TR Munich - Salzburg - Vienna September 2026

Wednesday Sept 2 - Our hotel had a very nice breakfast buffet for us before we took the S-bahn S2 train to Dachau, and then a bus to the Dachau memorial. When I was planning this trip, I initally wanted to leave after September 2nd in case we did something for my grandma’s 100th birthday on this day but my mom planned a party for her the weekend before we left so we saw her then. Then I thought that it was fitting for us to visit the Dachau Memorial on her 100th birthday since my grandpa was a liberator. My dad advised us to go to the back first to see the memorials and not take all our time at the museum part at the front. So we did that.

We were there just after opening time and there were very few people there, which was nice because we could just have the quiet as we saw the both old and newer and larger crematoriums, the memorials, chapels and reconstructed barracks. They had an exhibit regarding the Dachau Trials and also within the museum were surivivors’ accounts of medical experiments that were of course very dangerous and most often deadly. After about 3 hours we headed back to Munich.

We went to Marienplatz first because I was thinking that the glockenspeil played at 1 p.m. and we were just in time. Well, it was 11, 12, and 5 so we just had to go back at 5, not a big deal.

We finished our city walk that we started the day before and then had about an hour and half left before our dinner reservations so we decided to visit the Residenz. Some of the highlights for me were the Ornate Chapel with Albrect Durer picture scenes, the ceilings, and ‘Poland Carpet’ from Persia. I’m glad we visited but I didn’t have as much connection to the rulers associated with it as I might have so it was not as exciting to me as it could have been.

From there, we crossed the river for our dinner reservations at Wirthaus in der Au. Everything was very good (I had duck, potato dumping and a beet salad) and I was able to use my limited German to tell the server that it was lecker (delicious).

Thursday Sept 3 – Morning train to Salzburg. Met a lady from the Pacific NW and we chatted the whole time. Scenic train ride and an easy walk to Hotel Elephant from the train station. They kept our luggage until our room was ready. Then we started on our Rick Steves’ Salzburg walk including lunch from the bakery just by the waterwheel eaten by the fountain.

We visited the Salzburg Cathedral and listened to their noon 30 minute organ concert (12 Euros/adult, includes information regarding the organs in German and English). After that I was excited to see the font that Mozart was baptized in. We later visited Mozart’s Birthplace. Although I have read a lot about Mozart since he’s been my favorite composer since I was 8, I still learned some things about his family. I also was happy to see his viola and portraits. It was also interesting to see the map of all his voyages. He wrote well-received music, but his lifestyle was beyond his income and there were notes of how much he owed certain family members.

That evening we went to a Mozart dinner concert in the Baroque Hall St Peter with a historical dinner based on 18th century cuisine. There was a string quintet, a tenor, and a soprano performing some of Mozart’s most popular works. The vocalists were definitely not at the skill level we would hear at the opera, but it was genuinely fun. The man who seated us saw our name and said it was German and called my husband “Herr (our German last name)” and said we had the best seats in the place (which we did).

A funny, off script moment happened towards the end. The vocalists engaged with the audience throughout (without voicing) and the tenor motioned for a man to come up with him and began lifting his knees in a marching motion and gestured for the man to march. The audience member marched, but then he also began extemporizing some “singing” too (lalalalla, not entirely on key) and even the quintet members began to laugh. Finally the tenor gestured for the man to “conduct” the quartet. It was all very funny and the audience member appeared to be having the time of his life. It was a late night and the next morning we had to be out by 5 to find our bus stop to visit Berchtesgaden.

Friday Sept 4- With a bit of asking bystanders and second guessing ourselves, we found the bus stop near the main train station for our ride to Berchtesgaden. We paid our bus driver in cash and got the round trip tickets from Salzburg to the town of Berchtesgaden and also an all day pass within the city of Berchtesgaden. Due to the timing of everything, and the “up down” tickets from the documentation center to the Eagle’s Nest “requiring” us to be there 30 minutes ahead of time (though we were some of the only ones who were), we had to catch a very early bus from Salzburg before getting to the bus to the documentation center, then really just waiting around for our Eagle’s Nest bus (tickets I bought over a month in advance but was probably really unnecesssary on a weekday in the slightly off season). Fortunately for us, it was a nearly perfectly clear day. Once at the Eagle’s Nest we enjoyed some hiking and the views and then had a light breakfast (not at the restaurant, but a little kiosk that was much less expensive, just coffee and a pastry or pretzel) and sat on a bench.

