Here is my itinerary for a fast trip through 4 cities in 12 days.Just wondering if I should allow more time in Salzburg? interested in the city and its sights only this time and not really in a day trip from there.
Prague-2 full days
Salzburg- 1.5 days ( will travel to Vienna, including a Danube cruise from Melk to Krems)
Vienna-3 full days
Budapest -3 full days
We will be travelling by train between each city.
Thanks.
Although I didn't do a Sound of Music tour, I found a few hours was enough for Salzburg. The preserved Altstadt is actually pretty small, about as big as a shopping mall.
Thank you, this helps a lot.
We had a day and a half in Salzburg and I wished we had a little more time but I wouldn't take any time off your other cities. When you take the cruise from Melk, you should try to stop at Durnstein! Emily (who posts here frequently) recommended it to us as a better stop than Krems and it was a lovely town. Between our tour of the Abbey in Melk and our stop in Durnstein it was one of the best days of our trip.
Salzburg deserves 1.5 days, if not more. Aside from the SOM tour, you want to see the Mirabell Gardens, the Salzburg Fortress and Hellbrunn Palace.
Thanks Joyce for your comment. I will look into stopping in Durnstein from the ship, if at all possible. I imagine there would be a train or bus for the rest of the trip to Vienna. I will look into it. Thank you.
Thanks Emily for your sights suggestions in Salzburg. I have planned to do the SOM tour, but we get in the day before at 3ish, so we will have 2 evenings and a half -day to play with there. Thank you.
I highly recommend that you make a day trip from Vienna to the Wachau (the stretch of the Danube between Melk and Krems) rather than try to do this as you travel from Salzburg to Vienna. Making this detour is not as easy as you think and it will be very annoying with luggage.
Emily, thanks. Very interesting you picked up on that, as I was deliberating about how to do this best. The idea behind doing it on the way to Vienna was to avoid backtracking cause we do not have much time. We will travel with a small on-wheel carry-on and a backpack each. If we skip it on the way to Vienna,we will have more time in Vienna on the day we arrive there. I assume you have done this trek. Can u elaborate on this? You are right, looking for trains , etc and trying to build this day has been difficult. Probably better to take an organised tour from Vienna. Thanks for making me rethink that day!
I usually take a bus from a Salzburg Park and Ride, but I'll assume a bus from the Bahnhof is similar. Yes the Dom/Cathedral, old city, Funicular to the Fortress and tour, walk along the Mönchsberg with a stop at the Museum der Moderne Salzburg for the view, to the Augustiner Braugasthof for a bier and a bite (usually opens at 15:00), and back along the Satzach River is doable in 6+ hours. Time/season allowing you could visit the Schloss Mirabell gardens. This would be a quick touristic visit, but a good one.
Thanks mchpp. Good ideas within a reasonnable time frame.
You don't need an organized tour to visit Wachau. Best to do it is by train and bus.
The most scenic railway is the "Wachaubahn" which runs through Wachau Valley along the Danube river.
You go by a regular train (REX - regional express) from Vienna to Krems first. The Wachaubahn operates between Krems and Emmersdorf, from where you may go by bus either back to Krems or onwards to Melk for visiting the Abbey. Fom Melk you can go back to Vienna directly with another REX train.
