Innsbruck, Salzburg, Hallstat, Vienna

Congratulations!

Tirol is an area which includes Innsbruck.

What time of year is this trip?

Flying out of Vienna?

I can’t give advice on public transportation. We’ve had a rental car for our 10 trips in these areas, never been to Vienna though. Love the rest and been many times. On rental cars, we always rent through www.gamut.com and we always pick up at Munich airport. If your flying out of Vienna, then drop the car just over the border from Salzburg in Freilassing, Germany.

Innsbruck.
The Nordkettenbahn 3 stage funicular and cable car trip. Starts right from Innsbruck across from the Congress Hall just outside the old town pedestrian zone.
The Hofkirche.
Schloss Ambras.
Strolling the old town pedestrian zone.
Since we use a car we stay 10 minutes from Innsbruck in Hall in Tirol. We stayed 5 times at the Gasthof Badl.

Salzburg.
Love the old town, especially in the evening. Beautiful. Very walkable.
Hohensalzburg Fortress, if not just for the views overlooking the old town.
The area around the Wolfgangsee. This includes Werfen Castle nearby Salzburg.

Hallstatt.
We visited for a day. Actually for a few hours. We aren’t the usual here, as we liked it but not enough to stay much longer.

I will also add a hearty Congratulations! I agree with Paul that is helpful to know what time of year you will be in Austria; that helps guide recommendations.

Thank you Dave & Paul!

We will be there from Sept 23-Oct 1st

My favorite time of year to be in the Alps!! All except one of our trips to Bavaria and Austria have been late Sept to late Oct.

So, I think the schedule works out something like this:

Nights of 20-22: Munich
Nights of 23-24: Innsbruck
Nights of 25-26: Salzburg
Night of 27: Hallstatt
Nights of 28-30: Vienna

Innsbruck: There are a number of Almabtrieb in Tyrol on Sept 24. This is a tradition where cows are brought down from their summer high Alp grazing pastures to their valley homes. The cows are usually dressed up for the event with flowers, and there is always some sort of festival in the town. My personal opinion is drop anything else you have planned and go to one of these -- rural Tyrol/Alp culture at its finest. BUT... bad weather can always postpone it to the next weekend, so have a backup plan. You can search for YouTube videos to show you the towns and previous Almabtrieb in them. https://www.tyrol.com/things-to-do/culture/tradition/cattle-drives

Salzburg: One of my favorite small cities. I would think about getting there reasonably early to explore the city on your partial day there. For nature stuff around Salzburg, I would suggest a day trip to Königssee or Werfen Ice Cave on your full day in Salzburg. Königssee is a gorgeous lake. There is a nice hike at the far end of the lake to Röthbach Waterfall, though I've only seen it in Spring -- not sure what it is like in fall. Take the electric boat across the river to the Salet stop, walk to Obersee, hike along the right side of the lake (rocky in places -- be careful if wet), hike a relatively gentle ascent to an alpine field surrounded by granite peaks, and then head to the waterfall on the other side of the meadow. You can take a path up the side of the waterfall, but you would need some pretty good hiking equipment for that. I love that hike (though, again, have done it twice in May). At Werfen, there is a castle, but there is also an ice cave that is pretty cool. Head to the Werfen train station, walk about 10 minutes to a shuttle that will take you up to the cave entrance. Then head up to the entrance, catch a cable car, hike a little further up, and then go through the cave. I thought it was cool, too.

Königssee: https://www.berchtesgaden.de/en/nature/lake-koenigssee (Röthbach Waterfall pictures [and view of the ascent] start at around 1:11 on the video)

Ice Cave: https://www.eisriesenwelt.at/en/

Vienna. Lots of history here, of course. All sorts of Habsburg things to see. Schönbrunn Palace is a pretty standard stop. The Army Museum (HGM = Heeresgeschlichtlichesmuseum) has a great WWI exhibit, including the car in which Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were shot, as well the clothing he was wearing; the museum has a pretty lousy WWII exhibit. The Augarten has two enormous flak towers that were built for air defense during WWII. They are too big to tear down. At Heldenplatz, outside Hofburg Palace, you can see the balcony where Hitler spoke to the amassed Viennese who filled the square. Of course, there is much else to see -- hopefully others will chime in with their favorites.

Thank you so much for the great information! We are really looking forward to the Almabtrieb!

Consider Alpenzoo is Innsbruck. It’s the first stop I’m on the Nordkettlebahn and you can get a combo ticket. The zoo only had animals that are native to the Alps. And the setting right on the side of the mountain is amazing.