We will be touring Christmas markets for the first time and spending time in Vienna and Salzburg. I am looking for somewhere charming to stop along the train route between the two cities to spend a night or two. Many of my fondest travel memories are from staying in towns with smaller populations (1-15K), enabling us to really get to know a place and its people. We like medieval towns, interesting architecture, water views are a bonus. I understand very small towns may not offer a daily Christmas market but I would prefer suggestions that likely do for scheduling flexibility. Thanks!
Posted by
Niagara, Ontario
1797 posts
On our honeymoon years ago we stayed in Steyr. A nice little town with an attractive main street.
Posted by
Vienna, Austria
5756 posts
The train from Vienna to Salzburg only makes a few stops in quite large towns/cities. Your plan will require that you change trains along the way to get yourself to a village. Also remember that you will then need to buy two train tickets - one from Vienna to your village and then one from the village to Salzburg. You just can’t buy a ticket from Vienna to Salzburg and break a journey for a few days.
Anyway, I like the Steyr answer above but my choice would be Gmunden.
Posted by
Firenze, Italy
1903 posts
Gmunden and Bad Ischl look as the most attractive choices, but both involve a short detour from the main line. I did not like Linz very much, it is a modern city.
Posted by
OP
Cleveland, Ohio US
41 posts
Thank you for the suggestions, I am researching them all as well as Melk since I saw it recommended elsewhere. Thanks as well for the tip on the train tickets. What you've described is similar to what I've experienced elsewhere and I am ok buying separate tickets (and paying a bit more) for an overnight stop. And yeah, I probably should have stipulated that I am ok with going a bit out of the way to visit somewhere amazing. I had looked at Linz, since Linzer Torte is one of my favorites, and realized pretty quickly it was too big/ modern city for our tastes.