Help with where to stay in Vienna?

K&T Boardinghouse in Vienna has two separate properties (closeby), and the price and locations cannot be beat. Kaled and Tina are great hosts, and close friends of Rick Steves. See www.kaled.at/ Four nights would be a minimum for Vienna, as there are many great tourist sites to visit. I'll have to yield to others about staying in your other cities. I prefer staying in B&B's, especially in this part of Europe. See Booking.com. Virtually all accommodations are very clean and orderly in Austria. If you're renting a car when leaving Vienna, remember that it's best turned in in Austria.
While you're so far west, Munich is about 90 minutes from Salzburg, and is another great city worth seeing.

Thanks, I thought about Munich and may put it on my itinerary. I plan to drive if I can drop off at a city other than originated. I will have a side trip to Venice, so looking for a flight from Salzburg or Munich to Venice and then back to Vienna for the last few days of my trip. Still in the early planning stages.
Anyone have a plan for seeing most of Austria and then getting to Venice but then have to end back in Vienna for the cheapest flight arrangement home.

Recommendations for lodging: Vienna: Pension Suzanne about one-half block from the opera house. Sort of fancy-ish once you're inside...outside looks like a Soviet era building. Reasonably priced and great reviews on tripadvisor. We had a quad room, so I know they can accommodate up to 4 in a room. Salzburg: Altstadthotel Weisse Taube. Also quite nice but a bit more expensive as I recall...not sure if they have triples or quads...we had two doubles there. Great reviews on tripadvisor. Hallstatt: Guesthouse Helga Lenz. I believe she only has 2 rooms in a big house way up at the top of town (i.e. awesome views). We had an apartment-like huge room on the top floor. Not sure if there's a website or any online reviews for this one...may need to check the city website. Cheap, very clean, and very comfortable. I drove in all 3 of these places and can share this: You can't drive right into the old center of Salzburg due to those automatic arm gates to keep traffic out. Unless you have an access card (which you won't), you'll need to park in one of the public garages just outside of the center and walk in...very close and fairly cheap. In Vienna, parking is very hard to find. Street parking really isn't available and there are tons of restrictions you won't know about...just park in a public garage...expensive like any big city here. In Hallstatt, you will have to park in the big public lot at the top of town and walk down...easy and cheap...there was an attendant collecting the parking fee when we were there.

Hi, This is on accomodations in Vienna: the Westbahnhof (west train station) is one area where you might want to consider staying, numerous hotels (a few hostels too) are located there. The new and big Motel One adjoins the station, not very pricey either. For public transportation several tram lines stop at Westbahnhof along with two subway lines, the U-3 and 6...all direct links to Schönbrunn, Arsenal (the Army History Museum), Zentralfriedhof (main cemetery), where the famous composers are, and the military cemeteries (more than one) from the world wars , Wien Meidling station, das Zentrum, etc. Because of its convenience it's the area I stay in without having to rely on any public transportation or taxi upon arrival at Westbahnhof. You most definitely do not need a car in the city itself. Even if you were go out to the outskirts, as I did last time to Deutsch-Wagram, a combination of the U-Bahn and the S-Bahn will get out there.

Hi, If you decide to do the trip without driving, I would suggest this route: take the Vienna-Salzburg, ca. 4+ hrs, spend the day there, then proceed on to Munich for two nights, arr. 2100 or so. Then take the CNL night train Munich-Venice. After that visit, you take train day back to Vienna, which includes changes unlike the direct night train. I would suggest saving your visit for Vienna at the end of the trip, ca.4-5 days. With 19 days one night train ride suffices. And, in Vienna you can do the day trip to Graz since that one is not top priority.

If your planned budget runs to 3-star lodging, consider the Hotel Austria (no kidding, that's the name) at the north end of the inner Ring. It's just two or three streets from St. Stephen's and near the Schwedenplatz underground station. The hotel is on a quiet cul-de-sac and is a family-owned and managed hotel. We, about every quarter or so, continue to receive the hotel's newsletter with the doings of many of the staff (weddings, graduations, etc). If we ever return to Vienna, we'd again lodge at the Hotel Austria.

Thanks everyone, this was most helpful!