Travel in Austria

From where in Austria do you wish to depart? For the inexpensive airlines, Innsbruck, Linz, Salsburg and Vienna have flights to Barcelona. Almost all are either Air Berlin or Sky Europe. Other cities might have flights but I bet that these are the larger airlines and that you have to connect through other cities.

Also check with clickair.com and Check with Tuifly.com, Germanwings.com, AirBerlin.com... also for flights from Barcelona to Munich as it's only around 90 minutes from Munich airport to Salzburg. Austrian roads are great and even though they've got a speed limit there it's not quite as bad as Virginia... ;-)

Thanks for the great information !! What are the speed limits in Austria?!! We are staying about 2 hours south of Salzburg in the town of Murau and will have 6 days to travel around. Any suggestions as to what places we should see, and will we have time to visit Salzburg and Vienna - or should we stick to the smaller towns and skip Vienna? Any must see castles in the area?!! Also, what is a good average for costs of meals?!

The Salzkammurgut is lovely. A few years ago we arrived in Hallstatt for a 3 or 4 hour visit and stayed for 4 days!

Hi
Try RyanAir; it flys into smaller city airports but has amazing prices and a great website.

Driving in Austria is easy. The roads are well maintained and easy to navigate. The speed limit depends on the road. The only really fast one is the Autobahn. If you are on the autobahn in Austria, you will need a permit sticker that you can get at border stations and a orange safety vest. If you won't be on the autobahn, you can skip the permit. I'm not sure if the vest is still required.

The vest is required in the entire country no matter on what kind of road. But Austrian rental cars are equipped with it.

Driving in Austria is great. It's a very navigable place, and the roads are great.

I might suggest skipping Vienna and sticking to the small towns. We loved Melk, Hallstatt, Hall (near Innsbruck)and Salzburg. I think the only Austrian castle we visited was in Salzburg (I can't remember if it's technically a castle ... ).

I agree with Salzburg and Hall as great places to visit. Hall is small and makes a good mid day place to stop, tour and eat lunch before moving on. Salzburg has plenty for two days (more if you do the sound of music tour). Try to visit a salt mine in the region, Berchtesgaden or Hallstadt are two choices, they are interesting and fun.

If you are using Salzburg as a base,, i suggest a day-trip to Werfen, about an hour south of Salzburg. On the eastern side of the town is the Eisriesenwelt cave. You take a beautiful cable-car ride then footpath up the mountain to it. 2hr tour inside (very cold tho, 32* and lower, dress warmly,and comfortable shoes/boots). Then closer to town is the Hohenwerfen castle. Very picturesque. They have a falcon show also. For a glimpse, watch the Clint Eastwood movie "Where Eagles Dare",, it was filmed in Werfen and inside the castle !!!

I am a HUGE fan of Sound of Music, but I found the Sound of Music Tour very disappointing. Walking around the garden was beautiful, but that was the only thing I really liked. I took a day trip from Salzburg and enjoyed doing the Eagle's nest tour as described in Rick Steve's Book. I went to the salt mines first then the tour after. I thought it was a very productive day.

We took a day trip to Oberndorf to visit family there. We found it to be a charming little burg. The Silent Night chapel is there, as are lots of little shops visited by locals. Walking along the river and crossing the bridge into Germany (can't remember the town name there) was fun. Oberndorf was about a 20-minute train ride from the Salzburg station.