Dreamt.Planned.Travelled: Austria

01 July 2011

Salzburg (and around)

This section includes Salzburg and a little about some day trips.

Busy Altstadt

Salzburg is the city of Mozart, a nice city in Austria.

Band at Mirabell gardens

How to get there
Salzburg has good connections with some cities such as Munich, Linz, Vienna and Innsbruck. Check the Austrian rail site OEBB (http://www.oebb.at/) for details. There's also an airport (http://www.salzburg-airport.com/en/) serving Salzburg.

Why might you want to visit Salzburg?
Salzburg is a truly beautiful city offering splendid architecture. Its location makes visiting the stunning Tyrolean Alps logistical and the green area, with lakes such as Wolfgangsee and Mondsee, is very close as well.

City mapping
Salzburg is not a very big place. It is divided by the river Salzach. The Altstadt (Old Town) occupies the south bank while the Hauptbahnhof (Central Train Station) is on the north bank.

Beautiful architecture in the Altstadt

Schloss Mirabell

Sights
You can start in the Aldstadt (Old town) by roaming around the streets seeing some great squares like Mozartplatz. It's fun to roam around and the architecture is delightful. My personal recommendation is to reach the entrance of the Altstadt and just lose your map; go where your instinct takes you. You won't be disappointed You can take a funicular to Festung Hohensalzburg , a fortress above the Old Town. When you're up there, you get bird's eye views of the Old Town and beyond--a great way to see the landmarks of the city. You can take a guided tour (with audioguides) to explore inside the fortress (this is included in the admission fee if you buy the full ticket) and you can see the dungeons, torture chambers etc.

View from te fortress

Statue of Mozart at Mozartplatz

On the opposite bank of the river
is the Schloss Mirabell
(Mirabell Palace) and the Mirabell gardens, some
lovely, picturesque gardens
where part of the movie The
Sound of Music was shot. Sometimes, there are musicians performing here in a band.

Accommodation
We stayed in Hotel Mozart , around a 20-min walk to the Hauptbahnhof and a 15 min walk to the Altstadt. It's a nice hotel with fair rooms and fine staff. The rooms lack A/C though, which could become a necessity in summer. http://www.hotel-mozart.at/

Hotel Mozart

Hotel review: Hotel Mozart

Rooms- 7/10 Rooms were fine and had all the usual mod-cons. It did get warm though; we went in June.
Staff- 7/10 The staff were mostly fine including the receptionist, who however seemed to have gotten pretty pissed once because we called him twice one evening for towels.
Location- 7/10 A 20 minute walk each from the Hauptbahnhof (main railway station) and the Altstadt (Old Town). However it is very close to Mirabell Gardens and Palace besides there are many some restaurants nearby.
Breakfast- 8/10 Nice breakfast each morning. There were also nice cakes in the buffet spread. It cost us 5 EUR extra.
Total- 29/40 Mozart is a fine hotel in Salzburg. A bit far from the main touristy areas but Salzburg is a small city so it shouldn't really matter much.

Overall: Recommended

Food
Try the Italian restaurant Spaghetti and Co in the Old Town, near the northern peripheral road (near Mozart Geburthaus). They serve good pizzas.
There is a good cafe at Mozartplatz serving nice cakes.

Mirabell gardens and palace

Some day-trips
Here is a possible half-day trip:
(We took it on a private tour though)
Go to St Gilgen, a very picturesque town by the Woolfgangsee, Lake Wolfgang. Take a ferry to St Wolfgang (40 min), another nice town on the banks of the same lake. Explore the lovely church of the town (no pictures allowed in the interior). Then go to Mondsee, another lakeside town, with a lovely church. The town is nice for shopping and roaming around too.

St Gilgen as seen from the ferry

Mozart's house in St Gilgen

cathedral at St Wolfgang

Church at Mondsee

Other day trips we did were Innsbruck and Linz. These were done independently using trains.

Innsbruck's Altstadt with the backdrop

Some info about Innsbruck:
The Hauptbahnhof is south-east of the Aldstadt. It takes around 20 min to walk to the Aldstadt. Once there, you can see the picturesque architecture and some amazing views of the mountains.

view of Innsbruck from the Innsbruck Nordkette train

view from atop the mountain

Feel the urge to go up there? It's not too difficult. Just take the escalator down from near the Congress and pay 27 euros pp to the person at the ticket counter. Then take the train up to a mountain. The train would stop twice but don't get down. At the next stop, take a special kind of lift to the top. You get great views. There's a buffet up there too. The place is called Innsbruck Nordkette.

One of the many works at Swarovski Crystal Empire

Swarovski Crystal Empire
This is located at the village of Wattens, some 25-35 km from Innsbruck. The center has some amazing works etc with crystal, like a crystal room where you feel totally out of orientation and some crystal calligraphy etc. Of course, they also have a shop.

To get there, you can take a bus which stops at Wattens (opposite Swarovski; bound to Schwaz). You can take a taxi from Innsbruck to Swarovski Crystal Empire but it could be extremely hard to find a taxi to get back to Innsbruck, and a bus may be your only option. The bus station is in the town of Wattens and there is a path from the Swarovski Crystal Empire to the bus station; you do not have to walk on the highway to reach Wattens.

Linz

the garden

Landstrasse

Hauptplatz

Walk toward an elegant square called Hauptplatz. If you're coming from the railway station, you'll come across a small garden and then a nice shopping street (Landstrasse) which would lead towards Hauptplatz. As soon as you cross the river is the Ars Electronica Center.

Tourist Friendliness

Many people in shops, restaurants, hotels, shops etc speak English, but you may want to try a few phrases of German!

The Altstadt is not very big and all the squares and street names have signs, even if they are a little difficult to read.

