Munich and?

Hi,

I would suggest exactly that: take the early train from Munich to Salzburg, visit Salzburg as a day trip , leave before 18:00 for Vienna. You should arrive at Wien Westbahnhof by 22:00. Or, skip Salzburg, ...admittedly, a very tough decision to make,... and go to Vienna once you're done In Munich. Take the RJ train direct, it's a bit over 4 hours, used to be six.

Check out the Air Dolomiti direct flights from Munich to Venice. The price is very reasonable. We flew their direct to Florence last December and had a pleasant experience (I especially liked the view of the mountains as we flew over them - DH and I each had a window seat). We took the airport bus from the main train station in Munich.

4 days is perfect for a fly-in visit to Venice!

If you stay in Mestre, just across fro the train station - i.e. Hotel Tritone, you would be very handy to the airport, the buses and train that take you into Venice in minutes, and to the train that can take you quickly onto Padua or Verona for one day-trip. It's also relatively inexpensive.

I'll add to Diane's suggestion. I am assuming that while dh is doing business, you can pop over to Salzburg during the day. You can travel round trip on a Bayern Ticket for 23 euro if you travel local trains after 9 am. Normally that would mean taking the 9:55 train from Munich Hauptbahnhof, but there is a sneaky way to get on an early train. Ride the S-bahn on a single-ride Munich transit ticket to the Ost Bahnhof (East Station). Then you can ride the 9:04 train on the Bayern Ticket. You can return anytime you want. Trains leave Salzburg hourly at 12 past the hour. Its 1 hour 37 minutes going, and 1 hour 54 minutes returning.
If you decide to fly to Venice, I'd say stay in Venice proper. It'd be a shame to come all this way and stay in Mestre (sorry Diane).

Sam, that's a perfectly valid suggestion about Venice (and Salzburg too!).

With just 2 nights, I would have said the same as you... but I've grown to really like the convenience of being in Mestre. I've only become a convert after previous visits to Venice.

While between the Hbf and Ost (Ebersberg, actually), Meridian regional train 79011 is under fare control of the MVV. If you buy a 2,60€ MVV 1 zone, single ride ticket, you can use it on that train from the Munich Hauptbahnhof (Holzkirchner wing Bahnhof, So. side of the Hbf) to Ostbahnhof. No need to take the S-Bahn to Ost. At Ostbahnhof, you wouldn't need to change trains, just tickets. You can also use the MVV ticket from any other stop in downtown Munich to Ost (or the Hbf).