A Nature Lover's Austria Trip | Family Trip | Salzburg and Vienna

The planning

We were looking to travel to Europe with kids from India during the mid year break (4th - 11th of October 2024). We were focused mostly on experiencing nature, few leisurely hikes, away from the hustle of big cities. We were deciding on on Austria and Switzerland but chose Austria and primarily Salzburg region. It would be easier on the pocket slightly and also allow us to base ourselves mostly in one place and do day trips. Hopping cities, packing and unpacking would have been stressful considering we were travelling with kids. So the plan was to fly from Bangalore to Vienna, on landing take a train from airport station to Salzburg, stay in Salzburg for 5 nights, travel back to Vienna for a 2 night stay and then back to Bangalore

Day 0 - Day 1 | 03 Oct - 04 Oct | Bangalore to Vienna to Salzburg 

We took an Etihad flight from Bangalore to Vienna via Abu Dhabi on the night of 0ct 3rd. It was perfect for us as it would reach Vienna by 7 am local time on 04 oct. Even though the flight was delayed by an hour, it did not disturb our plans that much. Once you come out of the immigration, it is a short walk to the train station and easy to find if you follow the signs. Name of the station in Flughafen Wien Bahnhof. There are direct trains to Salzburg and there are ones which have a change over at Wien Hbf, the main station as well. We chose to book a direct train at 10:33 AM as we had a couple of big suitcases. Booking was pretty easy at the red OBB Kiosk placed at the station. OBB by the way is the main company that runs public transportation in Austria. In the following days I used the OBB app to book tickets. It was a life saver !

A bit unexpected though, the train which was meant to be a direct train wasn't to be. Not sure what the logistics issues were, but we had to transfer to another train enroute to Salzburg. In fact we missed the announcement, but a gentleman on the train let us know that we had to change. It was a bit of a hustle but we managed to switch platforms and quickly get on to the next train which was about to leave. This train was jam packed. There are luggage racks in these trains but there wasn't any space. We managed to get the luggage tucked away and get some seats. 

Our home for the next 5 days would be an Airbnb condo I had booked. It was about 7-8 mins walk from Salzburg Hbf. Salzburg is very walkable too. It wasn't that difficult for us despite a light rain. It was a bit chilly.. temperature was around 8-9 deg. celcius.

After we settled down in our apartment, went on a stroll despite the rain and had an early dinner at a Thai restaurant nearby. Did not do anything much after. Weather was gloomy and we were tired too. 

Prices 

Train travel: 171 euros for 4 of us with discounted tickets for kids

Stay: 170 euro / day. It was a little beyond what I had initially budgeted, but closeness to Main station and having a fully equipped kitchen were our priorities which meant we had to pay slightly more.

The food: Got 3 dishes and paid 17.5 euros. Portions were good. Eating out can get expensive but this seemed like a good spend. In the following days we would mostly cook breakfast and dinner and pack food for the day trips - mostly energy bars, nuts, sandwich etc.Keeping the kids tummies full was the key to a peaceful trip! 

Day 2 | 05 Oct | Local Sightseeing and St. Gilgen

We started they day early by 8:30 AM. Our first stop was Hohensalzburg fortress. It was raining again albeit more of a heavy drizzle. It was again around 10 degrees. Booked a bus ride to the to the main part of city (Rathaus stop). A short walk from there and we were at the ticket counter. We took a combined ticket of the funicular to the top and the fortress. Despite the rain, funicular ride to the top gave us few enchanting views of the city. We explored the fortress, enjoyed the views up top and were ready to head back. Due to some technical glitches, funicular wasn't operating. We were advised to walk down. Walking down was fun too.. we enjoyed it.

Tip: Can save some bucks by hiking up to the fortress, if you have the time and will power to navigate steep inclines.

We had a quick pitstop for snacks that we had packed. And headed by walk towards Mirabelplatz bus stop where we were supposed to catch bus 150 to St. Gilgen by 12:40 pm. The ride took about 40 minutes.

Right beside the St. Gilgen bus stop, there is the cable car ride which takes you to up top the Zwolferhorn mountain. Also visible from the bus stop is the beautiful wolfgangsee lake. We were divided as to which to visit first. Decided to do the Zwolferhorn hike first. It was a beautiful ride with breathtaking views of the Wolfgangsee lake. Once we reached the top, we went on hike along the Pillstein trail which is a 4 km hike. It was pretty chilly up there and hardly any one around. The rain gods were kind too..sky had cleared up and we got some amazing views. We enjoyed the hike, munching on more snacks along the way. We came back by the cable car to the ticket station by around 3:45 pm and walked to the lake.

At the lake we wanted to take a ferry to St Wolfgang and back. However the lady at the ferry ticket counter told us that we may not have enough time for that. She suggested to take the one way ferry and then take a bus ride back to Salzburg with one change over. We took the ferry at 4:00 pm. The ferry had an open deck at the top. But it was raining slightly by now and we could not enjoy much there. By the time we headed back, seats in the lower section were all taken. Yet we managed to find ourselves some vantage points where we could stand and get amazing views of the lake along the way.  Sipped some coffee and hot chocolate which we purchased on board. In 45 mins we alighted at St. Wolfgang.

