10 days Austria and Switzerland: Your feedback on my itinerary pls!

You’re trying to see too much. Vienna deserves five nights and I would add a day trip to Bratislava, Slovakia’s old town that’s a direct train ride away (1h). Two nights in Salzburg is enough and I wouldn’t include a day trip to Halstatt because you don’t have time. Instead, spend the rest of your time in the Lauterbrunnen Valley and sleep in Mürren. It’s going to take a full day to get from Salzburg to Lauterbrunnen and involve multiple connections. You always want to add extra nights when staying in the mountains because it’s all about the weather.

1) Can you extend the trip to give you an extra night in Salzburg? If so, yes, Hallstatt is worth it. Even better if you can stay overnight in Hallstatt.

2) Lauterbrunnen will not disappoint. Wengen or Murren will give you the views with the mountains in your face, vs the valley floor views, but you’ll make your way up into the mountains anyway.

I would skip Switzerland and visit Munich after Salzburg. Traveling slowly is traveling better.

Munich is a direct train ride from Salzburg (2h) and a great jumping off point to explore the Bavarian Alps. Spending a day getting from one place to another is not fun. This itinerary would allow you to add a night in Hallstatt.

I agree with the others who think you’re trying to cover too much territory in 10 days when there’s so much in Austria that you’ll be missing. In December, there will be snow blanketing wherever you go and there’s really no need to extend your trip beyond Austria. Exploring the areas around Salzburg, seeing the Austrian Alps and Germany’s Berchtesgaden National Park just 45 minutes outside of Salzburg, taking the scenic 90-minute train ride to the spa town of Bad Gastein, in addition to Hallstatt, will more than fill your dance card for five nights in Salzburg and five nights in Vienna.

Hi Marklar9, As you have said, you could not find many hotel options for Wengen or Mürren. This is not very surprising since you are looking at popular destinations and a very busy time of year.

Since your first post regarding this holiday was on Nov. 9th, I am thinking that you probably just need to start trying to book something and see what is still available. Not trying to be pessimistic, just realistic.

In regards to question 2) Travel4fun gives a good description of Lauterbrunnen. I find it to be very dark there in winter. The sun is much lower in the sky and the valley floor gets only about two hours of sunshine - around noon until 2:00pm (very different from summer). Just something to be aware of.

Good luck with your continued planning and I hope you have a great holiday!

If you haven't bought the Swiss Rail Pass yet, then don't.

Book direct from Salzburg to Luzern on www.oebb.at.
Forget about Lauterbrunnen. Late december is top season in the skiing resorts, and you will have trouble finding accomodation. If you are not skiing Luzern is more interesting as a base. Get the Tell Pass and use that to get around. There are even hotels that offer it as part of a stay package: https://www.tellpass.ch/en/information/hotel_offers/
Depending on when your flight is there is no need to spend the last night in Zurich. Trains go direct from Luzern to ZRH.

Oh, and one more thing: Pay attention to the spelling of place names. It is Lauterbrunnen.

Hello everyone! Sorry if this was not clear, but our return flight is from Zurich so this is why Switzerland is on the last part of itinerary.

Things that were high on priority list to see or do we’re the following:
1) scenic train trip (Bernina is all sold out)
2) waking up in an alpine village
3) perhaps experiencing a car-free village

Of note, it is December so days are short.
Also of note, I have hotel accommodations for all of the itinerary above already.

Does any of that change your opinion on my itinerary at all? Would love to hear if so! Thank you all so much for taking the time!

Yes, this is a quick trip, but since you are flying out of Zurich, it makes sense to keep Switzerland. For me, 2 nights was plenty for Salzburg. Lauterbrunnen is nice, but I do prefer Murren as a mountain village. Enjoy your trip!

The Bernina Express route has both panoramic trains and regular, regional trains. You must reserve seats on the panoramic trains, so that may be sold out. However there are several regional trains running on those exact same tracks, which many of us here on the Forum prefer. Again, it's the exact same route, on the exact same tracks.
The regional trains run more often , are much less crowded, the windows open, allowing for fresh air and better pix, have more stops, and don't require reservations. If you have a Swiss Travel Pass or half- fare pass, those apply. This is a spectacular train ride, so I hope you can experience it.
Also- I love Salzburg, so would recommend more than two nights, and Berchtesgaden is only 45 minutes away. The latter is as beautiful as Hallstatt, IMHO.
Have a great trip!

For this number of nights I would probably do Vienna, Salzburg, and Lucerne. We liked 3 nights in Salzburg.

Otherwise I would change the order slightly and see Vienna and Salzburg, and then take the train from Salzburg to Interlaken Ost and do Lauterbrunnen, and go to Lucerne before flying out of Zurich.

The Golden Pass Panorama train from Interlaken Ost to Lucerne has gorgeous views and was a highlight for us. We also liked Wengen.

Based on your wants i think Salzburg (2), Hallstatt (1) and Murren or Wengen for the balance is the right fit. Enjoy!