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Itinerary help - Salzburg to Zurich

Posted by (Minnesota) on

Hi, All! We are a group of 4 planning a trip in latter August. We will fly into Munich and out of Zurich. We have a few known things we wish to do but, otherwise, we are looking for recommendations on how to arrange our trip. We enjoy:
- mixing in some history/museums but not too many
- hiking and outdoors (in normal tennis shoes; won’t be taking our big hiking boots)
- scenery
- local food and beverages
- small, intriguing side towns that aren’t tops in all the travel books but are good for a pause to enjoy lunch

We are willing to rent a car for part of our trip. We don’t like crazy-busy throngs of people but know it’s necessary in some areas.

Here’s what we know so far:

August 23 - Arrive Munich.

August 23 - 27: Munich, Salzburg, Berchtesgaden: 2 of us have been here before so we know what we want to do with our days here. We will not be doing Dachau while in Munich as we’ve done that in the past. We will be doing Eagle’s Nest and museum. We will do the train from Munich to Salzburg.

August 27-September 4: Berchtesgaden to Zurich - here’s where we’d like suggestions!
Travel through Southern Germany or via Innsbruck?
We’ve not toured any of the castles - is it worth it and, if so, which one?
Brewery tour suggestion?
Where to cross into Switzerland?
We’d like to spend some time in the Luzern area. Is it too ambitious to get down to the Murren area?
Although Zurich sounds like it is not always a must-see for people, it seems we should explore it for a day before we leave.
Is the Appenzell area worth stopping/staying in?
If we have a car, where should we rent and return it along our path?
September 5: morning departure from Zurich

Thank you for any assistance you can give! This is the first time I’ve posted so please be merciful in your critiques!

Posted by
859 posts

You seem to have picked an easily doable itinerary given the time allotted. Although, there is never enough time.

Picking up a car and returning it in another country is expensive so try to avoid that. Most everything you want do can be done by train or bus.

Andechs Kloister south of Munich has a great brewery, but take a train/bus combination or a designated driver.

https://www.oebb.at/en/ is the Austrian rail site.

Salzburg to Zurich suggests to me Salzburg to Innsbruck, Innsbruck area (including Zillertal Valley or Stubaital Valleys to the south, reachable by train or bus. Back into Germany to visit Garmisch-Partenkirchen (1.5 hours each way on the train) and go up the Zugspitze cog railway (the highest peak in Germany) - Innsbruck to St Anton von Arlberg (ski town in the highest of the Austrian Alps and SCENIC) - St Anton back to Zurich.

https://zugspitze.de/en/winter/mountain/zugspitze

https://www.zillertal.at/en.html The Zilletal is a flat valley with a local train from Jensbach that goes up to the main town of Mayrhofen, with gondolas up into the mountains.

https://www.stubaital.at The Stubaital bus leaves from in front of the Innsbruck train station, and again goes all the way up the valley to the gondola going up onto the Stubai Glacier.

Zurich to Luzern is an easy train ride 45-60 minutes.

https://www.sbb.ch/en/home.html

In Zurich check our the Chagall Windows in the Fraumunster, the Swiss national Museum, and take a lake steamer to the south end of the lake and back.

https://www.myswitzerland.com/en-us/destinations/lake-zurich/

Great trip

Posted by
2 posts

Thank you, NickB, for the advice and links! That all sounds amazing and I like the fact that we can do it by train. Very helpful!

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