After the Eagle’s Nest we spent just under 2 hrs at the Documentation Center (included with Eagle’s Nest ticket if you visit the same day, they do check the date). Some of the more memorable parts from the museum portion were the color photos and videos of Hitler and his associates and the note that the black and white images make things seem more removed and less real but Eva Braun had color photography and film equipment and they showed portions of her personal photography of having a good time just before planning the invasion of Poland. Also a facsimile of Tanya Savicheva’s pocket address book documenting the death by starvation of her family during the Wehrmacht’s blockade of Leningrad. Her mother was her last family member to die and she wrote “Tanya remains alone.” Unfortunately Tanya died of tuberculosis about 2 years later after evacuation from Leningrad.

From there we walked to the lower levels to the underground bunker portions of the documentation center. It was all very interesting. Somewhat reminded me of portions of Churchill War Rooms in London.
We had decided to play it by ear as to what we’d do after the Documentation Center. We had to wait over 30 minutes for the next bus to take us into Berchtesgaden and in the meantime meant a retired police officer from Boston who missed his tour bus at the Eagle’s Nest so we helped him with figuring out how he was getting back from Salzburg. Lunch was pastries and meat sticks we had bought from a grocery store in Salzburg.

We took the bus to Berchtesgaden and then got onto a bus to Lake Königssee. By now it was in the low 90s but didn’t feel too bad in the shade. I didn’t really want to be on a crowded tour boat but hiking sounded good. So we hiked almost to the end of the trail. A (I think) local lady told us where the trail ended but I was going well enough crossing fallen trees and walking on rocks to get any more technical than the last few meters of trail would have given us. The lake was, of course, beautiful, and a very nice way to spend our afternoon. After we got on the bus back to the main train station in Berchtesgaden, we walked around the town a bit, ate ice cream in the main square (our 2nd and last time needing cash for the trip) and looked at some of the shops and a small church. We were back in Salzburg (via train) for dinner at Gasthaus Wilder Mann. It was good and we didn’t need reservations.

Saturday Sept 5
First we enjoyed the quiet streets of Salzburg before the bulk of the tourists arrived/got up for the day. We enjoyed breakfast at Cafe Tomaselli then walked up to Hohensalzburg Fortress (before the funicular was even running). We enjoyed the views with only a few other people around. They had a lot of good displays about life at the fortress throughout the years, some period instruments, a beautiful tiled stove from around 1570, and of course the Reckturn tower and even better views at the top. Bonus points, we were there for awhile when a man and woman climbed up. I heard the man ask another person if she’d take their picture, then he got on one knee and proposed. It was fun seeing the woman smiling and looking at her ring when we crossed paths after that. It had rained a little off and on that morning but was manageable. We walked down the hill to the market and got lunch there then had a little rest time.

Later that afternoon we visited Mozart’s Residence. Not as popular as his birth house, but it was worth it to see Mozart’s original clavichord, his concert violin, handwritten letters and music scores.

From there, Mirabell Gardens. The flowers were blooming and while the fountain area had a gaggle of tourist groups singing songs from Sound of Music, the rest of it was not as crowded. The dwarf statues were fun. I didn’t think they were in the Sound of Music, but when I got home and watched a clip, I realized that one dwarf was. We looked at the Palace for a few minutes before visiting a bookstore.

Dinner was good at St Paul Stubm Beer Garden. No reservations but they seated us at a big table technically outdoors but completely covered. We had more than enough food and from there headed to the Mozart concert at Mirabell palace with Ensemble 1756 & Solo Clarinet. While they performed Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, I had a moment just being so thankful I could be here. I have loved Mozart since was 8 and of course loved this piece in particular, and never thought I would hear it where Mozart himself attended concerts and also performed. It was quite the enjoyable evening and we had a quiet walk back to our hotel.

