Most of my adult life I have always wanted to visit Vienna. For some reason, I just could just never get there on previous trips and travels. One three-week tour of Eastern Europe I took in 2005, did not include Vienna in their itinerary, but included it as add-on after the trip. But with my work schedule I could not extend my trip.
When a major birthday was fast approaching I started to think about travel again and what best would honor my milestone birthday. I decided it was finally time to fulfill my dream of seeing Vienna. Starting in January — the month of my birthday – I began planning my trip for a May departure. I love traveling during the month of May – it’s cooler, less crowded, fewer lines at major sites, it’s easier to book hotels or B&Bs, and everything is green and lush. It’s really a perfect month. So about the time I decided on my solo trip to Vienna, some friends of mine asked me if I wanted to join them in Paris to travel through the Loire Valley on a road trip. They said they were starting their trip in Vienna too! What serendipity! It was like the stars had aligned and suddenly I had a plan and a goal. I could not have been happier.
Our week in the Loire Valley was set for May 27 to June 3, returning the car to Paris, where I was invited to spend two nights with them before returning to the U.S. So I had a date to work with to begin my planning. I knew that I wanted to spend at least five days seeing the sites of Vienna, and since I was there, I wanted to take advantage of traveling to a couple of new towns and destinations. If I departed in mid-May, that would give me seven days and nights to visit one to two more towns between Vienna and our Paris rendezvous.
I learned about a wonderful system of private shuttle buses that provide fast, comfortable and very affordable shuttle bus service between Vienna and Cesky Krumlov, Salzburg, Hallstatt, Prague and several other destinations. These shuttle companies pick you up at your hotel, apartment, hostel, airbnb, pension, or any address in Vienna, and provide door-to-door service using experienced drivers who speak fluent English, all for a very affordable price. What could be better? So I looked at the list of towns they serviced from Vienna to pick my next destination, the list included: Hallstatt, Prague, Salzburg, Linz, Bratislava, or Cesky Krumlov. I had already traveled to Prague, Budapest and Bratislava on my Eastern Europe Tour, so I chose Cesky Krumlov for my next destination from Vienna.
Now my itinerary included five full days and nights in Vienna, starting on May 16th. I scheduled a pick-up in Vienna by Sebastian Tours and Transport from Vienna to Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic. I wanted to spend at least two full days in the small village town of Cesky, and then do an additional full-day trip to Hallstatt in Austria with CK Shuttle (now called EU Shuttlebus). Then the next day, I would take CK Shuttle service from Cesky to Salzburg to catch the train to Munich, where I would spend three full days and nights, before flying to Paris. Now I had my itinerary!
I booked an AirB&B for Vienna on Annagasse, a perfect and convenient location for walking old town, visiting St. Stephen’s Cathedral, the opera house, Imperial Crypts, Hapsburg Palace, and many great museums. I spent a full day at Belevedere Palace on the south-eastern edge of Vienna, and another full day visiting Schlossburg Palace and Gardens outside of town. Two more days, I visited some of the many museums including the Kaisergruft, the Leopold Museum, the Albertina Museum, the natural history museum, and toured the Vienna Opera House. I spent another partial day at the Hapsburg Palace visiting the imperial apartments, the treasury, the Kunsthistiorisches Museum, and visited the three cathedrals – St. Stephen’s, KarlsKirche (St. Charles Church) and St. Peters Church, where I happened on an Evensong service and later that evening, a Mozart concert.
On Saturday, Sebastian Tours & Transport picked me up at my AirB&B in Vienna and drove me to Cesky, where I was dropped off at my hotel doorstep, The Old Inn Hotel, right on the central plaza. I paid E40 for a 3.5 hour road trip with Sebastian Tours. I loved my hotel-inn and recommend it highly for travelers who want a place full of character, history, is centrally located, convenient, and affordable.
Cesky Krumlov is a UNESCO World Heritage Site — a medieval town where a beautiful river flows through the town. When I arrived, church bells were ringing and there were literally no cars in town. It is a pedestrian-friendly city with cobbled stone brick streets, dirt foot paths, pedestrian bridges over the river, and sidewalk dining. I could not have picked a better place for my next destination after Vienna. I spent the first night walking up to the castle at the top of a hill and walked all around the castle area. I visited the castle gardens, walked the old town up on the hill and the town down below, walked the river along the foot path, and even walked the foot path several miles out of town. The next day, I toured the castle, and walked to many great views, then found the local brewery on the river and tried a local brew, before having dinner right on the river. The following day, was my CK Shuttle trip to Hallstatt, leaving early in the morning and returning at 8 pm in the evening for a full day. It was an incredible day in Hallstatt, I loved every minute of being in a town high in elevation, on a beautiful lake ringed by mountains. If you go, don’t miss taking the funicular to the top of the mountain, and walk the trail back down with breathtaking views of the lake the whole way down. It was the most wonderful, enchanting experience and few do it — and the scenery is outstanding.
The next day, I was picked up again by CK Shuttle (now called EU Shuttlebus) to drive me to Salzburg, where I caught a direct train to Munich. I used Deutsche Bahn or DB Bahn to book my train ticket, which I read in travel forums is the absolute best for booking any train going to or out of Germany. DB Bahn is a German railway company that also is the largest rail network in Europe.
I fell back in love with Munich when I arrived. I had been to Munich once when I was 20 years old and vaguely remembered it. I had spent my junior year of college in Avignon, France, on a scholarship with the American Heritage Scholastic Program. When the spring semester was over, I spent the summer traveling through France, Spain, Morocco, Portugal, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark and England, so that visit to Munich was a distant memory.
I really loved my three days in Munich — visiting the Nymphenburg Palace and park, the cathedrals, walking the pedestrian streets, visiting the impressive Residenz Palace and Treasury, the Neue Pinakothek Museum and Alte Pinakoteck Museum, the striking Neues Rathaus, Marienplatz, St. Peter’s Church, Frauenkirche, and of course the Hofbräuhaus! Along with a couple of trips through the Viktualienmarkt. I am now a huge fan of Munich.
Air travel within the European Union can be very cheap, especially using regional airlines like Ryan Air and Easy Jet. Both are considered “budget airlines” and really make travel within Europe so affordable. My flight from Munich to Paris was on Air France, which at $37 dollars, was competitive with the other budget airlines, but had the exact arrival time I needed. See Rick Steve’s page on budget airlines for more about Budget Flying Within Europe. Another option today for train travel is Trainline, Europe’s biggest train and coach app. They work with 270 rail and coach companies and offer customers travel to thousands of destinations in and across 45 countries in Europe.
The rest of the trip through the Loire Valley visiting many of the grand chateaus was absolutely wonderful and I highly recommend it. But I will save that for another article!
