Austria (Salzburg)

Country visited: Austria
Places visited: Salzburg
Dates visited: 2nd week of September 2015 for 1 day

General tips:

(1) Salzburg is beautiful both within the city and in the outskirts. Even if you are not a nature lover, you'll fall in love with the hills and lakes in Salzburg. They speak to your soul.

To be fair, let me state up front that we only spent  6 hours in Salzburg. So, I am not really qualified to write a blog post on my travel experience in Austria, but I absolutely loved Salzburg and I thought I'll pen down my notes on Austria for myself and for my future references.

    View of the lake district in Salzburg.

Getting to Austria

We went to Austria from Munich as a day trip via the Eurail.  One way takes about 3.5 hours and you can buy tickets after you arrive at the station. They are plenty of trains that go between Munich and  Salzburg. During mid-Spetember of 2015 around the time we traveled. there were a lot of Syrian refugees at the border of Austria and Germany, so to deal with the immigration issue they stopped our train at the border of these two countries and had us take a bus into Austria (Salzburg). There were several buses that were conveniently waiting for us at the train stop and so this took only ~30 minutes more than the actual schedule trip time from Munich to Salzburg - and it was quite alright.

However, on our back from Austria to Munich, we  had a different experience. We had to take a cab to drop us off at a local bus stop where we waited in the cold for more than 30 minutes for the bus from the one bus line that took us to the train station at the border of Austria and Germany. The bus was also halted right before entering Germany, where officers got into every bus/taxi that took people across the border to check passports. My husband and I didn't bring our passports with us (which was quite stupid of us) and were a bit nervous, but the officers were kind enough to let us pass with our California driving licenses. All included, our trip back lasted 1.5 hours more than what it would have normally taken. But there were thousands of Syrian refugees stuck at the border of the  2 countries with their lives filled with uncertainties and our inconvenience did not even seem worth mentioning in comparison. 

Our experiences in  Salzburg

All we did once we got to Salzburg was the 4 hour Sound of Music tour. I thoroughly enjoyed it. My husband on the other hand, not so much. Being a big Sound Of Music fan I lived all the trivia they were telling us on the tour bus, but what I really loved was the scenic drive the bus took us on. Salzburg is easily the most beautiful country I have set foot in. I especially loved the lake district - the views were absolutely breathtaking. The tour also took us to the Von Trap family house that was used in the movie and the church that Maria gets married in.  All places were exceptionally beautiful. The weather at the time we went was a bit gloomy and misty which was the perfect backdrop for the lovely hills and lush meadows. 

We will be back in Austria very soon to spend all the time this lovely country deserves.