Salzburg Travel Forum

Hello VT members,

I am now starting to plan our trip to Austria in May. We will be flying into Salzburg on 10 May at 9.30pm. So far the plan is to spend 3 nights in Salzburg, 1 night in Hallstatt, 3 nights in Vienna and 3 nights in Prague. I would appreciate any advice and help on the following:

1) cheap accomodation in Salzburg, and Vienna.
2) things to do in Salzburg and Vienna.
3) train fares and times to Hallstatt, Vienna and Prague.

Thank you for your advice.

Wendy

Hi Wendy,

Try this website for information regarding travel by train (Salzburg, Vienna, etc.): http://fahrplan.oebb.at/bin/query.exe/en

BLewJay

It's less to go from Salzburg to Praha via Munich than from Praha to Vienna. Actually... MUCH cheaper, the more of you travel, the less it is.

I can't tell the exact prices because they depend on the number of travelers. The Salzburg-Vienna-Breclav(GR) "normal" train fare is 52.60 Euro International tariff. The Breclav(GR)-Praha domestic is 294 Crown in Breclav and 324 Czech Crown on the train from the Czech conductor if you have no ticket.
To buy it in Vienna is much more: 31.8 Euro instead of 324 Crowns from conductor. (1 Euro = 25.1012 Crowns)

Via Germany it is better because you can use the Bayern-Böhmen ticket from Salzburg to Plzen in Czech Republic, it's a fixed 1-day pass costing 32 Euro for 2-5 people, so the more you are the cheaper it is. The Bayern-Böhmen ticket validity is from 9 AM, but you will be fine. I suggest to take a visit in Nürnberg or Regensburg on your way. The Plzen-Praha supplemental ticket on the train is about 5 Euro. That means, 2 people can go from Salzburg to Praha for as cheap as 21 Euro/person.

From Praha, the Praha-Vienna is 294 Crown till Breclav(GR) and 17.40 Euro from Breclav(GR) till Vienna, that makes the entire Praha-Vienna ca. 29 Euro.

The Czech supplemental tickets (Plzen-Praha or Praha-Breclav(GR)) are also dicounted for second person: 25% off, for further people 50% off.

BTW: since going via Germany is cheaper, I suggest to use the

http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en for the entire journey; it's the German front-end, but you can look up trains all over Europe with it, even in some parts of Asia.

The price information I have is from IDOS database, the front-end is www.jizdenka.cz but you have to know how to use it properly, it's not trivial.

The Bayern-Böhmen ticket is valid in Germany for Regional Express trains or local trains, not IC, EC, ICE - but all trains to Praha are Regional Express, this is not a limitation.

I'm jealous! So many things to do in Salzburg. It all depends on what you like. If you are into classical music, then there are lots of history there. Before going, watch the film Amadeus which will give you a nice context to your trip. If you are into operas and concerts and you care about your pocket, then I would save most of the energies for Prague where you can go to good operas and concerts for the fraction of the price that you would pay in Austria.
It is funny though that lots of the American tourism to Salzburg is to see the locations of the movie Sounds of Music. I stayed at his hostel in Vienna:
http://www.hostelruthensteiner.com/
Martin

Thank you all for your help.