Vienna, Wachau valley, Salzburg, Salzkammergut, Budapest itinerary - help!

Look at viamichelin.com - Mondsee to Budapest is 7-1/2 hrs and I trust them more than google maps where I've been burned by their estimates. It's 315 miles - in 5 hrs that's averaging 63 mph without stopping and no traffic - good luck with that. Even the 7 hr 20 min on viamichelin is without a stop in Linz and without any possible traffic situations you may run into so it's going to be a long day. I don't think there's any problem driving the rental car from Austria to Budapest but you should mention to the rental agent that you will be doing that in case there is an issue.

You are going to spend 12 hours and hundreds of dollars renting a car and driving to Budapest, then on to Vienna. In return you get maybe a little more than 1.5 days in Budapest. Not really worth the effort. I would save Budapest for when I had the time to spend at a minimum 3 full days (4 nights) in Budapest.

I agree with the previous posters - this itinerary does not make a lot of sense. You'll see a lot of road and be pretty tired. I'm guessing you've already bought your airfare since your trip is next week. The best fix - and keep this in mind for future trips - is to fly into one city and home from another one, which saves you a lot of backtracking time.

Since you're already tied to your flights, why not do a little research on other sites that might interest you in Austria. If you're interested in Vienna and Salzburg, do Vienna for 4 nights, Salzburg for 2 and then find another city that's not too far and somewhat on the way back to Vienna. You only have 9 nights. You could do this all by train.

Maybe some other posters will weigh in with other city ideas.

I don't think coming and going from Vienna is necessarily bad. Its what he is doing in-between. Once you reach Salzburg you might want to take the southern route back to Vienna through Graz; spending a few nights along the way. That makes more sense than Budapest. Or better yet spend half you time in Vienna and half in Budapest and skip the rest. Nine days is just about right for that.

Depends on the pace that you want to go. I've done similar trips in Europe - with apparent rushed itineraries, and still had a wonderful experience.

If you want to see it all, my suggestion is to focus on Vienna and Budapest for the first 5 days and then end with a road trip to Salzburg - hitting Wachau valley and Hallstatt as part of the road trip:

Day 1 evening: arrive Vienna and check in (Vienna)
Day 2: Vienna centre (Vienna)
Day 3: Schonbrunn and maybe Belvedere (Vienna)
Day 4: morning Train to Budapest [2.5 hours on train](Budapest)
Day 5: Budapest (Budapest)
Day 6: Budapest, evening train to Vienna [2.5 hours on train](Vienna)
Day 7: morning - Rent a car - Krems and Melk en route[3-4 hours driving](Mondsee)
Day 8: visit Salzburg (Mondsee)
Day 9: morning to Salzkammergut/Hallstatt, back to Vienna in evening [4-4.5 hours driving](Vienna)
Day 10: Fly out of Vienna (flight is at 1 pm)

You can still enjoy Vienna and Budapest, though obviously not as thoroughly as a 4 or 5 night stay in each.

bradleysmith1212, that's not a bad schedule....

I can vouch for the fact that the train between Vienna and Budapest is great and inexpensive, and you don't want a car in either city - you will be paying to have it rented and likely paying to park it and it will just be a hassle, so the itinerary posted where you train back and forth to Budapest and then rent your car at Vienna makes a lot more sense - you don't have to even worry about a one way rental and drop fees. Have fun!

Absolutely, cars are pretty worthless for tourism in Budapest. Hotels and parking garages in the center of the city in Budapest generally charge between $25 and $40 a day.

I think this is a frenzied, unpleasant-sounding itinerary. I'd budget at least three days to see Vienna, and four or 5 would be better - it is actually a big and fascinating city.

See Vienna and Budapest and forget going to the mountains. Or see Vienna and Salzkammergut/Hallstatt but forget Budapest. You can't have it all.

Also, I agree with the others that a car will be a pain in the butt in these places. Enjoy the comfortable trains. Reason: you aren't going anywhere off the beaten path for this trip so you might as well enjoy the infrastructure set up on the beaten path for you.

If you are planning to rent a car in Vienna . . . .

Friends of mine did that 3-4 years ago. They rented from a city location and reserved an automatic. When they picked up the car, there were no automatics available. Fortunately he drives a stick shift, but he ended up being the solo driver for a week to Salzburg and back. You will usually have a bigger selection of cars at airport locations than in the city. . . any city.