Vienna & Salzburg Itenary

Day two will be utterly exhausting unless you have a huge capacity for museum wandering. If you are staying in a fairly central location in Vienna, you can visit most of your key targets on foot but Schonbrunn will require a tram or U-Bahn trip. The discounts available with a three-day Vienna Card will probably not be worth the money.

Whether or not you buy a transport pass depends on where your hotel is. I would add that you should do the Naschmarkt on the day you do Schonbrunn as it is on the same subway line (U4) and fits together logically. I really don't think doing the Hofburg AND Schonbrunn makes sense either - palace overload. I'd choose Schonbrunn. Do a walking tour of the first district on Day 2 in addition to the art museum. Leave plenty of time for cake and coffee - looks like you'll need the caffeine.

Any hotels under €120 that u guys can suggest best suits my itenary for both Vienna and Salzburg??

We always stay at K&T Boardinghouse. It's impeccably clean, the rooms are huge and the location's fabulous--1 metro stop west of The Ring. The metro station entrance is 100' away--across the street. And it's where RIck Steves used to stay.
http://ktboardinghouse.at/index.php/en/

I like Pension Wild which is in easy walking distance of the Kunsthistorisches Museum and Hofberg. Be warned that some of the cheaper rooms have shared bathrooms and/or toilets.

We recently visited both the Hofburg Palace and the Schönbrunn Palace and it was too much, even though we did them on different days. I agree with Emily: do the Schönbrunn and skip the Hofburg. (Nice to walk through, though, and the Rick Steves walking tour is a nice overview to Vienna. The Kunsthistorisches Museum is huge and fabulous. Allow plenty of time. Have coffee in their lovely cafe.

The Hohensalzburg Fortress was more interesting than we expected. Again, allow plenty of time. We took the R.S. recommended walk to it from the elevator, which was a very worthwhile little amble. The Mirabell Palace and Gardens take very little time.

Vienna: Hotel Stefanie was great and only a few minutes walk from Schwedenplatz.

Salzburg: Hotel Elefant was perfect and easily reached by bus from the train station.

RE Salzburg.

Mirabell Palace and Garden are next to the SOM tour kiosks. Tour them before of after your SOM tour depending on arrival time. You will be a short walk from the central train station.

Combine walking around Salzburg's Old Town (Altstadt von Salzburg) with the Fortress tour. See the RS Vienna, Sulzburg guide book for other near by must see.

Give some though at to where to luggage storage logistics given that you are moving every couple of days. For example, will you Salzburg overnight accommodation be close enough to drop off your bag before the SOM tour and able to store your bag while you are doing your Day 5 activites before transfering to Halstatt? I don't know if the SOM tour agency will have baggage storage.

In 2002, we came over to Salzburg from Munich for a day trip. We arrived just before noon and walked down Ranierstrasse to the old town, passing and spending time at Mirabell on the way. In the old town, we walked around town, saw the Residenz (where they hung the large Nazi flag after the Anschluß), had lunch, then went up to the castle on the incline. We spent quite a lot of time in the castle, took the tour, then came down the front, over the drawbridge. At the entrance kiosk for the castle, we turned hard right and followed the path, Festungsgasse, around the hill to Nonnberg Abbey. You cannot go into the cloistered Abbey, but you can visit the chapel. (I realize immediately that the chapel is not what was shown in the movie. That was a Hollywood set. Or was it at another church in town?) After that we walked back to the Hbf and returned to Munich in time for a late dinner.

So yes, I think time will permit you to do the fortress and Mirabell. No, you don't need a transport pass (unless as someone else mentioned, you need it to get from your hotel into town).

By the way, before taking an SOM tour, find the DVD of SOM, the one with commentary by producer/director Robt Wise. After listening to his commentary, you'll realize that, except maybe the gazebo, which was only used for distance shots (the singing and dancing scenes were also in a Hollywood soundstage) and is now at a different location, nothing on the tours, except what you can see by yourself walking around, is really from the movie.

Hallstatt is a bit of a trip from Salzburg, but not far (1-1½ hr) off the path from Vienna to Salzburg. Why backtrack? I'd stop and spend a night in Hallstatt on the way to Salzburg. My suggestion:
Day 4 - Narschmark before going to Hallstatt by train
Day 5 - Hallstatt, go to Salzburg.
Day 6 - Hohensalzburg Fortress, Mirabell Palace and Garden

Hi Edgar and Lee

I won't be staying overnight in Halstatt. I was advised to make a day trip to Halstatt from Salzburg. So I'm planning to go from Salzburg to Halstatt and come back night. What do you guys think??

Edgar, if I'm not staying over in Halstatt my luggage won't be a problem. It's just a problem when I'm doing SOM tour when I still can't check in my luggage yet from trip from Vienna

Since you guys say that 2 palaces are too much for 4 days, and some suggested i do walking tour instead. Any recommendation of good walking tour??

"I was advised to make a day trip to Halstatt from Salzburg."

Who advised you of that? Do they know anything? Do they know you are traveling from Vienna to Salzburg? It only makes sense to stop on the way instead of backtracking.

