Zürich → Innsbruck → Bolzano → Salzburg → Munich
February 26, 2020 10:04 PM Subscribe
In mid-August, my 15-year-old son and I have 10 days to travel from Zürich to Munich for our our flight home to the US.
The plan is Zürich → Innsbruck → Bolzano → Salzburg → Munich. Advice would be helpful.
• The last time I travelled in the area was 30+ years ago with a backpack and a copy of “Let’s Go Europe” (this included an accidental visit to Italy's South Tyrol near Balzano*).
• Prior to the start of this trip, we will have already spent some time in Switzerland. We’re probably going to skip staying in Zürich and head directly to Innsbruck. Right now, we’re thinking of splitting the ten days between: 2 days in Innsbruck, 3 days in Bolzano, 2 days in Salzburg, and 3 days in Munich. Does that seem a reasonable split of the days?
• One option is renting a car for the whole trip, but the $500 one-way inter-country dropoff fee is excessive. However, if we take the train to Innsbruck, pick up a car in Innsbruck, use it to drive to Bolzano, and then to Salzburg to drop off the car, and then take the train to Munich, both start and finish of the car rental would be in Austria and there would be no dropoff fee.
• Or we could take the train everywhere, but rent a car in Bolzano for a day or two to explore South Tyrol.
• Any recommendations on where to stay in the cities we’re visiting?
• Any suggestions on places to visit along our itinerary?
*My trip to South Tyrol 30 years ago was accidental. A college friend gave me an address in the town of Naturno/Naturns (near Bolzano) for a location to meetup on our separate European trips. When I got to Naturno, no one had any idea where the address was. But it was a beautiful area (thus why I want to return), so I stayed a day or two in Naturno, then hitchhiked to the Munich train station, where by chance I bumped into a different college friend. When I returned home to the US, and asked my friend what the deal was with the address; he mispelled the name of the town. It was actually in Nettuno (near Rome).
• The last time I travelled in the area was 30+ years ago with a backpack and a copy of “Let’s Go Europe” (this included an accidental visit to Italy's South Tyrol near Balzano*).
• Prior to the start of this trip, we will have already spent some time in Switzerland. We’re probably going to skip staying in Zürich and head directly to Innsbruck. Right now, we’re thinking of splitting the ten days between: 2 days in Innsbruck, 3 days in Bolzano, 2 days in Salzburg, and 3 days in Munich. Does that seem a reasonable split of the days?
• One option is renting a car for the whole trip, but the $500 one-way inter-country dropoff fee is excessive. However, if we take the train to Innsbruck, pick up a car in Innsbruck, use it to drive to Bolzano, and then to Salzburg to drop off the car, and then take the train to Munich, both start and finish of the car rental would be in Austria and there would be no dropoff fee.
• Or we could take the train everywhere, but rent a car in Bolzano for a day or two to explore South Tyrol.
• Any recommendations on where to stay in the cities we’re visiting?
• Any suggestions on places to visit along our itinerary?
*My trip to South Tyrol 30 years ago was accidental. A college friend gave me an address in the town of Naturno/Naturns (near Bolzano) for a location to meetup on our separate European trips. When I got to Naturno, no one had any idea where the address was. But it was a beautiful area (thus why I want to return), so I stayed a day or two in Naturno, then hitchhiked to the Munich train station, where by chance I bumped into a different college friend. When I returned home to the US, and asked my friend what the deal was with the address; he mispelled the name of the town. It was actually in Nettuno (near Rome).
I would also take the train.
