Here's my revamped itinerary:
Day 1 - Travel to Budapest (arrive afternoon)
Day 2 - Budapest
Day 3 - Budapest to Vienna in the afternoon (Train 2.5hr)
Day 4 - Vienna
Day 5 - Vienna
Day 6 - Vienna to Salzburg (Train 2.5hr) - collect rental car, drive to Grossglockner then Hallstat
Day 7 - Hallstat to Innsbruck - return car at Innsbruck
Day 8 - Innsbruck to Chur (Train 3hr)
** Chur being a logical stop to Zermatt rather than a super long day, or should I bite the bullet and head straight to Zermatt (8hr train ride) **
Day 9 - Chur to Zermatt (Glacier express or regular train - 5hr)
Day 10 - Zermatt - Interlaken/Grindelwald (Train 3hr)
Day 11 - Interlaken/Grindelwald
Day 12 - Interlaken - Zurich (Train 2hr) - flight departs at night
Question: Should I cut down a day in Vienna to spend more time in Salzburg instead ?
I think it depends on your interest. We just came back from a 4d3n trip to Vienna. It's a nice city but it is not especially appealing to me as a tourist. I prefer the Vivaldi concert at Karlskirche over the Mozart concert at Vienna Music Society. Prater is probably nice if you are with kids. We did a day trip to Bratislava. Maybe because I know about Slovakia less than Austria, I find Bratislava more interesting. Comparing Vienna to Budapest, I find there are more things to do in Budapest. Have not been to Salzburg yet but also not exactly on my radar.
You will need to buy a "vignette" (something like singapore toll coupon before ERP launched in 1998) for driving on Switzerland and Austria highway/motorways. Doing so without buying will risk fines if u are stopped by police.
Cost of vignette is CHF40 for switzerland and 9.9 Euros for 10 days for Austria
If u are picking up rental car from Switzerland and Austria separately, i think the rental car will come with vignette already. Purchasing is only required if u are driving a foreign car (e.g Hungary registered) over to Austria and Switzerland.
The vignettes are easily available at many expressway R&R busineses. What i did was when I crossed the border to Austria & Switzerland using my german rental car, i immediately stopped at the nearest petrol/convenience store to buy it.
Here's my revamped itinerary:
Day 1 - Travel to Budapest (arrive afternoon)
Day 2 - Budapest
Day 3 - Budapest to Vienna in the afternoon (Train 2.5hr)
Day 4 - Vienna
Day 5 - Vienna
Day 6 - Vienna to Salzburg (Train 2.5hr) - collect rental car, drive to Grossglockner then Hallstat
Day 7 - Hallstat to Innsbruck - return car at Innsbruck
Day 8 - Innsbruck to Chur (Train 3hr)
** Chur being a logical stop to Zermatt rather than a super long day, or should I bite the bullet and head straight to Zermatt (8hr train ride) **
Day 9 - Chur to Zermatt (Glacier express or regular train - 5hr)
Day 10 - Zermatt - Interlaken/Grindelwald (Train 3hr)
Day 11 - Interlaken/Grindelwald
Day 12 - Interlaken - Zurich (Train 2hr) - flight departs at night
Question: Should I cut down a day in Vienna to spend more time in Salzburg instead ?
If you're like me and don't really like cities that much, then you can consider cutting down a day in Vienna. Salzburg and Innsbruck are both large cities in Austria as well, although smaller than Vienna.
But considering you're planning so many days in Vienna, I'm assuming you have things in mind already? Honestly I spent at least 2-3 days in Vienna, Salzburg, and Innsbruck and each of them can take up to 3 days each for sure. But with your itinerary it's really more of what you want to sacrifice. Hallstat itself can also be a 2hours thing or a half day trip if you also head up to the salt mines.
Might be easier if you share with you really want to do, and what you're on the fence for - then we can better advise on things you're uncertain about.
This forum is moderated by volunteer moderators who will react only to members' feedback on posts. Moderators are not employees or representatives of HWZ. Forum members and moderators are responsible for their own posts.