Strolled around for a bit there and headed to M pacher house which was our bus stop to catch Bus # 536 to Strobl Busbahnhof from where we could transfer to Bus 150 back to Salzburg. Reached Salzburg Hbf by around 7:10 pm. 

We had one important thing to do which was to buy groceries. The next day was Sunday and we had been reminded by many friends that everything is closed on Sunday.

Prices

Bus ride to Hohensalzburg Fortress (Rathaus bus stop): 7.2 Euro

Tickets to Hohensalzburg Fortress (including Funicular ride): 40.8 Euros

Bus ride to St. Gilgen: 23.4 Euros 

Cable Car ride to Zwolferhorn mountain: 79 Euros

Ferry ride across Wolfgangsee to St. Wolfgang: 30.6 Euros

Bus ride from St. Wolfgang to Salzburg Hbf: 33.4 Euros

All tickets had 50% discount for kids 

Day 3 | 06 Oct | Clear skies, Visit to Werfen Ice caves

It was a beautiful morning. For the first time during the trip we saw clear skies. Temperature was hovering around 12-14 degrees and picked up to 15-16 later in the day. We walked to the the Hbf station to catch the 9:25 AM S-Bahn suburban train to Werfen station. Typically one would have to walk 10 mins to the bus shuttle station to catch the shuttle which then takes you to the information/ticket centre. Every hour though, the shuttle comes to the train station to pick people. We were lucky, the train reached on time at 10:19 and there was a shuttle waiting. We paid the driver cash for the ride and it took us to the information centre. The bus ride was beautiful with slightly winding roads. We got a great view of the Hohenwerfen Fortress, standing majestically on top of another hill. 

On reaching the information centre, booked the ticket online as there was a slight discount. Had a bit of a problem I guess with network reception. Could not get the ticket booking confirmation. The lady at the ticket counter provided a printed version of the online ticket. Next we had to walk to the point where we could take the cable car to the top. In about 10 mins we reached the place where we got on to the  able car. It does not drop you to the caves. They make you work harder for it, with another 10 min uphill hike. However it is definitely worth it. The views along the way were simply out of this world!! 

Once we reached the cave entrance, we had to wait a bit for our turn to get the guided tour. There are separate queues for English and German. The cave is kind of maintained at 0 degrees throughout. Once the doors are opened, a rush of cold breeze greets you. We were prepared though with layered clothing. The guide takes you through a flight of 700 stairs up and down explaining the different ice formations and tales of people who ventured to discover the cave. Although the cave is 42 km long, we are taken on a route that spans around a kilometre. There is no lighting inside. They give lanterns to some people in the group to guide us through. It gets a little tougher as you go higher. The climb gets steeper, but the guide was very funny and kept people in good spirits. Surprisingly, despite the cold surroundings, you are sweating the end of the tour with all the exertion. Definitely it was  one of a kind experience, well worth the spend !!!

On the way back we bought something to refresh ourselves at the eatery in the information center and headed back the same way - cable car, shuttle and train back from werfen station back to Salzburg. We boarded the train at 3 pm and by 3:40 pm we were in Salzburg Hbf.

We refreshed ourselves at the apartment and headed out to visit Mirabell Gardens. It was aroud 20-25 mins walk to get there. After a stroll through the gardens and countless selfies, we headed back to the apartment, cooked, had dinner and called it a day. We did not have time to visit Mirabell palace, also has planned the grander Hofburg palace in vienna, hence gave it a skip.

Prices:

Train to Werfen: 58.6 Euros including return 

Shuttle to information center: 30 Euros including return

Ice caves experience including cable car ride: 114 Euros

Day 4 | 07 Oct | Zell am see and snowy Kitsteinhorn, Top of Salzburg 

This turned out to be the best day of the tour. Weather was great and we got to enjoy pristine snow covered mountains, not something which we had experienced in close quarters. It was a slightly longer ride but definitely worth it. We started by Regional express train from Salzburg Hbf at 9:09 AM to Zell am see. At Zell am see, we got on to Bus 660 to Kitzsteinhorn BerghBahn Talstation and reached by around 11:30. This is where we purchased tickets for the Panorama Bahn cable cars. With two changeovers you reach the "Top of Salzburg" which is a viewing deck at 3080 meters ! The views were simply magical. However we couldn't stay longer as the wind was too strong and chilly. We came down to the cable car station below where we played with snow making snowman. The snow man ended up looking like an alien though

We came down to the BerghBahn Talstation and back to Zell am see bus station on Bus 660 again by around 3 pm and had a lunch at a small joint. It wasnt great though and not worth the spend. Then we strolled for a bit at the Zell  am see lake and headed back by train 4:47 pm back to Salzburg. Purchased sandwiches for dinner at SPAR.

