Airports

Check the various websites such as Kayak, ITA, Skyscanner. How about flying into Munich and taking the train to Salzburg? There are non-stop flights via Delta from/to Atlanta to Munich.

You can do it with one stop on United. Your layover would be in Frankfurt and then you'd have quick one hour flight to Salzburg.

It depends when you fly. In season there are more direct flights to Atlanta. If there is a direct flight to Munich or Vienna (Munich is closer), take the flight and then go by train. There is a direct flight from Atlanta to Prague but only in season (I took it once). In the case there are no direct flights to Munich or Vienna, fly to Prague. Most people get by public transport from Prague to Cesky Krumlov and then by shuttle to Salzburg.

We are taking that tour and decided to fly round trip to Munich (direct from San Francisco on Lufthansa). We will fly in early to go to Dachau and take the train to Salzburg. We plan to take the shuttle from Chamonix to Geneva and then take the train to Innsbruck for a couple nights before heading back to Munich by train. My sister and her husband will then fly home, and my husband and I will spend another week in Germany.

If you fly direct into Munich you can use a Bayern Ticket to get to Salzburg in under three hours. Most flights into Munich get there morning and early afternoon so you can easily arrive in Salzburg at a reasonable hour.

DJ

ed,

I agree with the others that Munich is probably the best choice and you'll probably find the best flight options from Atlanta to Munich. MUC is a nice, well organized airport with good transportation links, so it will be easy to get to Salzburg. I'd suggest arriving a few days prior to the start of the tour, both to get over jet lag as well as have some time to see areas not covered on the tour. You could also spend a few days in Munich before the tour seeing some of the sights there.

Happy travels!