Request feedback on itinerary for Eastern-Central Europe 10-12 day trip

Prague to Vienna is approximately 4 hours by train, or 3.5 by car. That means you will only have 1 1/2 days in Vienna IF you’re willing to get up early and take one of the earliest trains. There’s so much to do in Vienna, plus you are interested in the history of Vienna. This short amount of time will leave you frustrated as you depart the city for a long 6-hour train or 4-hour car to Ljubljana. (We saw a taste of Vienna during a RS tour (1.5 days) and came back another year on our own and stayed 5 days to see much more.)

Comment: for your extremely short time in Vienna, if you have a car with you, staying in the center of the city won’t be practical, but staying on the edge of the city will take away even more time to reach the center and see the sites you came to see.

Since you’re in the initial mode of planning the trip - which is a great time to get feedback, I will throw out the idea of going to Prague, Vienna - stay longer, then take the shorter train to Salzburg - 2.5 hours (Ljubljana reminded me of Salzburg) for multiple days, and you are in a prime location for day trips for beautiful hiking. Or, swing up through more mountainous scenery and then fly home from Munich. Then save Slovenia & Croatia for its own 2-country trip. I took the RS Adriatic tour last year; there’s much to see in that area, too.)

Thanks so much, Jean! I appreciate your feedback.

Yes, we planned on spending a day getting to Vienna and then 2 days for sightseeing there. I realize it's short visit even then.

We had thought about hiking around Lake Hahlstatt if we did Salzburg instead of Slovenia. My husband really likes ideas of Julian Alps, as did I , so that's why we went with this plan.

I wasn't sure how much hiking there is around Hahlstatt....
Thanks again!

I ended my 2015 trip in Zagreb and flew home from there with just one stop somewhere in Europe. I have the advantage of Washington-Dulles as my home airport; it has nonstop flights from quite a few cities in Europe, so I can usually get just about anywhere with only one stop (as long as I'm willing to pay for the convenience). It's probably harder to fly out of Ljubljana.

You need a minimum of four nights for Vienna. If you add a day trip to Bratislava’s old town make it five.
It will take a full day to take a train from Vienna to Ljubljana that requires multiple connections which is not convenient. It sounds like you plan on returning to Europe. I would combine Vienna and Budapest on one trip and Ljubljana and Croatia on another.

Thank you for your feedback. Unfortunately, my husband is not interested in Budapest. He prefers to end the trip with something more natural, small towns, beautiful scenery, hiking.

The hiking I was thinking about near Salzburg is closer than driving over to Hallstatt. Here’s a website that gives some hiking ideas in the vicinity of Salzburg. We also liked our additional stay at St. Wolfgang on the same name lake close to Salzburg. Others highly recommend the nearby Berchtesgaden hiking. There’s buses to reach both from Salzburg.

https://www.salzburg.info/en/salzburg/sports-leisure/hiking

Hi Jean and others,
Thank you again for your feedback on my proposed itinerary. I knew it was too much, but was trying to pack it all in as we're not sure when we may get back in the near future. However, your idea of staying within Austria makes sense to avoid long commuting on trains, etc.
Thank you for the hiking tips near Salzburg. St. wolfgang looks beautiful and may make more sense than heading to Germany for Berchtesgaden.
Have any of you gone to Lake Hallstatt? It looks beautiful, though I know is hard to get to and may be touristy. My husband heard of a good hike in that area, too. Sounds like you recommend staying around Salzburg for hiking instead of Hallstatt...
With gratitude and best wishes,
Leslie