Prices:

Salzburg to Kitzsteinhorn BerghBahn Talstation: 57.40 Euros 

Top of Salzburg ticket: 171 Euros 

Back to Zell am see by bus: 16.60 Euros 

Train from Zell am see to Salzburg: 44 Euros 

Day 5 | 08 Oct | Lammerklam Gorge , the postcard views of Hallstat and a bit of a misadventure

This is one of the days of our trip which did not go exactly as planned. The plan was to ride by train to Golling- Abtenau by the 8:16 train and from there take a bus 470 to Oberscheffau Lamerofen for the first stop, Lammerklam. Post that we were to hop on to 470 again to Gosau followed by Bus 542 to Hallstat Gosamuhle and then another connection, bus 543 to Hallstat Lahn stop, our final destination.

At Golling station though, Wife and daughter could not get down in time. Wife's phone also was with my son who got down with me. So she had no money and no phone. She however managed to get down at the next station, Werfen where I eventually picked her up. But these were tense moments for all of us. Surprisingly, she could not get help from people around as they would either not understand English or were busy in their own lives and didn't seem to care. 

We headed back to Golling station, but had to wait and hour for the Bus to Oberscheffau. It seemed like it wasn't a popular route, hence the buses were not that frequent. We got on to the next Bus 470 at 10:42 AM and headed on our way. These buses have a display and a voice over which reads out the upcoming stops. However it was lagging by a stop. I was checking on my OBB app too but somehow missed our stop. Tried to get the driver's attention but that didn't work. It took me some time to realise that we had to press the red button to request for a halt. Once we did that, the driver promptly stopped at the next stop, but we were 2 stops ahead and middle of nowhere on a highway. We got down and walked back around 2 kilometres. It wasn't particularly walkable for most part.

Finally by around 11:30 AM we were at Lammerklam. If everything went as per plan, we would have been there by 9-9:10 AM. We had lost a good 2.5 hours and a bit of our spirit. However we were committed to making most of the time we had on this last day at Salzburg. We explored  Lammerklam Gorge. It is a path beside the river, mostly through wooden paths and bridges. It was a fairly easy hike of about 40 mins. There were hardly any tourists. Seemingly it is not on the top attractions around Salzburg, but definitely worth checking out this natural beauty if you have the time. We enjoyed our walk which made us forget our anxious moments of the morning.

Tip: If you are planning to ride this route by Bus, note that they run once every hour for most part of the day. So please plan accordingly.

We narrowly missed our bus at 12:50 PM. So had to wait until 1:50 PM for the next Bus 470 at the bus stop, Oberscheffau Lamerofen which is a short walk from the starting point of the gorge. We had some snacks while we sat at the forelorn bus stop. Passing an hour though with couple.of restless kids wasn't the easiest thing to do.

Bus 470 was late by 10 minutes. It took us to Gosau. This time I made sure I pressed the damn red button, even though it was the last stop for the bus ! From there, we waited 15 mins or so and took Bus 542 to Hallstat Gosamuhle. We had a quick transfer to Bus 543 as it was waiting already. It appeared that it was planned to be a quick connection for tourists convenience.

Tip: Make sure you get down at Hallstat Lahn (aka Seelande) stop. 

We were there by 3:15 pm. We soaked in the picture perfect postcard views of the Hallstat lake and its beautiful surroundings and took a stroll. I happened to mention to the kids about a skull house where they had kept 1200 skulls. They were adamant to visit it. It was about 10-15 mins walk..They had pictured 'scary house' in their heads. So naturally they were disappointed. It is a small room though and has an entry ticket too. We could have skipped. The main attractions though are the Salt mine and Five fingers. But we decided to try those as we had similar experiences already.

Tip: The place was brimming with tourists even during the shoulder season. Something to keep in mind while coming to Hallstat if you are planning to visit the attractions too. In that case you need to reserve a day for Hallstat

Moving on..We bought some coffee, snacks and icecream for kids. Had a nice time by the lake watching swans ride through the strong waves of the lake. The wind had picked up and it looked like it would rain. We headed back to Hallstat Lahn bus stop and booked the next available bus back. On the return journey we took the Bad Ischl route - Bus 544 to Hallstat Gosamuhle where typically bus 542 would be waiting enroute to Bad Ischl. At Bad Ischl we took our favourite Bus 150 back to Salzburg. We had boarded bus 544 at 5:40 pm and were at Salzburg Hbf at 7:40 pm. It was a day well though despite initial setbacks.

Prices:

Train and Bus ride to Lammerklam: 30 Euros

Lammerklam entry: 24 Euros

Oberscheffau Lamerofen to Hallstat by Bus: 30 Euros

Hallstat to Salzburg by Bus via Bad Ischl: 47.80 Euros

This was the end of Salzburg leg of our tour, filled with diverse experiences that we would cherish for life. The next day we were to head to Vienna for a couple of nights