TRIP REPORT - AUSTRIA + Bavaria (Aug Sep 2025)

PART 2 of 8

VIENNA, AUSTRIA: 5 nights. Our main objective was to view works by Gustav Klimt. The daily itineraries were planned to fit with the schedules and locations of the various sites (Klimt-related and otherwise) we visited.

LODGING: AirBNB well-located just outside the Old Town, but with an odd floor plan. Message me if you are interested in a link to it.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT: We each downloaded the WienMobile app to our Android phones and purchased a 7 days digital VIENNA pass for €19.70. Unlimited use of trams, subways, buses, and S-trains starting on the day you choose.

Aug 16 (Sat) – DAY 1: We left Eger, Hungary, on a 10:08am train, transferred in Budapest-Keleti station to a (2nd class half-full) 12:40pm train (after a 35 min layover), and arrived in Vienna, Austria on-schedule at 3:23pm. At 3:50pm we checked into our AirBNB apt. As most supermarkets close at 6pm on Sat and don’t reopen until Mon, we walked 7 min to a Billa Plus in Rochusmarkt and bought groceries.

Aug 17 (Sun) – DAY 2: Visits to 3 Klimt-related sites, leaving our apt at 8:50am.

First stop using 9:30am timed-entry advance-purchase tickets was the Upper Belvedere Museum, location of The Kiss and other Klimt works, as well as the art of Egon Schiele and much more. We purchased the worthwhile audioguide (using our smartphones). At 12:30 we finished lunch at the café attached to the Upper Belvedere and walked 10 min to the Lower Belvedere Museum to view a temporary Klimt exhibit.

At 1:20pm we walked 15 min to the Secession and bought tickets on-site in order to view the Beethoven Frieze, which exceeded expectations.

At 2:35pm we walked 10 min to the Leopold Museum, entering with our dated-entry (but not timed) advance-purchase tickets. Many interesting works by Klimt and Schiele (and others). We left shortly before the 6pm closing time.

We were back in our neighborhood by 6:20pm, where we had dinner outdoors at Trattoria Pergola before reaching our apt; my partner was impressed by the freshness and preparation of her seafood dish.

Aug 18 (Mon) – DAY 3: No Klimt! Hofburg Apts/Treasury, Vienna State Opera tour, Vivaldi concert (Karlskirche).

Leaving our apt at 8:40am we entered the Sisi Museum (ie. Hofburg Apts) with our 9:15am timed-entry advance-purchase tickets. Sadly the Tableware Collection was not yet re-opened, and we found this crowded museum only mildly interesting. Finishing at 10:10, we then spent 10:20-11:45am at the more interesting Hofburg Treasury.

PART 3 of 8

After lunch we did half of the Rick Steves Vienna City Walk before arriving at the Vienna State Opera House for our 50-minute 2pm advance-purchase English Tour. Though worthwhile, we found our Aug 12 tour of the Hungarian State Opera House more enjoyable.

Afterwards we had coffee and pastry at the nearby storied Café Tirolerhof. A bit shabby but the coffee was good. We then did the second half of Rick’s Vienna City Walk before returning to our apt.

In the evening we went to Karlskriche for a 90-min performance of Vivaldi’s 4 Seasons interpreted by Orchestra 1756. I had purchased our tickets months earlier and was thus able to snag 2 (out of the 4) most forward seats, just a few feet from the orchestra. It was a precious moment experiencing a wonderful performance in an opulent setting.

Aug 19 (Tue) – DAY 4: One Klimt-related visit and dinner at a Heuringer wine garden.

We left the apt at 9:40am and hopped on Tram 1 just around the corner, riding it to the Kunsthistorisches Museum where we spent over 5 hours from 10:15am to 3:45pm. (We had untimed and undated advance-purchase tickets.) After viewing the lovely Klimt decorations in the spandrels and adjoining wall spaces, the museum’s broad collection of European art covering at least 2 centuries from 1450, as well as the unexpectedly rich ancient Egyptian collection kept us occupied. Lunch was in the museum’s restaurant.