Sunday Sept 6

We had time before Mass at Salzburg Cathedral, something I really wanted to attend and bought train tickets around, so we walked along the Salzach River and took in the scenery. Mass was good other than a poorly supervised preschooler getting into lit candles (I had this moment of horror imagining him burning the Cathedral down). From there, we got our luggage from our hotel and walked to the train station. It took longer to walk there than Brian had estimated and I was getting worried about being late but it worked out. It was sad to leave the Alps, but the train ride was scenic.

By 4 p.m. we were in Vienna and got onto a U-Bahn leaving us pretty near Hotel Austria Wien. It’s in the first district but tucked in a little from the busier street and noise was never an issue for our stay. They have air conditioning and an expansive, delicious breakfast (the stuffed bell peppers were my favorite). After checking in we visit St Stephen’s Cathedral and took the (paid) elevator to the top. We walked around the city a bit before reservations at Plachutta Wollzeile for Tafelspitz, The beef was good, no complaints, though Vienna ended up being the one city that I was a bit thrown off by the waiters explicitly saying that tips were not included and giving suggestions even on how much tip I should give (I knew it wasn’t included and was planning on tipping but it seemed pushy or grovely).

Monday Sept 7

After a good breakfast, we took the U Bahn to the Schönbrunn Palace. We did pretty well with the crowds. If there was a huge tour group I generally just went through the room quickly to get ahead of them. The audioguides were well-done and progressed automatically which was nice (especially after a really finicky Tablet or iPad situation at the Egyptian Museum in Munich that I barely got to work). It’s a very nice palace and I did learn more about the families who lived there. I did think it was a little pathetic that Empress Sisi spent 2 hours a day getting her hair brushed but my daughter pointed out that she didn’t necessarily have a lot of obligations on her time. The audioguide didn’t paint her life as a pleasant one.
Since we were just on our own, not tied to a tour, we enjoyed the Schönbrunn Zoo directly after our palace visit. I know some people say don’t go to a zoo on vacation (maybe particularly for us since we have such a great one nearby), but we genuinely enjoyed our 3+ hours there. I joked with my husband that we left our rabbits in Nebraska to admire rabbits in Vienna. They had a big pen of various rabbits (I think all bucks) and then a more moderate enclosure with Vienna Blues, a very old breed that isn’t recognized in America. We saw capybaras, 2 Giant Pandas (though one was just sleeping), a very active sloth, and a huge group of Humbolt Pengiuns (same kind we have here but many many more), and lots of other animals. We just took our time and enjoyed the visit. After that we climbed to the Gloriette for the views of the city, the palace, and the palace gardens. U Bahn got us back to the city center for lunch at Cafe Mozart.
Then it was time to see The Hare at the Albertina. Well, not just the Hare, but I felt quite fortunate to be there on the rare occasion of its diplay for the Albertina’s 250th birthday. It was everything that one could hope for in a drawing of a hare, and then some. Even Durer’s studio window is reflected in its eye! I looked for awhile but wanted to make room for a tour group, but revisted later and just enjoyed the drawing for some minutes. What else? Rubens, Rembrant, Michelangelo, David, Van Gogh, Renoir, Picasso and many many others. What a lovely afternoon.

That evening we attended a Mozart concert in the Golden Hall. I knew it would be tourist-centric, but wanted to hear music in the Golden Hall. My biggest disappointment was just the audience. Talking, cell phone usage, and an endless succession of selfies by our seats outside of performance time. But the music was good and I don’t regret going. I just thought I’d enjoy it more than I did.

