Europe trip in June

jl,

A few thoughts.....

You might find it helpful to plan on the basis of nights in each location, rather than days. Three nights will provide about two days of sightseeing in each place.

Regarding your questions.....

• No, I don't think three cities in a nine day time frame is too much.
• No. This is your trip and you have reasons for wanting to visit those three locations, so I'd stick with the plan.
• You haven't specified which town on Lago di Como you want to stay. It would help to know that.
• Yes, three days should be enough if you plan your sightseeing efficiently (depending on what you want to see & do there, of course).
• I wouldn't skip Salzburg. It's a beautiful and historic city and there's lots to see there (and in that area). I was there again in September for about three nights, and could have stayed longer.

I'm not sure the trip to Lago di Como would take 15 hours. For example, there's a departure from Salzburg Hbf at 09:00, arriving Milano Centrale at 16:55 (time 7H:55M, 2 changes at Innsbruck and Verona P.N.). The layovers on the two changes are only about half an hour each, so quite reasonable. The time from Milano Centrale to Lago di Como will depend on which town you'll be staying in. If you plan on staying in Varenna, add 1H:03M to that time, so you could be there in time for supper. It will be a full travel day whether you travel by air or train.

Your extended trip is not a matter of many cities, it's that the cities you want to go to are not in close proximity to each other. And it's not just miles, as the Alps are difficult to get over and around. You really don't have that many days to spend traveling to so many places.
I would suggest you spend your time in Munich and Salzburg--both great cities. And if you're wanting to see beautiful lakes and mountains, there are a number of mountain lakes east of Salzburg (like Hallstadt) that are best reached by rental car. Some can be reached by train and/or bus, too.
Munich is also a great airport to fly out of internationally.
Rome and Lake Como are a full trip to themselves. And those that travel Italy will be back again.

I agree with everything Ken said. Go for all of it.

And if you can work in a night in Hallstatt (one hour from Salzburg by car), I highly recommend it. It was my most favorite destination in Europe 20 years ago, when we were based in Rome and travelling the Europe Through the Back Door method. And it left that impression on me when it was a one night stay during a 10 week trip.

Thank you all for your very helpful responses.

Ken, I google mapped from Salzburg to Varenna and it was showing between 14 to 16 hours. I was just using it for planning purposes. It's great news that I can get there in 8-9 hours. What website did you use to get the detailed info? I agree with you about the full travel day whether I travel air or train. Plus the train gives us all the scenery.

David, Munich is so tempting. I have been there before for work but I promised my wife that I will take her to Lago di Como. She wanted to go there ever since we saw an HDNet show about Italy and we were both fascinated with Como. We came so close last time we went to Italy but ended up cutting it off. We actually flew home out of Milan.

Julie, Hallstatt under consideration but it will be a day trip tour. I found a Sound of Music + Hallstatt day tour. I saw a post here that Hallstatt is now crowded with tourist which detracts from its charm. Anyone been there lately? I've considered taking it off mostly because so we can spend more time in Salzburg and we'll be in a lake area when we get to Como anyway.

We spent a week in Rome last time we were in Italy. The reason we wanted to go back is because 2016 is a Jubilee Year for Catholics and a pilgrimage to the Vatican is in order.

More questions for ya'll, please:

• Given that we're taking trains from Nuremberg to Salzburg to Varenna to Rome. Do you think it's more economical for us to buy the rail pass for 3/4 countries or pay as we go?
  
• If I buy an Italy Rail Pass, can I use that from Salzburg to Varenna? I know Salzburg is not in Italy but if you're crossing countries, do you use it on the destination city or starting city? Am I making any sense?
• Any hotel recommendations in Salzburg, Varenna & Rome?

thanks again!

jl,

I used the bahn.de (German Rail) website to get the times. There are numerous solutions on that route, and I chose one of the quickest. That website doesn't show the segment from Milan to Varenna, but I know from past experience how much time it takes. You can research that on the Trenitalia website.

Regarding your questions.....

• For the few trips you'll be making, I doubt that a Railpass will be cost effective, especially in Italy where trains are relatively cheap. If you buy tickets in advance for the high speed trains, there are often considerable savings. However you must be wiling to commit to a specific train, date and departure time for those trains, as the tickets (seat reservations) are specific to only the one train printed on the ticket.
• Hotels - In Salzburg I stayed at the Krone 1512 in September. It's older but very comfortable and they serve a great breakfast. The adjoining bar gets "smoky" in the evenings so you might want to stay clear of that. In Varenna you could look at Albergo Milano, Hotel Royal Victoria, Villa Cipressi or Albergo Olivedo. In Rome I like to stay close to Termini station as it's so convenient for transportation, and I like either Hotel Sonya or Hotel Aberdeen.

my best place to start figuring out how to get from A to B is http://www.rome2rio.com/

your Salzburg to Lake Como trip yields these options. On the site you can details on each one. They don't sell tickets but do show who drives/flies/operates on the route in which you are interested.

Train
9 hrs 41 minutes cost $94-$134

Bus
11 hrs 35 minutes cost $41-$91

Drive 6hrs 30 minutes

Fly lots of options all about 8 hours all between $159-$600

Rome2rio.com is good for planning but they don't list super-economy fares, which can start at €9 in Italy, but you can't change the ticket in any way at that price.

I think to do all 3 (Salzburg, Como, Rome) in 9 days, you would lose a lot of time travelling.
This, however, would work best I think from Nuremberg
Train to Salzburg (2 nts)
Train to Munich for flight to Rome (3 nts)
Train to Lake Como (3 nts) ... flight to Milan may work better
Train to Milan (1 nt)
Fly home from Milan

I would be tempted to firstly head to Salzburg, and then choose, either Lake Como or Rome.

Jluspo, I was in Hallstatt this past May, we chose to spend 1 night there then 2 nights in Salzburg, we had access to a car since my son is stationed in Germany. Hallstatt was busy during the day, from the tour buses. It became busy around lunch time and then vacant & quant just after 5pm. I got great pictures of the town from the electric boat I rented. If you have a chance renting the boat and cruising the lake was/is worth it. Also got great pictures in the morning before heading out, walk up to the top of the town where a statue over looks Hallstatt in a parking lot as well as a waterfall. Strolled along the lake towards the town entrance, nice views of the lake, swans, mountains and the houses/structures of Hallstatt. Returning again is on my list of things, maybe during the winter when snow has fallen.

Hello everyone,

Thank you very much for the replies. I really appreciate it and will take your advise very seriously.

Regards,
Jluspo