My husband and I are doing the My Way Alpine Tour in Sept. of 2025. I am looking into flights from Southern California to Salzburg and not seeing a lot of good options. Most seem to involve 2 layovers or more. I am using Rome2Rio for general info and then going directly to the various airline websites. We usually fly from LAX to Europe, although we live closer to Palm Springs. I'm curious to know how other SoCal folks have routed their travel to Salzburg and also on the way home from Chamonix or Geneva.
Posted by
Seattle, WA
17394 posts
Flying into a small airport such as Salzburg limits your airline and schedule choices, and often involves an extra layover. Munich is so close; you could look into flights into that airport. Might be something direct from LAX.
It is always a good idea to fly in a day or two ahead of the tour start date, so you could overnight in Munich and take the train to Salzburg the following day. We like Hotel Schiller5, a friendly modern hotel close to the Munich Hauptbahnhof, good for a one-night stay before moving on.
https://www.schiller5.com/home-en
For the return, use Geneva—an easy transfer by bus or shuttle from Chamonix.
Posted by
Los Angeles
1167 posts
Lufthansa flies nonstop LAX =>Munich.
Posted by
879 posts
Fly into Munich. Easy to get to Salzburg from there.
Posted by
Chicago
3110 posts
When my sister and I went to Salzburg (not part of a tour), we flew into Vienna. I liked that the Vienna airport had a direct train right at the airport to Salzburg with no changes. So, that is another option. It’s not that much longer than a train from Munich.
Posted by
Orange County, CA
9 posts
Agreed with others that the best balance here is probably fly into Munich and train to Salzburg from there. There's also a seasonal--and not always daily--flight on Austrian Airlines to Vienna, then train, if the timing lines up better.
In my experience, those Lufthansa group airline direct flights to Europe from LAX (LH to Munich and Frankfurt, Austrian to Vienna, Swiss to Zurich) all tend to be significantly higher-priced than the plethora of connecting itineraries you'll find. [I'm not sure I've ever paid cash for one of these, just booked them using miles through United.] You could set a price alert and see if you can catch a price drop. Otherwise, connecting through London or Paris, etc. on other airlines will usually save you several hundred dollars compared to direct. Don't search directly on the airline's website; use Google Flights or a similar flight search tool to compare prices, then head to the chosen airline's site to book.
If you don't mind those 2+ connections, you could also try flying out of Palm Springs or Ontario for a little more cash. Really comes down to what you value most. If it were me, and I already shelled out for the RS tour cost, I'd be leaning toward booking the LH direct flight to Munich plus train.
Posted by
Orange County, CA
9 posts
Oh, and regarding the return home, I don't have experience with Chamonix yet, but it will likely be what a prior commenter suggested: bus to Geneva, then a connecting flight to the hub airport that will take you back to LA. Chamonix-->Geneva Airport-->ZRH/FRA/CDG/LHR-->LAX. If you're determined to make it only a non-stop flight back to LAX, you're looking at more time and train/bus connections over to Zurich or perhaps even Paris.
I see on the trip page for My Way Alps tour that they mention "the Geneva airport is a two-hour bus ride from Chamonix, where the tour ends."
Logistics planning like this certainly tempts tour customers into tacking on a few days in another city on to the end of a tour before heading home! A quick glance at a map and my eyes start focusing on Annecy, Lyon, perhaps even down to Nice? Not bad ideas if you have a few extra days before you need to return.
I did a quick search on Google Flights for fun: from LAX to Salzburg (SZG) on Sept 2 (one stop in Frankfurt), then return Geneva (GVA) to LAX on Sept 15 (one stop in Washington DC) comes out to $1345. Booked through United. Not too bad for only one stop in each direction, and closest to the tour start/end points. Certainly can find cheaper with more work, but just an idea of what a starting point could be in your searches.
Posted by
Seattle, WA
17394 posts
AlpyBus makes the run from Chamonix to Geneva Airport in 1h 30 min. SwissTours says their journey time is 70 minutes.
https://www.alpybus.com/chamonix
When we hiked the Tour du Mont Blanc with REI Adventures, ending in Chamonix, the tour included a bus transfer to Geneva Airport, which took just about an hour—-the bus picked us up at or hotel.