Following a coffee stop we headed to our 6pm dinner reservation at the hot-food Heuringer wine garden Mayer am Pfarrplatz. After ordering a wine flight each, we chose to get our dinner from the buffet rather than order off the menu. It was worth working through the language barrier to have the wonderfully acidic sauerkraut with potatoes etc, ending with apple strudel. The outdoor shaded setting was delightful in the summer heat. By 8pm we left sated and rode trams D and 1 to our apt.

Aug 20 (Wed) – DAY 5: Last full day in Vienna. Visits to 2 Klimt-related sites and Schönbrunn Palace.

We left our apt at 9:15am, direction Schönbrunn Palace for our advance-purchase 11am 75 min Maria Theresia English Guided Tour. We reached the palace at 10:10am after a small bus delay. Per the helpful suggestion of Forum user wmt1, rather than use the main entrance we entered the palace grounds from the upper end of the gardens at Maria Theresia Tor; it was then an easy and scenic downhill stroll (past panting uphill climbers) from the Gloriette to the palace's main building.

As noted in many reviews on TripAdvisor and elsewhere, it is confusing to find the tour starting point. If we hadn’t asked a few staff members we might not have found it in time. We enjoyed the tour, whose participants (according to the guide) are among only 200 of the 19,000 daily visitors who visit the 1st floor rooms and the chapel balcony that were used by Maria Theresia.

After the tour ended, on a whim we made a 20-min stop at the Palm House; among the tropical and other plants were giant water lilies.

(Note: Klimt’s grave is very near Schönbrunn Palace, though we didn’t visit it.)

PART 4 of 8

Next we headed for Klimt Villa via a short tram ride (after a quite good lunch sandwich from a Ströck Bakery chain shop), arriving just after 2pm and staying until 3:30. Most Klimt fans would likely enjoy touring the rooms that he used, furnished similar to how he had them furnished, and viewing exhibits covering Nazi criticism of Klimt’s art and persecution of his patrons/clients.

We finished the day by visiting the Wien Museum from just after 4 until 6pm. The main draws were 2 Klimt paintings in the permanent collection and the fascinating temporary exhibit Controlled Freedom: The Allied Forces in Vienna, which covered various aspects of the post-WW2 occupation of Vienna by the US, USSR, UK, and France.

Aug 21 (Thu): We left Vienna at 9:18am via the RJ72 train (1st class because the price differed little from 2nd) for the Czech Republic, through which we traveled for 8 nights before reentering Austria on Aug 29 to spend 3 nights in Salzburg. (Czechia trip report is here.)

PART 5 of 8

SALZBURG, AUSTRIA: 3 nights. Main objectives were attending a Salzburg Festival opera and doing a day trip to Berchtesgaden.

LODGING: Villa Flöckner B&B via booking.com. Convenient: 5 min walk to main train/bus station, and 8 min bus transport from front of the B&B to the Old Town (or 20 min walk). Excellent breakfast. We had Superior Double – ok for short stay but rather cramped for 2 people.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT: Our lodging provided a (free) paper city transport pass for unlimited bus transport within the city. NOTE: this does NOT cover bus transport to Berchtesgaden.

FAVORITE RESTAURANT: We were pretty meated-out from our central European journey and so had lunch at the vegetarian Garden Kitchen. It was so good we went back for dinner on another day.

Aug 29 (Fri) – DAY 1: We arrived at our Salzburg lodging at 11:15am after a 3 hour door-to-door ride from Český Krumlov aboard excellent CK Shuttle.

After lunch we walked 20 min to Mozart Bridge, and then spent about 2.5 hours visiting sites along the Rick Steves Salzburg Town Walk, finishing at 3:50pm before catching a bus for a 6 min ride back to our B&B.

At 5:13pm we joined several other well-dressed people in boarding a bus across the street; we were all headed for a Macbeth Opera at the Grosses Festspielhaus, which was being performed as part of the soon-to-end Salzburg Festival.

Though I am no opera fan, I greatly enjoyed the performance; it was a highlight of this month-long trip. Given that virtually all male attendees were wearing suits, I was relieved to have packed a suit; like many others I attended sans tie.

We left the venue at 9:15pm and caught a standing-room only bus packed with other opera attendees. The energy among the bus crowd reminded me of younger crowds (including my younger self) leaving rock concerts. These folks clearly treasured the event.