Little fun fact: Austrian railway stations (and rest stops on the motorway!) have unlimited free Wi-Fi! Unlike Germany, where they start charging after an hour (but the trains themselves have unlimited free wi-fi). I don't know about Switzerland.
posted by all the light we cannot see at 10:59 PM on February 26, 2020
Little fun fact: Austrian railway stations (and rest stops on the motorway!) have unlimited free Wi-Fi! Unlike Germany, where they start charging after an hour (but the trains themselves have unlimited free wi-fi). I don't know about Switzerland.
posted by all the light we cannot see at 10:59 PM on February 26, 2020
By all means play around with the train schedule but work out how much time the train will take as opposed to driving and view the connections you see with a degree of scepticism. Allegedly there are a great many train connections between Zurich and Munich in any given day. But half of them are actually coaches, which are fundamentally not trains and also get stuck in long queues of traffic at the border because crossing into Austria requires coming off the motorway and travelling on surface roads for a few miles. And a large chunk of what is left requires changing multiple times and it takes six hrs + from main station to main station. So there are really only a couple of useful connections - if the objective is not to spend an unreasonable amount of time travelling as opposed to the cities you plan to visit. I can drive to Munich in under four hrs. Also, mountains and tunnels etc - wouldn’t count on good connectivity or WiFi to work reliably.
posted by koahiatamadl at 1:14 AM on February 27, 2020
posted by koahiatamadl at 1:14 AM on February 27, 2020
The trains between almost all the cities are direct trains (excepting Bolzano -> Salzburg). A good resource for comparing different modes of transit between city pairs is Rome2Rio: https://www.rome2rio.com/map/Z%C3%BCrich/Innsbruck
Personally, I'd probably go with the rent-in-Innsbruck-return-in-Salzburg option (or even return in Innsbruck and take direct train to Salzburg). It's definitely easier to have a car in South Tyrol and will give you more flexibility. There are buses in the summer in South Tyrol, so you could certainly go without a car and see plenty of sights.
posted by flicken at 2:23 AM on February 27, 2020
Personally, I'd probably go with the rent-in-Innsbruck-return-in-Salzburg option (or even return in Innsbruck and take direct train to Salzburg). It's definitely easier to have a car in South Tyrol and will give you more flexibility. There are buses in the summer in South Tyrol, so you could certainly go without a car and see plenty of sights.
posted by flicken at 2:23 AM on February 27, 2020
I did Munich -> Bolzano -> Cinque Terra trip last year. I rented a car*, but plotted out a trip by train in case I couldn't get my German driver's license in time. The backup was a train from Munich to Innsbruck (< 2 hours), then Innsbruck to Bolzano (just over 2 hours). We were going to stop in Salzburg on the way home to Munich, but it seemed kind of a PITA. And it went through Innsbruck anyway. If you really want to go to Salzburg, I'd get there via Munich. It's about 2 hours. But it doesn't seem to match your itinerary at all.
You may want to consider a first stop in Munich, and rent a car there, considering that will be your return point. DB Bus or FLixBus from Zurich is supposed to be nice (my wife did DB bus from Munich -> Zurich and was pretty happy with the experience). Oh, and you'll need a vignetta (toll sticker) to drive on the Austrian autobahns. It's about €10 for 10 days. You can get them at rest stops in Germany when you're close to the Austrian border.
* My wife and I spent most of the drive pointing and yelling, "LOOK AN ANCIENT CASTLE!". If you like old castles, make sure you see Schloss Runkelstein in Bolzano.
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 5:32 AM on February 27, 2020
You may want to consider a first stop in Munich, and rent a car there, considering that will be your return point. DB Bus or FLixBus from Zurich is supposed to be nice (my wife did DB bus from Munich -> Zurich and was pretty happy with the experience). Oh, and you'll need a vignetta (toll sticker) to drive on the Austrian autobahns. It's about €10 for 10 days. You can get them at rest stops in Germany when you're close to the Austrian border.
* My wife and I spent most of the drive pointing and yelling, "LOOK AN ANCIENT CASTLE!". If you like old castles, make sure you see Schloss Runkelstein in Bolzano.
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 5:32 AM on February 27, 2020
I did a one-way rental through Sixt from Innsbruck to Frankfurt. It was pretty painless (and inexpensive) and I don't remember needing a special driver's license.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 9:56 AM on February 27, 2020
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 9:56 AM on February 27, 2020
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posted by plonkee at 10:25 PM on February 26, 2020 [4 favorites]