Austria’s must see sites include Vienna, Salzburg & Innsbruck. Since we had been visiting cities for a while and had quite a heavy dose of museums, castles, cathedrals and the like, we wanted to make this trip more inclined towards nature and relaxation. And did it happen? Nature –YES!!! Relaxation – well, we had to compromise as we had to rely on public transport and wanted to see as much as possible. Nevertheless, not a single place on our itinerary disappointed us given the amount of time we spent in buses and trains.  

We started our trip from Eindhoven, Netherlands to Salzburg, Austria by an overnight train. We had four transfers in between, the longest travel time being 11 PM to 5.30 AM from Koln to Munich on ICE (Inter continental express). We couldn’t even manage little sleep, thanks to the chair car that we booked (Sleepers are available, we simply didn’t know and were in a last minute booking hurry) and the noisy environment. SIGH!

Having spent a sleepless night in the train, we wanted to give a try and check in our luggages in the hotel (or just leave them there) though the booking was from noon. We booked a room at Hotel Guiter hirte, supposedly 3 min walk from the station but it was actually a good 5-7 minutes walk. We located the hotel without much hassle as we had a google map of the walking directions.Fortunately, we were not only able to get rid of luggages but refreshed ourselves for day 1 of our trip. Our plan was to see Untersburg, a mountain that had a cable car running to the top giving fantastic views. Then we had plans to look around the palace and go for a cruise on salzach river.

We reached Untersburg by Bus 25, On the way, we had a warm conversation with a co-passenger who happened to be a Dutch National and had relocated to Salzburg. The cable ride was free with the Salzburg card which we had purchased. It took us to the top of Untersburg which is 1972m high and the view was a good start for our trip. There is a cafe at the top and we could also spot a lot of hikers, so if you are interested in hiking, check out the options when you plan. Interestingly, it is said that Hitler had a palace built on top of another mountain in the border of austria with a view to Untersburg and was obsessed with the mountains. (Read more about this here).

After spending some time in Untersburg, we returned to the hotel where we stayed and had lunch on the way back.  

The next plan of action was to go to the old town in the evening. We reached the Salzach river in the evening for a cruise but alas the counter closed when we were the second in line for tickets! 

It pays to work out the little details beforehand L Anyways we spent some nice time by the river with an Icecream to complete the picture J and continued with our visit to the HohenSalzburg fortress. The old town was so full of life and cheered us up instantly.