Rental car vs train. Want to do Salzburg, Hallstatt, Mauthausen,Melk and Vienna--all in about 8 days. Any ideas, pleas.
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23269 posts
Five cities in 8 days means all you are doing is traveling and checking in and out of hotels. If it is Tuesday, it must be Vienna. For that type of schedule you need a car.
Posted by
OP
Austin, MN, USA
12 posts
Are you saying that is way too much? Drop what?
Posted by
Bay Area
3551 posts
They are all top spots but Vienna is IMO the best. I would allow at least 3 nights for Vienna, Salzburg 1 night, drive thru Hallstatt and stay for lunch/dinner stay in Salzburg. No opinion on Melk and Mauth...
Yes they are grouped together but 8 days is not much time to do all well.
Posted by
Bloomington, IL, USA
9363 posts
When I was a student in Salzburg years ago (ok, a lot of years ago), we did both Melk and Mauthausen as stops on the way to Vienna for our spring break trip. It's not necessary to allow a lot of time in either place (probably more in Mauthausen than in Melk, though). We traveled by bus, but I would suggest you'd do better with a car than by train. You could base in Vienna for a few days, hit Melk and Mauthausen on the way to Salzburg, then stay in Salzburg, doing Hallstatt as a day trip from there.
Posted by
Federal Way, WA, USA
12 posts
John Our daughter lived in Inzing (right outside Innsbruck) for two years and we traveled throughout Austria, Germany & Italy by car while we visited numerous times. The autobahn makes travel easy and rather speedy. No problems there EXCEPT, most all rental cars are a stick shift.
Enjoy your stay !
Posted by
COCONUT CREEK, CARENCRO, FL., LA., USA
152 posts
I would and have done a rental car. If you do the train you will probably have to get a taxi to go to a hotel. I have been to Salzburg several times but never spent the night. If you do the big cities remember to get an a/c room. It was very hot and we were in a hot van in Salzburg. Several nearly fainted. We stayed at the Ibis in Vienna and didn't need the car as the metro was very close. My favorite place in Austria is Zell am See. I loved the ride on the ski lift to the top of the mountain. We hit a day when para sailers were gathered from all over Europe. It is probably the best day of a 5 week trip. We were able to walk among the rigs and get up close. The mountains were covered in snow in the distance. Would go back in a minute.
The traffic going into Vienna was dead stop for a couple of hours. Construction