[desidino]

Originally Posted by handsofsteel

Thank you, That's really helpful. I have one question, are the figures for visa charges and airfare per person or cumulative for the group? Was this a group of 2/3/4?
An inspiring thread. As someone said, the bucket list keeps getting longer

Thank you handsofsteel. The figures are for 2 people.

[basilmabraham]

Nice travelogue desidino. Great pics too.

Having visited Königssee, you have technically visited Germany too.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%B6nigssee

I have visited the lake and surroundings as a day trip from Munich. Do they still play live music on the boat, stopping in the middle of the lake?

[gopzdoc]

Originally Posted by desidino

Thanks faithless_1984 for the kind words and the 5 stars !

And thank you Admins for including my travelogue on the front page !

Please find below the detailed cost breakup. Due to conversion from Euro and other currencies, the INR prices are approximate. But, the total cost should be accurate to within INR 5,000 or so.

Attachment 1573865

Excellent travelogue Desidino! Superb photography!

Very nice of you to share the detailed expense breakups. Makes it easier for a person to plan (or not plan)!

[desidino]

Originally Posted by basilmabraham

Nice travelogue desidino. Great pics too.

Having visited Königssee, you have technically visited Germany too.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%B6nigssee

I have visited the lake and surroundings as a day trip from Munich. Do they still play live music on the boat, stopping in the middle of the lake?

Thank you basilmabraham

Yes, forgot to mention in the travelogue that Berchtesgaden and Konigssee are in Germany but less than an hour from Salzburg. Also, a vignette (toll sticker) is not needed to drive in Germany. We also passed through Germany during the day trip to Innsbruck.

Yes, the boat still stops in the middle of the lake and the commentator plays a Flugelhorn that beautifully echoes across the lake. Wish we had the time to walk to the other end of the Obersee and possibly further to the waterfall. Did you get to do that?

[desidino]

Originally Posted by gopzdoc

Excellent travelogue Desidino! Superb photography!

Very nice of you to share the detailed expense breakups. Makes it easier for a person to plan (or not plan)!

Thank you gopzdoc.

Yes, traveling to Europe is expensive. But, India is expensive too if you go to the really good hotels/ resorts such as Wildflower Hall in Shimla, Orange County in Coorg, and Oberoi Vanyavilas in Ranthambore. Wish to go to these places some day.

Also, depends on your priorities. I am working outside India and I see people who take huge low-interest loans to buy apartments/land in India. And then there are people like me with zero financial planning ability spending money on experiences instead of assets

[Kings_Wit]

Thanks desidino. My Wife and I, spent a part of our honeymoon in Vienna and Salzburg. Due to some calculations at that time, we couldn't spend a lot of time in Salzkammergut region, and at max managed a day trip to Grossglockner. We also ended up skipping Innsbruck and South Tirol. The hardest part was letting go of Hallstatt.

I was thinking of penning a flashback-travelogue on that trip, and seeing your version has inspired to do just that.

[sub.g84]

Desidino, I have kept my work aside in office and have been drooling over these photos since the last hour. I remember in Band of Brothers there was a quote by the Americans that sounded like this: "We were all in love with Germany's beauty till we saw Austria". Well I think the quote is justified. Visiting this country just entered my list of lifetime's To-Do activities. Thanks a lot for this lovely travelogue.

[benbsb29]

Desidino, thanks for taking the effort to pen down your experiences and for wonderful pics you've included. Locales in Austria are indeed postcard material.

I loved the views from the top of the mountain from Day 4.

[desidino]

Originally Posted by Kings_Wit

Thanks desidino. My Wife and I, spent a part of our honeymoon in Vienna and Salzburg. Due to some calculations at that time, we couldn't spend a lot of time in Salzkammergut region, and at max managed a day trip to Grossglockner. We also ended up skipping Innsbruck and South Tirol. The hardest part was letting go of Hallstatt.

I was thinking of penning a flashback-travelogue on that trip, and seeing your version has inspired to do just that.

Thanks Kings_Wit. Look forward to your travelogue

Since we only had one week, we were alright with not covering Innsbruck (although we did cover it in the end), Tirol, and Grossglockner. In fact there are just so many beautiful places in Salzkammergut that we could have spent the whole week there. For example, we could not cover Ramsau am Dachstein that has this craziness called stairway to nothingness (http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/eco-tou...ay-nothingness).

