Should I give Austria another chance?

Anyway, straight to the question. Should I give Austria another chance
and revisit Salzburg?

Maybe yes, maybe no.

I can only hope no one judges where I live on the basis of a few rude interactions. Most people are polite and kind to others. A few bad experiences shouldn’t sour you on a whole country. I will say to expect to have the same experiences you had in Europe 9 years earlier may not be a realistic expectation. Tourism numbers just keep climbing.

I had a bus driver ream me out in German in Hamburg when I messed up the ticket purchasing process. He was loud and he was frustrated. I apologized and stepped off the bus as gracefully as I could. I found the missing ticket machine and took the next bus. First of all, in this case, I was the one who caused disruption on his bus. But even so, one person should never sour you on trying again. What if he had just been grouchy for no known reason? I still would have stepped off and tried the next bus.

Austria is my second home, but I'm drawn to the Alps and seek quiet villages and great views. I drive my own car getting me to places that many travelers can only get with extended transportation (and obviously frustration). My German is good enough too. I would not quit Austria, just try something else. Look at the valleys in Austria. In winter you don't have to ski to have a good time. It's the stimmung/mood. My sweet spot is the last two weeks in June into the first week in July. Heaven on Earth for me. Something to look at: https://www.foto-webcam.eu

Should I give Austria another chance and revisit Salzburg?

Only you can answer that. DO you only want to visit Salzburg, or do you want to venture to other places? What do you want to do or see? When do you want to travel? By all means, return if you feel the urge. But remember the old saying - "you can never go back again". In other words, dont make the mistake of thinking everything will be just the same the second time around.

We have taken trains in Austria, Germany and Switzerland….and elsewhere. Salzburg is a favorite! Its how we travel. We have experienced similar situations with seating experiences in these countries…and with what you might call… rudeness. We usually back off and find another seat or will even stand. We go with attitude telling ourselves we are tourists and its not worth getting too upset about. (Most of the time we are treated kindly). These experiences have not stopped or deterred us from going back to these wonderful places! We have more trips planned there for next summer. Keep on traveling!

Thanks for all replies, folks!
I think I might try to combine Austria with a brand new for me country as I often do when traveling to a country I've been to.
I'm thinking something like flying to Vienna -> train to Salzburg or some lake town in Salzkammergut -> fly from Salzburg, Vienna or even Munich airport to a Nordic capital. If I combine Copenhgane and Malmo I'll be able to visit 2 new on the same flight as I try to reduce the number of flights I do.
I was thinking to do the Christmas markets in Salzburg and then on to Copenhagen/Malmo but decided to travel in spring next year.
Which months would you say are best for Austria and the Nordics in terms of weather and evens? I'm deciding between March, April and May.
Would you say 14th February is too early/cold to visit? I'm generally interested in visiting open air festivals.

If you are going in with the negative thoughts in the back of your mind, you will experience more of the same, real or not.

I had visited Vienna the past 2 years twice. Had a great time.

I love the places you hope to visit! We have only experienced them in Sept or Oct. Our weather was wonderful much of the time. I am not so sure about late winter or spring dates? A Christmas market would be lovely! Have not been there then.

How do you know the guy on the train was Austrian?

I'm heading back to Salzburg and Vienna in December. Can't wait to go.

"If you are going in with the negative thoughts in the back of your mind, you will experience more of the same, real or not."
That's not really have been my experience at all.
If anything I expected to fall in love with Munich after I've seen photos of it and felt a calling. I didn't like the energy there. The sole reason why I visited Salzburg is to see whether it will be as disappointin. aT that point I've lost all expectations and was prepared for the worst but the city delivered.
Same with Paris - with how popular it is I expected to be disappointed and I loved it.
I expected to love Veliko Tarnovo and it was pretty but I didn't feel particularly welcome. Meanwhile I expected Stara Zagora to be a meh experience and the city isn't very pretty but the people were the loveliest I've see anywhere in Europe.
I expected to hate Milan and love Pavia before going, the opposite happened - I enjoyed Milan very much and didn't praticularly find Pavia that welcoming.
I expected to love Madird and Alicante and hate Dublin, but the opposite happened - Spain was a disappointment mainly on its vibe and the people were kind of not really into me but Dubliners were like a breath of fresh air. I felt so calm there!

I keep the negative experiences in mind but then so what?

In your place I would go back to Austria, give Austria a second or third chance , regardless of the negative experiences. I always go back to Vienna, making time somewhere in the travel schedule to implement that.

I've never had a passport check in Germany or Austria where the controller smiled, they don't...fair enough, not interested in that since I'm not there to smile , be friendly or deferential, just correct.