Tuesday Sept 8

We began our day at Kunsthistorisches Museum. Vermeer’s Art of Painting was wonderful of course. So many details one can’t see on an 8x11 print. Good Rembrandt collection and wonder of wonders, an entire room dedicated to Bruegel! I nearly screamed when a visitor tried to touch the Tower of Babel frame! But it’s quite the work. All the Bruegel paintings have so many details, I could stand looking for quite some time.
We had to take pictures of each other with the Archimboldo paintings (Water, Fire, Winter, and Autumn) for oldest child (all she wanted from our trip). They also have an excellent Egyptian and Near Eastern Collection (including a mummified crocodile) and Collection of Greek and Roman Antiquities (one highlight was a mosaic with Theseus and the Minotaur in the center of a maze). Oh, and we can’t forget the Blue Hippo.
After a little rest time at the hotel (it was hot and I was tired), we walked along the Danube Canal near our hotel until our dinner reservations at Figlmüller. Excellent Schnitzel and Cordon Bleu. I was thrown off when the waiter handed me the card machine with different tipping options and it timed out while I was trying to decide what to input (nevermind that all the buttons were in German) and the waiter said which button to push if I didn’t want to leave a tip (which wasn’t the case, I just didn’t want one of their preselected options). Regardless, it was a good meal and was good to sit down a little, too.

Wednesday Sept 9
We took the scenic route to Belevedere Palace Gardens to get a little time in the park. We opted to just view the gardens and not enter the palace. I felt like I had my fill of palaces already but the gardens were nice, particularly in the front of the palace (the back ones were filling up with tall grass). Edit: I also plan on visiting with my daughter next June for any of the art she is interested in, highest on that list is Napoleon Crossing the Alps by JL David.

From there, we walked toward the Vienna National Library and happened upon the Soviet War Memorial, very nice area with a fountain and monument. The Vienna National Library contained so many interesting books and letters. A codex for medicinal plants from around AD 500, A Textbook for Emperor Maximilian, a very cool (and only surviving copy of) road map of antiquity of the Roman Empire, various Bibles, and much more.

From there we visited the Augustine Church basically next door. Quite fortunately, an organist was practicing while we were there. The beautiful Canova monument to Archduchess Maria Christina is worth stopping for. Also, I can’t believe Napoleon was married by Proxy here. I can believe it happened, but it seemed rather shabby to not show up for his own wedding. I teased my oldest that at least his stand-in was probably taller than he was. (And yes, I’ve heard many times how he wasn’t really short for his time, but I have to tease).

That evening a storm was coming in, bringing cooler weather. Marriage of Figaro was wonderful and I guess expensive enough that the people around us weren’t goofing off (which really helped me enjoy the opera). Then it was a late night walk back to our hotel, saw St Stephen’s all lit up, then got to bed for just a few hours before our 3:30 a.m. alarm for our flight home.

Thursday Sept 10
Other than delays to get to Amsterdam, and even worst delays to get to Detroit, everything went pretty OK. My husband got through the EES machines just fine but I got sent back to All Passports line. When the worker asked where I had been, etc, and I said “we” she questioned who I was with and I said he got through fine. She said that happens and they’re still working things out, but next time just go to the all passports line because it’s recorded that I was rejected from the US passport line. I don’t know if this advice holds for years, for all airports, or what, but this was at AMS. I really didn’t think we’d make our connection in Detroit, but we ran a lot, and use the MPC app, and made it with a few minutes to spare. I really wanted to get home in time to drive in the daylight.
Shortly after 7 p.m. we were home to our children and rabbits. Thankful for my parents watching them while we were gone and I was very thankful to be home safely!

A very interesting, very comprehensive trip report. I enjoyed reading it. You packed a great deal into every day of your trip. I tend to do that, too 🙂. I have visited many of the places you visited on this trip. I think Königsee is a real treat! Salzburg is one of my favorite cities. Sisi? Well, she's not a favorite royal, but her assassination is a quite sad moment in history.

Speaking of The Sound of Music, I visited the von Trapp Family Resort in Stowe, VT, early in September. It is still owned by the family, and I enjoyed my 2 nights there (though it is a little pricey!).

What a trip! And I was so touched reading "Then I thought that it was fitting for us to visit the Dachau Memorial on her 100th birthday since my grandpa was a liberator". Happy birthday to her!