[desidino]

Originally Posted by sub.g84

Desidino, I have kept my work aside in office and have been drooling over these photos since the last hour. I remember in Band of Brothers there was a quote by the Americans that sounded like this: "We were all in love with Germany's beauty till we saw Austria". Well I think the quote is justified. Visiting this country just entered my list of lifetime's To-Do activities. Thanks a lot for this lovely travelogue.

Thank you sub.g84.

Do add Switzerland to your To Do list. Most of the "Austria" related shooting in Band of Brothers happened in Switzerland. The hotel by the lake where Winters talks to Shifty in the balcony is called Grandhotel Giessbach and the lake is called Brienzsee. This lake is part of Interlaken area which in turn is part of Jungfrau region. The scenery in Jungfrau region is mental and the peaks are majestic. I would say even better than Austria. But, unfortunately, we had rains and bad weather for 3-4 days during our 1 week trip to Switzerland, so the pictures are not half as good as Austria. Would have otherwise prepared a travelogue for that trip.

[desidino]

Originally Posted by benbsb29

Desidino, thanks for taking the effort to pen down your experiences and for wonderful pics you've included. Locales in Austria are indeed postcard material.

I loved the views from the top of the mountain from Day 4.

Thank you benbsb29.

Schafberg, 5 fingers, and Hallstatt are definitely a must-do if you are in the vicinity of Salzburg.

The little bit of mist on top of Schafberg was just the perfect amount to give a surreal look and yet not block the scenic view. In one of the pictures, you can see the mist next to and below the cliff which almost appeared to us as if the mountain was floating like in the movie Avatar !

Wish we had split day 4, but as mentioned, with the weather forecast looking bad for the next day, we really crammed in a lot on that day. Otherwise Dachstein 5 fingers & Hallstatt together deserve one full day. We did not have the time to take the cable car beyond 5 fingers to do some hiking. We also could not go to the viewing platform in Hallstatt through a funicular.

So many places to see and things to do in such a small part of 1 country. Wonder how people cover 2-3 countries in 1 week !

[Sn1p3r]

We visited Vienna this August and it was melting hot. Your pictures potray almost similar timeframe. Though we explored more of Vienna, Melk, Krems and other Danube valley sites, all thanks to a dino obsessed 4 year old.

Dachstein is famous also for their woollen gloves/mitts. (A must buy).

7 days passed in a blink of an eye and ad-hoc summer break was over. Your pictures took me back again to the awesome fun we had. Thanks!

[desidino]

Originally Posted by Sn1p3r

We visited Vienna this August and it was melting hot. Your pictures potray almost similar timeframe. Though we explored more of Vienna, Melk, Krems and other Danube valley sites, all thanks to a dino obsessed 4 year old.

Dachstein is famous also for their woollen gloves/mitts. (A must buy).

7 days passed in a blink of an eye and ad-hoc summer break was over. Your pictures took me back again to the awesome fun we had. Thanks!

Thank you Sn1p3r.

We visited in July this year, so about the same time. Where else did you go in Austria?

[Sn1p3r]

Originally Posted by desidino

Thank you Sn1p3r.

We visited in July this year, so about the same time. Where else did you go in Austria?

We had an adhoc trip. 4 days in Vienna (History, Zoo and Museums) and 2 days in Danube valley (the complete stretch), Melk, Spitz, Sankt Lorenz, Hundsheim, Krems. We live in Germany so, it was an unplanned last minute family time trip. We wanted to go to Salzburg, but it was raining there so we changed direction. We did some ad-hoc treks, some light camping and then off to Vienna before we came back.

[feluda86]

Originally Posted by desidino

Hi All,

This is my first travelogue, so please excuse any mistakes.

We went on a 1 week trip in July of this year to Austria. We had gone to Switzerland a few years back and were able to rely on the super efficient train system there without needing to hire a car. However, reading the forums on TripAdvisor, it was clear that although the infrastructure in Austria is great, we would still require a car for at least a part of our trip.

Excellent writeup! Thanks for sharing. Me and my wife are planning for a weeklong trip of Austria later this year. We will cover most of what you covered - Vienna, Salzberg, Hallstatt, St. Gilgen and a day trip to Prague (thats part of my bucket list) from Vienna. We were planning on using AirBnB as our primary option to stay in Vienna and Salzberg (our two base points). Do you have any experience of staying at AirBnB on any of your trips to Europe? We have found some at really excellent locations in these two cities at very affordable rates.