Aug 30 (Sat) – DAY 2: Rain in the morning, the first rain of our 4 week Europe trip. Sightseeing around Salzburg capped by a Mozart performance.

We walked to the FestungsBahn (funicular) and rode it up to Fortress Hohensalzburg. One advantage of the rain was that there was no line at the funicular and few people at the fortress before the weather cleared at about 1pm. We walked the fortress’s panorama with its descriptive explanations; the experience exceeded expectations.

After a mediocre lunch at a fortress restaurant we did Rick’s Mönchsberg Walk. Other than one key intersection it was well-marked; we of course took the wrong path at that intersection and thus ended up walking halfway down the hill before realizing our error. Doing a U-turn we got on the right path. As the rain had lifted, we encountered many others hiking these easy trails with pretty views of the environs of Salzburg.

We took a long stairway down to the Old Town, and then across the river to do Rick’s Steingass Stroll (in reverse).

PART 6 of 8

That evening we walked 10 min from our lodging to Mirabel Palace for a 90 min Mozart concert in the gorgeous Marble Hall that started at 8pm. This was our 4th (and last) musical performance of this trip; we had front row seats. This was the most casual and least costly (and even had a Rick Steves discount) of the 4 events; we thought it was ok.

Aug 31 (Sun) – DAY 3: Day trip to Berchtesgaden. Glorius sunny blue skies for visiting the “Eagle’s Nest”. The day was planned around our 1pm reservation with Eagle’s Nest Historical Tours.

We picked up sandwiches for lunch, and then caught the 9:18am Berchtesgaden-bound Bus 840 in front of Salzburg train station. NOTE1: the Salzburg city transport pass (provided free by our B&B and other hotels) does NOT cover bus transport to Berchtesgaden. NOTE2: The bus driver takes CASH ONLY. (We saw other passengers with advance-purchase tickets, though we paid cash.)

Arriving at Berchtesgaden Station at 10:16am, we immediately hopped on the about-to-depart Bus 838 to Obersalzburg. (A couple of people moved too slowly and missed the transfer.) We arrived at Obersalzburg about 10 min later.

We had arrived early in order to visit Dokumentationszentrum Obersalzburg; we didn’t know it beforehand, but entrance is free for customers of Eagle’s Nest Historical Tours. The museum exceeded expectations and included a self-guided walk through some of the underground bunkers. There are free lockers for storing bags, etc. We spent about 90 minutes there before having our lunch sandwiches on a sunny bench outside the museum.

The Eagle’s Nest Historical Tour was a highlight of our 4-week trip. Led by a historian, the tour ran from about 1 to 4:30pm. It included a detailed description of the area’s use by top Nazi officials, including a visit to Hitler’s (now-destroyed) residence, a drive past the former family housing of SS officers – still in use today, and a journey up to the Eagle’s Nest. This tour was an outstanding way to visit the sites while learning their context.

We were back in Salzburg for our last night at 6:45pm.

Sep 1 (Mon): We checked out of our lodging at 8:30am and caught the 9am train to Munich to pick up a rental car and drive to the Füssen area.

PART 7 of 8

FÜSSEN area, BAVARIA, GERMANY: 2 nights. Main goals were to visit Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein castles.

LODGING: Konigsblick Poppler (Säuling Klein apt) via booking.com. Spacious with beautiful view of countryside and Alps. One of our top 2 lodgings (out of 10) during this 26-night trip. Washing machine available.

Sep 1 (Mon) – DAY 1: We arrived at Munich Hauptbahnof (main train station) at 10:33am after riding the RJX 260 train (2nd class) 93 min from Salzburg; we picked up a Hertz rental car and began driving to Hopferau near Füssen in the Bavarian Alps. (Our original plan was to rent a car in Füssen, but changed to Munich as it provided opportunity to visit sites when driving to and from Munich.)

Two hours into our drive we stopped at Andech Monastery for its Bavarian buffet lunch and a visit to its baroque church. We then drove 2 more hours to the EDEKA Schmidt grocery in Füssen, and after another 15 min were at our countryside lodging.

Sep 2 (Tue) – DAY 2: Drizzly in the morning but mostly clear by noon. After a 25 min drive we arrived at parking lot 4 of Hohenschwangau/Neuschwanstein castles at 9:15am, and visited the Hohenschwangau Castle gift shop while waiting for our tour to start.