You know what, I realized that the time when I was welcomed in Vienna with a smile I directly flew into VIE airport. And I mean literally - the first ever person I encountered in Central Europe was the passport employee at VIE and for some reason he was smiley. I've never had that experience anywhere else in Europe, not even at Dublin airport. That was when I was moving to Slovakia for work and I took the bus from VIE to Bratislava. And then again, one time I was visiting Vienna solo, I had a flirt with a local girl on the train (yes, just like in that old movie Before Sunrise!), which was something that never happened in Slovakia or anywehre else. Slovaks were friendly but I never had much luck in love when living there and I visisted Vienna for a few hours solo and already got myself a fan! :D

This last, unfortunate trip from my OP I actually flew into Bratislava airport and spent a few hours on Slovak ground before getting my bus to Vienna. Okay, this is a travel forum and not a metaphysical/New Age/spiritual one, but from a metaphysical point of view one could say it might be Slovakia's energy that doesn't agree with mine, not necessarily Austria's. ;)

I know I get heavy vibes even by looking at photos from Slovakia. Like I look at videos or photos of Bratislava or even the Tatras and I get thse unexplained heavy, off-putting gut feelings. I don't feel those when looking at photos from Austria.

TL;DR: I will try directly flying into Austria next time and see if there's a difference vs getting there via Slovakia. :)

We loved Salzburg! Of course, there are rude people everywhere, but to be honest I can't think of one we encountered during our time in Salzburg. It's a bit more laid back. We also enjoyed a day trip to Hallstatt, then we took the train south to Italy. A wonderful trip! I hope your next time there is more enjoyable!

Hi ho Bitex93,

You wrote: "Last year I had a terrible experience in Vienna. I faced rudeness from the get go. For example when I boarded my train from the VIA airport to Graz I saw that someone has taken the seat I booked. I politely told him that's my place but and he did move to the next seat but he acted like I asked him to sleep with his wife or something. He raised his voice and started shouting "Oh it's only for a few stations, Okay I will move. OK, OK, OK, it's just for a few stops!". He got off on Wien Hbf."

Was this your only negative experience?

If so.... I wouldn't let one guy ruin it for you.

It can be really hard to separate one bad experience from your feelings about a whole city/area, but I would encourage you to re-evaluate the city separate from that one negative experience if you can.

And if that bad experience has made you disinterested in Vienna as a whole, then hey, the good news is, this is your dime and there are lots of wonderful places in the world to see if you prefer something else.

I was in Vienna recently (the fall) and I didn't find people to be especially weird or rude. A few of the people we encountered in Vienna were, by North American standards, stiff/professional in a service/hospitality role, but others were not stiff at all and were downright warm and friendly. One lady at a coat check was downright grumpy - I mean, like walking within spiting distance of the line from "grumpy" to "rude" but staying safely on the "not rude" side of the line. I think she was just having a day. It was fine. It's not like she lost our coats or anything.

Oh I'm more into revisiting Salzburg than Vienna. I feel nicer in smaller, more laid-back cities and the Alpine nature is more to my liking. I remember the vivid colors of the hills around Salzburg. The city itself was lovely as well. I can see how someone could grow up with the love of music in such a pretty city!
I'm just going to fly into Austria itself this time and spend more time around Salzburg. Since I like combining multiple countries on a single trip I might fly in/out from there from/to one of the Nordic cities, ideally Copenhagen or Malmo because that way it could become a tri-country tip. :)

I wonder which months between March and May would be best for Salzburg? Could end of March be sunny enough already?

Pertaining to Austria or German if "they" as members in the service industry are "grumpy" to the point of being brusque or condescending , I don't respond by using North American standards resorting to humor or cracking a perfunctory smile to diffuse the mood, that is the time to snap back at "them."

So far in all the years of traveling, such behaviour on their is exceeding rare but it has happened such as in munich in a cafe this summer.

Seems a bit of an overreaction to one grumpy person on the train

OliviaHaughton - 100%

Thank you.

That grumpiness experience was the result of a mutual misunderstanding. 99% of the passengers using the express train from Vienna International Airport to Hauptbahnhof (main train station) get off there. This is a ride of only 15 minutes, and insisting on a particular seat for that is quite unusual. The OP should have pointed out to the grumpy man the sign above her seat, showing her reservation for a long-distance trip. Then the other passenger would have understood her request and additionally being blamed for his mistake. Alternatively the OP could have just taken another empty seat, moving to her assigned seat later if required.

Nevertheless, questioning another visit of a whole country based on a single experience is beyond pale.

...when I boarded my train from the VIA airport to Graz I saw that someone has taken the seat I booked. I politely told him that's my place but and he did move to the next seat but he acted like I asked him to sleep with his wife or something. He raised his voice and started shouting "Oh it's only for a few stations, Okay I will move. OK, OK, OK, it's just for a few stops!".

We had this identical experience in Italy - on the train from Verona to Desenzano! The guy in one of our seats was a real jerk. On the train from Florence to Verona, an elderly couple was sitting in our seats, and refused to move. The conductor just shrugged his shoulders and told us to find other seats!

But I don't hold this against Italy.

With Vienna I have so far actually had good experiences. Sure, in a café one sometimes gets a pretty curt answer. That I wouldn't take personally right away, though. In Vienna, this somewhat dry tone of interaction is after all nothing unusual.

To me, above all the many small cafés have remained in memory. I also liked just walking through the different quarters there. Away from the big tourist streets there is after all quite a bit to see, and sometimes one gets stuck somewhere longer than planned.

With Salzburg, I would for your next visit rather choose May. At the end of March it can still be pretty chilly, especially if you also want to see something of the scenery all around. Then it is mostly already warmer. With rain you have to reckon even then, though.