibuses and then dropped off at Mirabellplatz to board the main buses and there were several people on board who were daytrippers and were starting the tour there.
It's very easy to get from the old town to Mirabellplatz...you just follow the "main drag" as if you were going to the train station. It's about halfway between the river and the train station, more or less.
You could see several SoM landmarks in Salzburg without doing a tour, but you wouldn't get to see the church where the wedding took place (not that big a deal, IMO). Also, if you take the #25 bus to Hellbrunn, you pass by the house that was the supposed exterior of the Trapp family home (for the scene near the end where they're pushing the car).
I did the SoM tour because I was with my mother who couldn't handle a lot of walking. And because we were in Sburg 6 days. If I were there for just a day trip, arriving around 9 am, I'd do the Mozart Gebursthaus, bus out to Schloss Hellbrunn, spend about two hours at the schloss, back to town, and finish with a funicular ride to the fortress for a little exploring there.

TheVillageIdiot

Oh, I also meant to ask...as a general "getting around Vienna" question...I assume I'd get the "Weekly Travel Pass" for 12.50 Euro, in the link below?

http://homepage.univie.ac.at/horst.p...ish/fares.html

What happens if I arrive on a Sat or Sun? Do I have to buy 2 weekly passes (or a weekly and just pay by trip or day until I get to Monday)? Thx.

ira

Oh Ben,

Look what you did to the formatting with your super long URL.

You can avoid this by pasting the URL at www.tinyurl.com and posting their short URL.

TheVillageIdiot

BTilke - thanks for the response. Work got crazy and we cross-posted a bit there. I've actually been to Mondsee and the church where they were married so that's not a biggie (it was a stopover on a previous tour I took). Thanks for the proposed itinerary.