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Werfen Austria

Has anyone ever traveled to the Werfen area located about an hour south of Salzburg? My husband and I are traveling to Austria for 2 weeks. We will be driving from Bavaria to Werfen. I would like to visit the 900 year old medieval Hohenwerfen Fortress and falconry center that is located there. Since it will be about a 3 hours drive from Barvaria, I was hoping to stay overnight in that area instead of trying to rush to get to Hallstatt. Can anyone recommend any reasonable overnight accommodations?
Donna

Posted by
19052 posts

As you probably know, Hohenwerfen is the castle on the hill behind Maria in Sound of Music when she starts to teach the children to sing.

I did the trip from Bavaria (Freilassing) to Werfen by train in 2012. It took just over an hour, including time to store my bag in a locker in Salzburg Hbf. One way today is 13,50€. There was no transportation from the Bahnhof to Hohenwerfen castle, but the walk was pleasant, not strenuous. There was a bus stop right opposite the parking lot at the castle. The bus comes from Tenneck, the stop on the rail line just before Werfen. I haven't been able to find the bus schedule.

Use the Werfen town website to find accommodation there. I found several nice looking places but decided I could do it as a day trip. I went back to Salzburg and took the Watzmann Express (RVO bus #840) to Berchtesgaden.

Posted by
703 posts

definitely visit the fortress, we visited it some weeks ago by car, it was very good, the tour went up into the bell tower ( great views) and the falcony was interesting. we stayed in Berchtesgaden ( so much to see around the area) Halstatt was very nice as well.

have a good trip

Posted by
2898 posts

Hi Donna,

Where are you coming from? Since you'll have a car, you could stay in or around Berchtesgaden and do an easy day trip to Werfen, which is about a 1 hour drive. We can highly recommend these places to stay:

www.mayringerlehen.de

www.friedwiese.de/enska/isl.htm

You could also stay nearer to Werfen of course.

Paul

Posted by
16 posts

Hi Paul,

Thank you for your information. We will be driving from Bavaria to the fortress. I trying to decide if we want to take the back roads so we can drive down the Grobloockner High Alpine Road on our way. According to google maps it would take us over 6 hours to reach Werfen. I wanted stay overnight near the fortress (15-20 mins. away) so we can visit the fortress the next day and then travel on to Hallstatt. Do you know of any nearby towns with accommodations?
Donna

Posted by
2898 posts

Hi Donna,
Bavaria is a big area. When you say you want to drive from Bavaria to Werfen via the Grossglockner, that could mean you're starting in Munich, Fuessen, Mittenwald, Berchtesgaden and so on.

Paul

Posted by
16 posts

Hi Paul,

We will be coming from around Fussen. So far this is my schedule.

Arrive in Munich - go to Fussen seeing sights along the way
Stay 2 nights
Drive to Werfen
Stay 1 night
Drive to Hallstatt
Stay 1 night
Drive to Salzburg
Stay 4 nights
Drive to Mauthausen then on to Melk
Stay 1 night
Drive to Vienna
stay 4 nights

It should only take about 3 hours to get from Fussen to Werfen. However if we go via the Grobglockner Road it will be like 6-7 and then another hour to Werfen. I don't know if this is worth the time with everything else on our agenda.
Donna

Posted by
2898 posts

Hi Donna,

I think you're making a mistake here:

1 night Werfen
1 night Hallstatt
4 nights Salzburg

Stay 6 nights in Salzburg, Werfen or maybe St. Gilgen (on the Wolfgangsee). You can drive the Grossglockner as a day trip from any of these. These places are way too close together to move from hotel to hotel. For instance:

Salzburg to Werfen is 45 minutes.
Salzburg to Hallstatt is under 1:30.
Salzburg to Bruck an der Grossglockner (start of the Grossglockner Road) is about 1:30.

Another option, stay 5 nights in Salzburg (or close by) and add a night to Fuessen. I'm guessing you're visiting Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau castles from Fuessen. With this extra day see Linderhof Palace, the Zugspitze, Wieskirche, Ettal Monastery, Tegelberg luge ride and cable car, etc.

Finding your place, checking in, getting settled, getting your stuff together, checking out, finding the next place, etc. takes quite a bite out of your precious time.

I'd pick a central place in or near Salzburg to stay. Do easy day trips to so many sights/activities. You won't run out of things to see and do. We've stayed 18 nights over 5 trips to this area. Still can't wait to go back.

Paul

Posted by
16 posts

Hi Paul,

Thank you for all of your suggestions. We should be arriving in Munich early in the morning and should be on the road by 10 am. I was planning on stopping to see Wieskirche, Ettal Monastery and Oberammergau on our drive in that day. Hopefully with no delays we should be at Wieskirche no later than noon. I was thinking 2 more days in the area should cover everything else on our list, castles included.
Your suggestion of staying longer in one place rather than changing hotels so often is a good idea. However, I would rather stay in Salzburg when we are touring it rather than taking a train or car into the city. Driving an 45-1:30 one way on day trips takes almost 8 hours of driving and I would rather be closer to the area and spend that time seeing sights then driving. But considering your suggestion I should probably stay 2-3 nights near Werfen/Hallstatt and just do day trips to both areas. I wanted to cover the Grobglockner Road, Hohenwerfen Castle, considering the night concert dinner at the castle, Salt mines, Church and bone chapel, five fingers and the ice caves. Then go on to Salzburg. Can you suggest any place or town to stay in between Werfen and Hallstatt?
Several years ago my daughter and I did Rome, Munich, the Rhine and Amsterdam. We stayed 3 nights in each place and covered just about everything on our list and did it all by train. I was hoping to do the same with the added freedom of a car to see more on the outskirts.
Thank you so much for all of your help.
Donna

Posted by
2898 posts

I can't recommend anything between Werfen and Hallstatt, sorry. Maybe someone else can help with this.
From our base near Berchtesgaden we visited:
Salzburg
Wolfgangsee (St. Gilgen, St. Wolfgang)
Hallstatt
Herrenchiemsee
Hallein
Zell am See, etc. etc.

Paul

Posted by
16 posts

Thank you for all of your help advise. I will put out another question to see if anyone else knows of somewhere to stay between Werfen and Hallstatt.
Thanks

Posted by
19052 posts

I used the Werfen website and found this place. It's in town, probably only ¼ km or less from the base of the castle hill (there is an incline up to the castle). A double room for 65€ looks like a good deal.

Posted by
16 posts

Hi Lee,

Thank you so much for this information. I will certainly look at the site you provided. I was also able to find the town of Abtenau. This town is directly in the middle of Hallstatt and Werfen. If I can find any hotels there is will save us some travel time since it is located about 30 mins. to both Hallstatt and Werfen.

I am very cautious about booking a hotel that Rick Steves or anyone else has not recommended. We had a very bad experience in Vancouver several years ago with a hotel that had good ratings online. That certainly was not the case.

Thank you again for your help.
Donna