At 9:55am we began our 45 min timed-entry advance-purchase Hohenschwangau castle English Guided Tour.

We then (carrying sandwiches from a shop near the castles’ ticket office) bought 1-way shuttle bus tickets and boarded an 11:08am bus for Marienbrucke (Mary’s Bridge). After the bridge we had our sandwiches under a shelter near the bus stop and walked 10 min downhill to Neuschwanstein Castle.

Next from 12:55pm was our 30 min timed-entry advance-purchase Neuschwanstein castle Tour with audioguide. (NOTE: We had built in a 3 hour gap between entry times for the 2 castles, but got very lucky with the shuttle bus timing so had a bit of a wait. In hindsight I would still do a 3 hour gap.)

We were back at our car at 2:15pm after a 30 min walk from Neuschwanstein castle. (We chose to walk down instead of either walking uphill to the shuttle bus stop or taking a horse-drawn carriage.)

We then visited the Old Town in Füssen; it was good for a coffee stop but otherwise skippable if one has already visited an Old Town in Bavaria, Austria, Czechia, etc. Alternatively we could have visited Linderhof Castle (or other site).

Sep 3 (Wed): Beautiful sunrise over the meadows and mountains as viewed from our lodging. At 10am we began our return drive to Munich. En route we stopped at Ettal Monastery with its excellent gift shop for 90 min until 1pm; we lunched at the monastery’s small cash-only café. It would have been easy to also stop at Wieskirche, but we decided to skip it.

PART 8 of 8

MUNICH: 3 nights. Unlike our other destinations, rather than firm plans we just had a list of options.

LODGING: Numa Blend Apts (Large Studio with Kitchenette - Accessible). Functional and secure; convenient location near the Munich Hauptbahnof (main train station); 15 min walk to Old Town. Washing machine available.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT: We rarely rode public transport, so purchased single-trip tickets from station vending machines.

EXCELLENT BAKERY: During a morning walk we stumbled upon Julius Brantner Bakery in Old Town with a long line of local customers. We came back twice for their excellent bread.

Sep 3 (Wed) – DAY 1: At 2:45pm we returned our rental car (after filling it up with gas). We then walked 10 min to our lodging and self-checked in.

Desiring seafood, we had an excellent (food, wine, service) dinner at a sidewalk table at nearby Pescheria. Worth the high price.

Sep 4 (Thu) – DAY 2: At 11am we walked 15 min to the Old Town and did an out-of-order version of Rick’s Munich City Walk. After our visit to Berchtesgaden a few days earlier, I valued seeing the street of the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch.

During the stroll we lunched at the Beer Garden in Viktualienmarkt; had excellent coffee, cake, and service at Dallmayr; and did a walk-thru of the already-noisy (at 3:30pm) Hofbrauhaus.

Sep 5 (Fri) – DAY 3: Last full day of this European trip. It was rainy and cool; we opted to do something that wasn’t even on our list of options.

After a subway ride we were at BMW HQ at 11:20am, where we had lunch. We then walked over to the BMW Museum where we perused the displays until 2:45pm. Even we non-car aficionados enjoyed it. The display on BMW’s Nazi-era use of slave labor surprised us.

We then rode the subway to Viktualienmarkt for some final shopping before walking to our apt.

Sep 6 (Sat): After a subway ride to the Munich airport we flew to Seattle via London (Heathrow) on British Airways. Our flight departed Munich at 12:20pm and then we had a London layover of just over 3 hours before departing for Seattle at 4:30pm. No ETA (Electronic Travel Authorization) was needed for the Heathrow layover BECAUSE both flight legs were on a single ticket (with our check-in luggage booked thru to Seattle) AND we did not pass through UK Border Control; we landed and departed from Heathrow’s terminal 5, and did have to go through security to reach our departure gate. We landed in Seattle’s SEATAC airport 20 min early at 6pm.

I enjoyed this trip report, too. My first independent travel trip was in 2014 with destinations of Salzburg during the Festspiele and Innsbruck. It was a very nice trip.

Enjoyed all your report! Perfect for this UW Art major.