We went to Austria towards the end of June driving in a car.
Trip Route: home – Cologne – Munich – Kitzbhuel – Cortina D’Ampetso – Vienna – Salzburg – home
Day 1: Started early morning to reach Cologne. The Cologne church is huge and was also considered for one of the wonders of the world. It is allowed to go to the tower of the Church from where you can get a full view of the city. After a couple of hours, we proceeded to Munich for the day stay.
Day 2: Roamed around the Munich city. Primarily the Residense palace was beautiful and worth the entry fee. The grandeur and the richness shows how the elite class lived in the past. For the afternoon, we first went to the BMW Welt which is a showroom where they keep the latest models. You are free to touch them and event sit in them…but for a drive I guess you need to talk to sales. The BMW museum is also nearby. A little distance away is the Olympic stadium. This is a now a sports arena and is a nice atmosphere to roam around.
Day 3: We reserved this for the Science Museum of Munich. Unless you are interested very much into flight history, machines history etc, you can skip this place. It is too big to enjoy it for a full day. End of day we drove to Kitzbhuel….Westendorf to be precise. Stayed here: Pension Christof. Very good and not expensive…would recommend anytime.
Day 4: Hohetauern region is simply postcard perfect scenery at its best. We drove towards Krimml WaterFalls. The drive was beautiful! On the way the plain greenery with wooden homes here and there was photo frame scenic. We stopped by one of the cable cars to go on top of a mountain. While it was cold up there, the sight of a bison staring at us made the day. Took a lot of pictures. Krimml waterfalls is not very tall, but the amount of water that rushes in makes it a beautiful sight. The water falls onto a rocky stream and so the water spashles when you go near it. Within seconds you are all wet…and a nice feeling wet! End of day, we retired back to the hotel.
Day 5: This day we went to Cortina D’Ampetso. One of the most amazing, scenic routes initially lined with coniferous trees and later towards the bare dolomite mountains that raise to great heights. One of the most amazing mountain formations I have seen so far! You can take a ropeway to go up mountains. End of day we drove back to Westendorf
Day 6: Checked out of the hotel and went to the Salt mine of Salzburg. This is a mine where they show how it was dug layer after layer for salt that is used to put on the roads when it snows and for other purposes. You need to wear their special suit before you enter. From the mines, we went to the Salzburg ice cave. This is located at mountain top and houses some ice formations within the rocks. Something unique that you wouldn’t imagine existed! Drove 3hours to Vienna
Day 7: Saw the beautiful city of Vienna. This is one of the very few cities that have impressed me. A lot to see and a lot of activities all around the city.
Day 8: Started early towards Salzburg. Plan was to get around Salzburg, stay there and then drive back home. However it was raining so hard that probably it has been the hardest rain I have seen during all my trips till date. So without stopping, we headed home!!
Variations: Consider Zell Am See for a idle lake side relaxation. Gross Glockner alpine road has one of the most scenic mountain views.