Some of my friends who have been to Austria. But they are first timers anyway.
In that case shall stop in Halstatt first but is there a place to store the luggage in the train station??

Since you guys say that 2 palaces are too much for 4 days, and some suggested i do walking tour instead. Any recommendation of good walking tour??

Did you mean an escorted walking tour or self-guided?

Rick Steves' book has a self-guided tour of the old town that is nice. It is called the "Vienna City Walk." We did not have time for the Belvedere Palace. You might want to schedule that into your plan.

Hi Laurel

What I meant is an escorted walking tour. Thanks

I was suggesting you take that last night (between sightseeing in Salzburg and going to Hallstatt) and spend it earlier in Hallstatt. If you are coming from Vienna and doing some sightseeing in Vienna before you leave, stopping in Hallstatt, then going on to Salzburg would be an awful long day. Do Vienna to Hallstatt one day, spend the night in Hallstatt, then do Hallstatt to Salzburg the next day and move everything in Salzburg back one day.

Are you doing this trip alone or with others?

Salzburg assuming you are spending two nights:
Suggest finding overnight accommodation on the Linzergasse side of the river that would put you between Mirabell Garden and Old Town/Hohensalzburg Fortress area, about a km from the train station. (We found the Hotel Mozart on Franz-Josef-Straße 27) conveniently located and about a km walk to the train station). An arrival drop of your luggage at the hotel and check out old town. Depending on how early you arrive in Salzburg you could tour the Fortress either your arrival afternoon or the next day. You could do either the morning or afternoon the SOM tour your next day in Salzburg.

In Vienna, I took two walking tours with thie company:
http://www.viennawalks.com/indexe.php?page=wir

One focused on Vienna and WW2 and the other was on the film, "The Third Man". It is a family-owned company and both the tours were quite good.
Only some of the tours are conducted in English.

Hi Lee

Any hotels do u suggest for stay in Halstatt?? Under €120 with free wifi in room

I'm doing this trip alone

Hi Edgar

Are you suggesting once I reach Salzburg around 11am or 12 pm I should go to Hohensalzburg fortress tour and the SOM tour following day??

Which hotel do you recommend ??

Are you suggesting once I reach Salzburg around 11am or 12 pm I should go to Hohensalzburg fortress tour and the SOM tour following day??

Either. If you get to Salzburg 11am to 12n, most hotels are very willing to hold your bags for you until you can check in. That gives you a lot of options.

I found the Hotel Mozart at Franz-Josef-Straße 27 comfortable and convenient (with a good breakfast): http://www.hotel-mozart.at/
Hotel Mozart is a couple of blocks from Linzer Gasse, the pedestrian only street leading to old town and the Fortress. I believe that Rick Steves recommends or recommended the Hotel Krone (friends who stayed at the Krone liked it) http://www.krone1512.at/ and the Hotel Krone is close to the Gasthof Alter Fuchs (Old Fox) restaurant.

Assuming you drop bags at the Hotel Mozart or Krone or similarly located, you could continue across the bridge to old town and the fortress. Or you could back track and do the SOM afternoon tour. As noted earlier, Mirabell is across the street from the SOM kiosk. A lot of alternatives, none bad.

Thanks Edgar

I'm just afraid that I'll be reaching 12 plus n the SOM tour starts 2pm n I need to find my way around as its my first day there. So most prob will walk to the fortress first. Do I need to get the ticket earlier for fortress tour?? Or just go on that day?? Is 2h enough for the fortress??

Is the Old Fox restaurant a recommendation ?? If yes I'll give it a try

Thanks

We did the Fortress (and Salzburg) during the winter so no lines to talk about. Possible line for the funicular but walking up is always an option.

Yes on the Old Fox unless you are a Vegan/Vegetarian.

I've only stayed in Hallstatt once, in August, 2009, and I was by myself. I used the list of accommodations on the Hallstatt website. I tried making reservations several months in advance and kept getting "sorry, we're booked" responses. I thought maybe there was something going on at that time, but when I got to Hallstatt, there were "Zimmer Frei" signed out everywhere. I think that most of their rooms are doubles, and they just didn't want to commit a double room to one person that far in advance, figuring the could get more for it as a double.

I finally found a room in a private residence, a farm house, about a km up from Lahn, at the south end of the pedestrian road leading into Hallstatt. I was very happy with it, but the old lady who ran the house (and got up every morning at daylight to milk the cow) only spoke German, so it might not be appropriate for you.

But in using the accommodation list above, don't ignore Lahn. It's a short, 10 minute, walk up the lakeside road (Seestrasse) to the center of Hallstatt. I wouldn't even ignore Obertraun. There are regular buses (about 1 per hour, 5 min) around the south end of the lake from Obertraun to the bus stop in Lahn. Obertraun has it's own train station, the next stop after the Hallstatt station.

One place that I no longer see on the Hallatt website is Gastof Simony. This is their website.

Hi Lee

Do you think I should stay a night in Halstatt or make it a day trip??

Hi Lee

Do you think I should stay a night in Halstatt or make it a day trip??