You took me back in time as it has been just about 25 years (gulp!) since I visited these same cities and some of these sites and day trips. I remember loving Salzburg back then and it looks like it is still a special place. It was also an adventure back then for me to visit Eagle's Nest.

And I want to return to Vienna after reading your lovely report. I enjoyed it when I visited it long time ago, but I feel I would appreciate it even more now as I approach 50.

Thank you for taking the time to write such a detailed report. I love reading the little stories that make a trip so memorable.

Dave , have you read The Story of the Trapp Family Singers by Maria Von Trapp? I learned a lot when I first read it. Thanks for reading my report! It's nice for remembering the details later. And I always find them helpful during planning. What I really thought while hearing some of Sisi's routines was "doesn't she know her body will decompose some day?" Seemed very pointless.

Joy - thank you! Yes, Vienna is full of beauty and we had plenty to do. Salzburg is lovely although I felt like it didn't absorb the bug tourist groups as well as Vienna since they were more concentrated in a handful of places. Glad I could take this trip with my husband. Thank you for the birthday wishes to my grandma! She had a lot of fun at her party!

Salzburg is lovely although I felt like it didn't absorb the bug
tourist groups as well as Vienna since they were more concentrated in
a handful of places.

I keep wanting to return to several places I visited in 2001. But that was before social media, iPhones, and I feel so many places are now overtaken by "influencers" and regular tourists. Thinking of Prague and Vienna. I even noticed the change in Amsterdam, how everywhere was so crowded.

Joy, I'm sure you'd find them busier /more crowded. Then again, there are reasons that so many people choose those places. Maybe balance out the bigger city with a few days somewhere quieter? I definitely never thought I'd be able to travel as much as I have been the last few years.

pdscd,

I did read The Story of the Trapp Family Singers by Maria Von Trapp. I read it way back in 2014 when I made my first independent trip to Europe, which was a trip to Salzburg and Innsbruck. On my recent trip to Vermont, I picked up a book written by Maria in the gift shop. The book is called Yesterday, Today, & Forever. I haven't started it yet. But it covers (from the back cover)...

• Yesterday: Insights into the historical and spiritual life of Jesus
• Today: Stories of faith from the von Trapp family's extraordinary journey
• Forever: Reflections on eternity that bring hope and clarity to today's world

One more thought... the original plan for the 2014 trip was Salzburg + Vienna. The central inspiration for the trip was attending the Salzburg Festival. I watched this trailer for the 2013 festival over and over and over again because it made Salzburg seem like a magical place for a first independent trip. The video has 14K views; I am about 7K of them 🙂. Nikolaus Harnoncourt, who became my favorite conductor after his orchestra's performance, appears at the 1:00 mark.

I found so much in and around Salzburg to see and do, including an evening performance by the Vienna Boys Choir at a small town's church about an hour outside of Salzburg where all the men were dressed in their best lederhosen for the performance. I knew I didn't have enough time to give Vienna its due, so I decided to make the more digestible Innsbruck/Hall in Tirol the second stop for the trip. That worked out great.

I have returned to Salzburg 3 times since that first trip and have greatly enjoyed all my visits.

Just to note that while the Belvedere is technically a palace (and a very beautiful one), it is now an art museum and famously houses Klimt's Kiss and other works. It cannot be compared to another palace.

Dave, I understand lots of books in the To Be Read pile /shelf/ etc. I still have on my list to buy the Pharmacy under the Eagle book. But Maria's book sounds interesting.
Salzburg was really wonderful. That's great you've gotten to experience so much there and the excellent music. Very compelling trailer! Salzburg Festival is on my (ever growing) someday list! And the Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. And the Lucerne Music Festival....not running out of ideas and now my kids have ideas and requests that I'm trying to help them see (I have tickets to Paddington next April with one son, and after seeing the Marmalade video , his brother asked if he could go, hopefully it's still running the following year. I see tickets out to Feb 2028).

Emily - thank you, I know Belvedere is an art museum now, I maybe didn't phrase it well, though. I plan on visiting with my daughter next June and I think already having her trip in the works helped me not feel like I needed to see everything. But the crowds were another issue, and I was pretty tired.

