Where would you suggest to visit near Saltzburg?

Since you'll be mostly in the mountain alpine areas, you could fly into Munich which is 1.5 hours by train or start in Vienna which is just less than 3 hours by train to give you a different experience from your tour.

Salzburg
You say you'd like to start somewhere close to Salzburg, some suggestions are:

• Hallstatt
• Salzkammergut lakes and mountain areas
• Berchtesgaden/Eagle's Nest area of Germany
  
• Munich is not that far away, as the above post states

You could look at a map to see where these are in relation to Salzburg.

I would suggest taking the train from Salzburg to Vienna which is only a 2 hour and 38 minute trip if you choose a train that has only a stop in Linz. Trains leave Salzburg almost hourly from almost 2 am to 9:30 pm. Return trips to Salzburg to Vienna run almost every hour starting just before 6 am until midnight. It is a very scenic trip and if you choose, you can visit places between the two cities on the way back. Vienna is awesome (as is Salzburg).

If you are touring the Alps, then 2-3 days in Vienna makes perfect sense. Vienna is not in the mountains and has a very non-Alpine feel, so it will give you a taste of something different.

I would like to correct the information above regarding the train journey. The trains from Vienna to Salzburg take 2 hours 20 minutes, currently. There is no train that just stops in Linz; there will be other stops. You have two choices of rail companies - OeBB and Westbahn. You should expect to pay between 19 - 24 Euro per ticket for this journey. Do not use Rail Europe to buy tickets - they will rip you off.

jeff,

My suggestion would be to spend some time in Munich (perhaps with a day trip to Berchtesgaden), as there's more than enough to keep you busy there for a few days. If you're taking the My Way Alpine Europe tour, that will cover Hallstatt so no need to see that prior to the tour. The trip from Munich to Salzburg is very easy.

What time of year?

Tom,
The OP is MIA, hasn't been back here since the original post.