Day trip from Munich: ambitious itinerary?

For us, yes. No question about it. In fact the 2 hour ride from Munich each way pushes my day trip travel time threshold. Is the tour from Munich or Salzburg, how long is the trip, does it give you the same amount of time at the Lake District, is the cost holding you back? We like to do most sightseeing on our own, but sometimes it is not possible and we take a tour. This sounds like one of those times.

It is doable, having some stamina. I would do it on my own (and not with a tour group) because of greater flexibility in the schedule or when making last minute changes, e.g. due to the weather.

To save time I would take the fastest trains available between Munich and Salzburg, i.e. the RailJets (operated by OeBB). The ride is 1:30 hours each way, so having gained one hour in total.

The arrival time of 11:30am in Salzburg is far too late for all what you have planned. Best would be to arrive around 9am at the latest (e.g. RailJet departing from Munich at 7:24am).

Visiting the old city and Hellbrunn may cost you two hours easily. Then you must catch the bus #150 to St. Gilgen, catch the ferry to St. Wolfgang, and possibly wait for the next train up the Schafberg (by the way, Austria's steepest cog railway). At the end you must go all the way back.

Yet, we have not counted time for having lunch, for visiting St. Gilgen and St. Wolfgang, or spending time at the Schafberg summit.

You should have all the timetables printed out and with you, i.e. RailJets, bus #150, Wolfgangsee ferry, Schafberg railway. Try to find a itinerary for you without wasting too much time just waiting for the next public transport.

Stretch your visit in a way to arrive back in Salzburg around sunset. Maybe you can have dinner before going back to Munich. The last RailJet to Munich departs at 9pm, the last other express train at 11pm.

Way too much - it will not be enjoyable. Hellbrunn is a 20-30 minute bus ride each way from the center of Salzburg and the tour takes at least an hour, for example. Do either Salzburg or Wolfgangsee. If you do Wolfgangsee, consider renting a car for the day.

If you are looking of using a Bayern Ticket for this, do it on a Saturday, Sunday, or a German public holiday, then you can take an earlier train, first one is a 5:48 am. If you still want to do it on a weekday, you can get a regional train 1 hour earlier by leaving from the Ostbahnhof at 9:05 am and gets to Salzburg at 10:42 am.

For a weekday with the 9:05 train, it is doable with a couple of caveats. You need the 12:15 bus to St Gilgen which, with the ferry, gets you to the Schafbergbahn at 14:03. Take the 14:50 train up, spend an hour, then the 16:25 train down arriving St Wolfgang at 17:00. Take the 17:13 bus from here back to Salzburg, changing buses in Strobl, puts you back in Salzburg at 18:57. Regional train to Munich is at 19:15, or later trains at 20:15, 21:15, or 23:00 trains back to Munich.

If it is in July or August, Hellbrunn Palace stays open until 21:00, so you could see when you get back.

Some people like these busy full days, others may run out of gas. Your choice.

Thank you all very much for the detailed information. I sincerely appreciate it.

I am wishing that I’d built more time in our itinerary for Austria. At least If we decide that it’ll be too hectic to fit it all in one day it gives us an excuse to go back.

Thanks again

I have been to Munich twice. The first trip we spent three days. The second was a daytrip from Salzburg. We used the Bayern ticket which makes it super cheap (must make sure to purchase from the correct machine and then get on the correct train. Because I had been to Munich before I was familiar with the layout and the "attractions". I don't feel like the train ride was 2 hours. Perhaps 1 1/4 - 1 1/2 hrs. We left early morning so caught up on sleep and did some reading. We were able to poke into all the churches close to the Marienplatz, saw the rathaus glockenspiel, at one the times when it does the most, perhaps 11am, did the Residenz and the treasury and wandered the gardens. We walked through the market just off the Marienplatz, spent some time at the Hofbrauhaus and had dinner at the Augustiner Beer hall just off the Marienplatz. We got on the train at about 8pm and went to bed when we got back to Salzburg. I think if you do a lot of research and familiarize yourself for the map you could have a nice time in Munich for a day. One always wishes for more time in a lot of these places, but sometimes you just don't have it, and with some good planning you can have fun in a short amount of time.

oops, I misread the question. I feel you could do Munich in a day. I don't believe Salzburg is doable in a day. We took a Sound of Music Tour which is the type of thing I normally do not do, but its THE SOUND OF MUSIC! ;) We enjoyed taking the funicular up to the fort. The cathedral in Salzburg is very different from most I've seen. It's baroque, stunning white and bright and absolutely worth a stop. The cemetery close to the funicular was the inspiration for the Sound of Music scene, but is beautiful and interesting even without the connection. I think two days would be necessary for Salzburg.

Trying to cram a whole province in a single day, coming from a place two hours distant by train does not look to me ambitious but mostly pointless. Consider also little things that could derail the itinerary: for example, if you visit the water tricks park at Helbrunn you have a serious chance of coming out completely wet. Or the last time I was in St. Wolfgang (quite a time ago, and in August) it was run over with tourists and there was some waiting time at the Schafbergbahn. IMHO a visit to Salzburg including Hellbrunn is enough for a whole day.

Thanks for your input everyone. As much as I'd love to see more of Salzburg on this trip, I have come to the conclusion that it won't feel like a vacation if we try to do so much.