9 days in Austria in July - Recommendations?

Posted by Hayley (Cleveland, OH) on 01/01/23 04:28 PM

My husband and I will be visiting Austria for 9 days in the first half of July. We will be arriving in Vienna and making our way west before moving on to Switzerland. We are looking for a good balance of urban and rural activities. We would be interested in a couple days of hiking and/or biking at easy to moderate levels. We will be using public transportation exclusively.

We know we will be in Vienna for at least two nights and would like to see Salzburg and then possibly an area further west in Tyrol. We will be in Salzburg before the festival, not during. Our plans are very loose right now, so any recommendations would be appreciated!

Posted by mchpp

Oberpfalz, Germany

01/03/23 04:57 PM

1400 posts

I have been recently in the Stubaital, Austria. Easy to reach the town of Fulpmes by tram from Innsbruck (Stubaitalbahn) or bus. Bus service throughout the valley. Many lifts to higher elevations (Top of Tyrol). From Innsbruck there are many options by train. You can get to Sterzing, IT or Mittenwald, DE for instance in 1 to1.5 hours.

Posted by Thomas

Europe

01/10/23 08:23 PM

18 posts

Hi Haley, I agree with the previous answer. You could also look at Berchtesgaden, which is very close to Salzburg. Great for hiking, but you can also take a boat tour on the Konigssee/Obersee and visit the Eagle's Nest. Can really recommend it.

Posted by giggyjames

01/10/23 09:28 PM

40 posts

Hi, Salzburg area is fantastic and well worth a couple of days. Also see St Gilgen, a lakeside village with a mountain train in the town opposite. The Schafberg train in St Wolfgang. And from there a day trip to picture perfect Hallstatt.

Also we stayed for 10 days in Ehrwald next to the Austria/Germany border and looking up at Zugspitze, Germany's highest mountain . Plenty of walks from this beautiful rural village and cable car trips to smaller mountains nearby with charming restaurants half way up. As well as an impressive cable car (not for the faint hearted!) up the Zugspitze.

Innsbruck and Garmisch-Partenkirchen are very pretty if you want actual towns. Chocolate box pretty.

Finally further down on Italian border is San Candido, just over the border into Italy in fact. Beautiful base for 2-3 days at least. We stayed 10 nights there too a few years ago!

Happy to answer more questions about any of these, as I put a lot of research into all three of these trips and I really appreciate it when people answer my questions on these brilliant forums!

Posted by john

phoenix, az, usa

01/14/23 02:26 PM

58 posts

all above are great recommendations. add Ettal to see the abbey where cherubs abound and the gilded statuary is double gilded.. Ettal is just down the road from the Linderhof Palace, another highlight of the area. Mittenwald, northwest of Innsbruck, is perhaps one of the most . . . it's just the most, replete with charm, mountains, and the obligatory "tourist" goats with bells on roaming the surrounding hills. You can get a good look via the internet or google maps. I know nothing of public transportation, but it might be to your advantage to rent a car while in Austria to go where you want to go and when you want to go there. the rates are reasonable but don't cross into Switzerland with a rental--that's expensive. Actually make sure you drop the car in Austria, not in another country.