In the Altstadt, mostly only taxis are allowed entry in to the streets but most areas are pedestrianised.

Safety
Salzburg is a very safe city. In many areas of the center, even walking around midnight shouldn't be a problem- with some general precautions.

More Pictures

Inside Salzburg's Dom (Cathedral)

A church in Salzburg, near the Mirabell Palace

Yet another beautiful square...

A classic shot: the Mirabell Gardens, the Cathedral and the fortress

Itineraries

Two days

On the first day visit the Altstadt (Old Town) and roam around aimlessly for a while, then go to the Festung Hohensalzburg fortress. In the evening go to Mirabell Palace and gardens and spend some time roaming around that area. Return to the Altstadt on the second day to catch what you missed.

Three or more days

Follow the above. On the additional days, you have chances for day trips, such as Innsbruck, Linz, the lake area or a salt mine.

Last visit- Apr 2012

No of visits- 2

First visit- Jun 2011

29 June 2011

Vienna

Vienna

Vienna (Wien) is the capital and biggest city of Austria.

GETTING THERE

Austrian Airlines flies to Vienna from various cities, even from outside Europe. For people coming from India, you can fly from Mumbai or Delhi.

If there's no such flight, consider connecting through Frankfurt from Lufthansa.

Stephensdom (only a part)

Vienna has some good rail links such as Bregenz, Linz and Salzburg in Austria and some out. Check the website of the rail company OEBB for details.

Vienna has several train stations, not just one. If arriving from Salzburg, at the time of writing you'll arrive at Westbahnhof (West Station).

CITY MAPPING

interior of the Stephensdom

The Innere Stadt is the true heart of the city. North and north east of it is Prater, the location of the Ferris Wheel and the Theme Park. Further is the Danube bank with the UN offices.

SIGHTS

The allure of Vienna is to roam around the Innere Stadt (Inner City) and see the beautiful architecture and greenery. The problem is that it is very touristy--which can be quite irritating and can make exploring the city a daunting task.

Crowded, touristy street

You can start at Kartner Ring where you can see the opera Staatsoper . This is also the hub of the Vienna Hop-on Hop-off buses. From here, you can go to Kartner Strasse , a major shopping and eating street--very, very touristy. At the end of this street (fully pedestrianised) is the city landmark Stephensdom --a huge cathedral on Stephensplatz. One thought may go to you--how to capture this fully in a picture! It's awfully big. You can go inside and see its marvelous interior.

Hofburg

Another major sight is the Hofburg. Once you go inside the lovely palace, you enter a square with gardens where exibitions are held. That time, a car exibhition was held and there were several cars in tents. You can roam around the lovely squares (2 of them) and the gardens and see lovely views of several buildings close by.

North-east of this area is Prater, home to the giant Ferris Wheel (called Riesenrad). You enter the theme park and walk over to the Riesenrad entrance. You buy your tickets and get in to the queue. The people there would take your photo and sell at a high price. Then you enter the Ferris Wheel. The ride lasts 20 min or so and you get bird's-eye views of the city. One advantage: the "cars" of the ferris wheel are not filled to full capacity- occupants can roam around at their leisure and take in the views.

The Ringstrasse (Ring Rd) is home to some great architecture.

On the Ringstrasse is the Rathaus (Town Hall)

ACCOMMODATION

view from Riesenrad

We stayed at the Imperial Riding School Renaissance Hotel, around 1.5 km south-east of the center. The rooms were good and some had nice views of a cathedral. The hotel had all the usual facilities one expects like breakfast, a shop, a fitness center etc. The breakfast was filling.

If you want to take the Hop-On-Hop-Off buses (see below), tickets are purchasable from the hotel's travel desk. The hotel also has a souvenir shop with souvenir prices comparable to the city's other shop prices.

the Riesenrad

To get to the Innere Stadt from the hotel, you should turn right at the driveway, then right again at Ungargasse and then right again at the junction with Renweg (where you'll see restaurants Burger King and Illy), then straight till you reach the Innere Stadt.

A taxi to the airport from the hotel should cost +/- €40 during day time hours.

EATING

Innere Stadt has lots of small restaurants and outdoor cafes and take away places. We once ate at Roseburger Markt which was a buffet spread in a hall below street level near Kartnerstrasse.

lobby of my hotel

- An outdoor eatery called Venezia at Kartner strasse has OK food,
high prices. Has outdoor seating and views from first floor from the
inside has good views.

- Illy, at intersection of Ungargasse and Rennweg serves fine drinks and sandwiches/ciabattas etc, but at high prices.

TRANSPORT

Pizzeria Venezia

There are trams, U-Bahn, S-Bahn and buses. A day ticket is valid on all and costs €5.70 and needs to be validated once (on the first ride).

TOURS

There are Hop on Hop Off buses. There are 3 lines (each lasts 1 hr per round).

One goes at the periphery of the Innere Stadt

A second goes to Prater and Danube area

A Hop-on Hop-off bus

The third goes to Schloss Schonbrunn.

The main stop is at Staatsoper where all 3 lines meet.

A day ticket for all 3 lines costs €20 per person.

Tourist Friendliness

Vienna is quite a safe place to visit and walk around in, but it isn't too pedestrian-friendly in my opinion. Traffic is allowed in the Innere Stadt and it can be fast. However, there are pedestrian lights.

There's good public transport in the form of trams, U-Bahn (like metro), S-Bahn (like a suburban train, connecting the airport too), the CAT (City Airport Train) and taxis.

SAFETY

The Innere Stadt is safe enough- but this doesn't go to say that precautions aren't necessary. Some areas outside the Innere Stadt may look somewhat sketchy but in general they too should be fine.