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Salzburg to Linz (Side Trip Hallstatt) VIA Private Transfer.

Family of four with 2 8 year old twin boys.

I am planning to spend 3 nights (early January) in Salzburg. On fourth day, we want to hire a car and driver to take us to Lake District and drop us off at the Train Station in Linz. Once in Linz, we will take train to Budapest.

It seems to me that this would be better then just taking an 8 hour tour and going back to Salzburg where we would catch train on to Budapest. We would lose an hour as it takes 1 hour from Salzburg to Linz by train.

For some reason, I can't find to many companies that would do this.

CK Shuttle doesn't seem to do Salzburg to Linz. They only do Cesky, Prague, or Vienna.

Any suggestions for other companies?

Or should I just do a private tour and go back to Salzburg?

Thanks.

Posted by
20090 posts

Am I getting this right? You want to go from Salzburg to Hallstatt then on to Budapest in one day.
It can be done by train starting at 7 am and getting you to Budapest shortly after 9 pm and give you 5 hours in Hallstatt.

Posted by
15 posts

Here's the plan.

On the departure day from Salzburg, we go south / east to the Lake District including Hallstatt. Instead of backtracking, we go forward to a stop on the main line (line may be to far, but there is another one closer to the area but not back in Salzburg).

The end game is Budapest - - which is 5 hours from Salzburg. We got that.

My question is:

Absent public transport, are there any companies that would take us on tour of area and end drop us off east towards Buda instead of backtracking?

Posted by
631 posts

In the summer this might have stood half a chance but not early January. Hallstatt is never an easy place to reach and to make things worse it will be dark by 4pm. The tour industry will have switched its efforts to the ski season. I'm not even sure the normal bus tours operate in January, the company I know stops at the end of October. They offer a private tour for €570 ($670 !!) https://www.salzburg-sightseeingtours.at/en/tour/hallstatt-world-heritage-site/

The easiest option would be simply get a taxi to take you to Hallstatt and leave you there. Continue later by taking the boat across the lake to Hallstatt railway station (I said it wasn't easy....) and go up to Attnang Pucheim on the mainline where it's easy to head east. But you will have luggage and that raises the question of what you do with in in Hallstatt.

Why Hallstatt?

And CK Shuttle is a Czech company, they offer some direct rides into Austria but not within Austria.

Posted by
5384 posts

Why do you want to go to Hallstatt in the dead of winter if you are not skiing?

It will be freezing and I know my kids would hate me for it.

If you really insist, why not rent a car in Salzburg and then swing by Hallstatt and then drop the car in Linz?

Posted by
3847 posts

I'm really interested in the answer to the "Why a day trip to Hallstatt in the dead of winter" question, too. It's a perplexing choice.

BUT, if the travel industry has convinced you that no trip to/through Austria is complete without a stop in Hallstatt (which is false), here are a couple of companies that operate out of Salzburg that may be worth contacting for quote...

I have used Edelweiss Tours for a transfer from Salzburg in the past. They definitely are not cheap, but drivers are professional. They offer transfers anywhere in Austria and neighboring countries. Here is the page for rates. If you want someone to tell you about what you are seeing along the way (i.e., more than just a driver), that is more of tour and costs an additional premium.

Taxi Salzburg also does transfers and may be worth checking.