I am gobsmacked at how much you saw - and how well you included musical performances - in what many of us would call an 8-day trip. Your arrival day activity would have worn me out on many a full travel day … and we stormed Paris in 2-1/2 days a year ago on our third visit, there, at the end of our 30 days in SW Germany and eastern France.

Like Emily, I was disappointed the you missed the Belvedere gallery - for its Schiele as well as Klimt - but your reply to her put that into fuller perspective.

Congratulations on a well-planned, packed and successful trip. Thank you for a TR that brought me along with you to places I’ve been and others that I have not visited. I’d love to learn from you about your planning process.

Thanks for the report! It was fun to read since I will be in Vienna this weekend - not seeing as much as you (although I’ve been several times and visited many of your stops). And I will also be at Hotel Austria! You packed a lot in to both Salzburg and Vienna!

Hi Fred, thanks for reading! I knew we would be tired for the museums on arrival day but also didn't want to miss them so we figured it was better than nothing. But we were definitely exhausted! It was nice arriving before 7 a.m. local time. Then again by the time we were landing it only felt like midnight to us, so were we really expected to sleep? I have a hard enough time sleeping at home under ideal conditions so I just don't count on anything though I try to relax at least.

As far as planning, I guess I've really tried to focus on our priorities and not worry about what other people might think or do if it's not of interest. I read a lot of trip reports here and have found them helpful. My grandpa told my dad to try to visit Berchtesgaden because that was his favorite place in Europe (that's where he was when WW2 ended. I did mention he was a liberator. He was a paratrooper in the 101st so sites related to their company are of special interest to me) so my dad visited twice. So he was able to advise me about that area. My dad recommended the fortress in Salzburg, too.

Obviously, I consider which days places are closed and busiest and what sites are close to others we're interested in .and I know we won't see everything and don't need to,but want to enjoy what we do see. We did go to a lot of concerts this time. I figured every other evening was a good balance although it did mean some late nights out. I do get tired on vacations and try to rest up when I get back.

I guess I do consider what else is upcoming, too. For example, my friend recommended the salt mines near Salzburg, but it sounded a bit too adventurous to me and also I'm planning on visiting the salt mines in Wieliczka next June. But I figure, it's our vacation, let's see what we really want to and it's fine if we don't see what everyone else does. I do read guidebooks, too and have learned so much here!

Texas Travel Mom - enjoy Vienna! And I do recommend those stuffed peppers at breakfast! They had lemon or otherwise infused water and apples at the front desk. Everyone was very helpful and friendly.
On the sidewalk on the street the hotel is tucked in from are stumbling stones . I had seen them in Amsterdam but one was something I'd not seen before, a large stone for the 36 Jews who lived in housing there (apartments?) and all were arrested and only one survived. So sad. I'm thankful for the stumbling stones project to remind people throughout the day and to remember their names but so, so sad.

Also if you need to leave before breakfast is open, we left ridiculously early but the worker made us sandwiches and turned on the coffee maker and gave us to go cups so we had that . Very nice. I already have 4 nights booked there for next June .

Welcome. I'm impressed with how much you saw, pbscd! It's been a long time since I've been to Munich and Salzburg, but your trip report brought back a lot of memories. I will be in Munich in December with my sister for the Christmas markets, but we don't have a lot of time there, so I'm going to have to pick and choose what we see outside of the markets. I'm glad you got to try out your German! Lecker is one of my favorite words as I love German food, so I'm always saying it, lol!

Mardee - thanks for reading and arg, I misspelled lecker! Just fixed. Enjoy Munich! It was one of our best meals of the trip, I think, although really everything except the pizza was good. I don't know if you have an Aldi near you, but they have a lot of good German food, especially during "German Week." We stocked up on some fun treats. My husband has a minor in German and although he hasn't kept it up, he was able to use it some now and again, and that was helpful.
Where are you going in addition to Munich? I'm looking at Christmas markets for 2027 with one of my sons. It looks like Belgium is topping his list right now (chocolate chocolate chocolate).