Deepak12
Traveller
3 comments
Posted 14 years ago
Hi,
First, I must congratulate the administrator(s) of this site for the amount of information available here. It's really useful and am glad that I finally found a great site regarding Interrail.
My query is regarding Salzburg and Innsbruck. I'm traveling from Copenhagen and reaching Vienna by flight and have 3 days to explore. I'm taking the Austria Interrail pass and am planning to spend 1 day in salzburg, 1 day in Innsbruck and the final day in vienna before taking the flight back.
Could someone suggest good places to visit in Salzburg and Innsbruck. I have more or less decided to visit the Summer palace in Vienna but not sure about the other places. I have only 1 day for each city and I really like to visit mountains, cable cars etc. But the other sites in the Internet mention more about buildings in these places, which I'm not that interested. Could someone suggest nice mountain views, lakes, countryside etc in these places. Is the swarowski crystal place good one to visit ?
Also let me know if there is a scenic train route from any of this cities which I can use with my Interrail pass.
Thanks in advance,
Deepak.
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Hi Deepak!
Salzburg: A walk through the historic center is a must. It's not that big so you wont need much time. ;) Then you could go up to Feste Hohensalzburg (the old fortess above the city) with a funicular and have a walk at the castle and then go to the Mönchsberg which also provides a nice view over the town.
On the other side of the city there is Gaisberg which is more rural and natural but easily reachable with public transport. From there you have nice views over Salzburg and the surrounding area.
Innsbruck: It's dominated by the so-called Nordkette a massive mountain range to the north of the city. You can go up partly with the Hungerburgbahn, a funicular. In Innsbruck itself just have a short walk through the historical town center - dont miss the Goldenes Dachl.
In the south of the city there are two tramways which run to the countryside. Either use Tram 6 to Igls - a nice ride through the wood up to Igls where you can go with Patscherkofelbahn, an aerial lift up to a mountain. The alternative is Stubaitalbahn which runs some 20km out of the town through the countryside - surrounded by mountain ranges. :)
Swarowski Kristallwelten is nice from what I've heard but is some way out of town - there are some shuttle buses operating but they may take ~30min or so.
Scenic train routes...hmm, though one. As we have many but since you are somewhat short on time it gets a bit difficult.
Wien - Salzburg is about 2h30 - 3h with the direct trains. On some parts (after Wien and before Salzburg) there is nice landscape but not as spectacular as elsewhere. I recommend you to go this way as the alternatives would be much more time-consuming.
Salzburg - Innsbruck: Direct way (via Germany) is ~2h but not as scenic (nice though) as the alternative via Bischofshofen and Zell am See, which takes 3h30 to 4h15. But you will run through the Alps. :)
When you are in Innsbruck you also you go up to Seefeld via the Karwendelbahn (included in InterRail) which takes about 1h and is also a quite spectacular ride. Seefeld is also quite Ok for a short visit.
Hope that helps you for the beginning, just ask if you need more details. And if you want to support the work here at the website and the forum, please buy your official InterRail ticket at [ux]https://rail.shop/interrail[/ux] . Thank you. :)
Flo 8)
Deepak12
Traveller
3 comments
Thanks flow.. Only thing though was that I was late in asking the question and by the time your reply came, I was already in the trip and missed out on some of them that you had mentioned. I covered most of them though and must admit Salzburg was a great city and the entire surrounding areas in both Salzburg and Innsbruck were great.
Thanks a lot for providing these info. next up is my trip to Italy and I need some clarification on that also. However, I'll post it in the Italy link :)
Jakexe
Traveller
2 comments
There are endless hiking trails around Innsbruck. You can do the Glungezer/Patscherkofel area, or Nochspitz/Axamer Lizum area on the south side of Innsbruck or head into the Stubaital. All within 30min drive and plenty of Hütten everywhere.
Take a day trip to South Tirol - sunnier and, imho, food is similar but slightly different, good wine. More stable hiking weather too. Brixen is about a 75min drive from Innsbruck. So you could visit Brixen, Sterzing, or Bozen, plenty of hiking and Alms and Hütte to visit. Perhaps if the weather in North Tirol is looking iffy (as it often is for hiking), go there for some hiking. Innsbruck has a very good public transport so there is no need to take innsbruck airport taxis Salzburg is compact, if you don't do the museums etc. I enjoyed just walking around Old Town and the Hohensalzburg Fortress, Salzburg Cathedral and market square environs.