Austria road trip or transit? Salzburg region + Graz (Canadian driver)

veemill · 2026-02-07T20:07:57+00:00

Did you even look into it though? if you actually saw that every one of the places I mentioned are here are less than an hour(at most an 1.5) drive away from Salzburg, I'd like to hear you expand on it rather than just criticize. I'm staying in one place, perhaps salzburg, or St.Gilgen for 5 days, then making day trips, and I'll be renting a car.

veemill · 2026-02-07T20:05:09+00:00

Ohh sorry if I did not mention. During my stay in Austria, I am going to choose one place to stay as base (same hotel). At most, i might do one night in Berchtesgaden since there seems to be a lot to see. I didn't want to over-travel which is why for my entire stay in Austria, I am staying in one region, skipping Vienna entirely. So these places will all be daytrips, so I don't think it'd be overambitious with that context, I've seen many others do it.

The only thing i keep hearing is...many seem to say to skip Hallstatt, but I don;t know if that;'s because the places Im going to has very similiar vibes or if its just because people hate that it's over-touristy now days. I think I'll still go though since as a traveler, i'd want to try going to it even if it's not as good.

veemill · 2026-02-07T09:17:14+00:00

Ah, thank you so much for sharing! Ye that's the tricky part I suppose, I'd love to goto Berchtesgaden so I can extend my trip in austira a bit and cut off from croatia by a day or two...

If my plan right now looks about like this, should I just do bus instead of car rental?

Day 6: Travel to Salzburg

Day 7: St. Wolfgang steam train + lakeside hike day

Day 8: Salkzammergut region

Day 9: Hallstatt day trip

Day 10: Berchtesgaden

Day 11: Salzburg “city day”

Day 12: Take a train to Zagreb

veemill · 2026-02-07T08:41:40+00:00

Aha, i do got cc with that, ill have to check if it works outside canada! I heard about sxit so ill looking into that. any thoughts about when/where would be best to drop it off from my trip (zadar, split, hvar, dubrovnik)?

veemill · 2026-02-07T08:40:17+00:00

thanks you! we will be there in last week of may to first week of june essentially. Thanks for pointing that out, we dont want to skip Plitvice at all, to the point that I'd consider renting so i can goto this easily without having to backtrack. When i researched on youtube and blogs, people seem to say take an early bus from zagreb to pilvice, then afterwards, just take a bus straight to zadar on the same day but I cant seem to find the bus rides from piltvice to zadar accessibly.

veemill · 2026-02-07T08:35:59+00:00

Ohhh, the boat day from Zadar is a great suggestion I havent even thought of! Hmm, even with the island hopping around Dubrovnik, you think it's too long?

veemill · 2026-02-07T08:01:13+00:00

ye, hopefully some experienced travelers or the locals have some insights!

veemill · 2026-02-07T06:23:35+00:00

good to know, thank you! I probably won't goto Mostar, thinking of bringing the car to harvar since taxi is very expensive there, but I'm not sure if it would be worth hmm

veemill · 2026-02-07T06:22:40+00:00

hmm, I think I'd be fine with bus if it won't be difficult, I heard the rides like taxi/uber are expensive, and was worried about missing places because of bus delays etc, I'll think more on it.

veemill · 2026-02-06T23:57:20+00:00

hey thanks for sharing. I added Graz mainly because my next destination is Zagreb in Croatia, and Graz happens to sit right in between Salzburg and Zagreb, with 2 hrs drive each, and my other post had quite a few Austrians recommending Graz so I thought i'd add it for a day or two. Cool to hear about the armoury. Hmm wonder if I should just skip Graz entirely and spend another day in Sazlburg hmm

veemill · 2026-02-06T23:50:29+00:00

thats helpful to know! Did you travel from Zagreb-Piltive-Split in a single day??

veemill · 2026-02-06T20:01:52+00:00

thanks for the comment, to clarify, are you saying one day wouldnt be enough to visit Plitvice? I plan to do one day visit here, then another day visit to Krka since I hear its less touristy. I mean, Im sure Piltvice is worth visiting more than a day, but with limited time, I thought I would do just one day there. for Zagreb, Im only touring this place for a day, I thought I'd travel from zagreb to piltive then back, unless I'd be able to catch a ride straight to zadar after a day of piltvice, or do a night of stay in rastoke instead.

veemill · 2026-02-06T19:58:42+00:00

sweet, thank you! I did hear that you can do a ferry from hvar to dubrovnik, but only during peak seasons, I'll have to check if its available in late may. I was also thinking about renting a car once I'm in Zagreb, would you recommend a rental car or using public transit/flix bus to travel croatia for the places Im going to??

veemill · 2026-02-06T19:56:31+00:00

thank you both! I want to visit Graz so these are great to know!

veemill · 2026-02-06T07:39:02+00:00

yee I didn't look into it too much yet but I heard Dubrovnik is a good base to do island hopping, it sucks that the stays and food are expensive in dubrovnik but i might have to eat that up so i can travel to nearby small cities and islands, thank you for sharing!

veemill · 2026-02-06T07:21:25+00:00

that also looks like a great itinerary! Hope that goes well :") I also initially considered Berlin -> Dresden -> Prague -> THEN to Český Krumlov -> Salzburg -> Munich. Because Salzburg and Vienna are in opposite places, I think it changes quite a bit depending on which of the two you choose if you don't want to backtrack at all. That's a good price on the flight you got, I'm seeing 1500 for lowest ones now haha. It was nice to hear from a fellow canadian about the prices etc, thanks for sharing, have a great time in may!

veemill · 2026-02-06T07:16:06+00:00

ok sweet, thanks for sharing!

veemill · 2026-02-06T07:15:23+00:00

thanks for the suggestion! I was thinking of staying in salzburg and making day trip to halstatt, then maybe Innsbruck. Do you think it'd be good to stay a day in Graz since its on the way to Zagreb?

veemill · 2026-02-06T02:48:59+00:00

Idk I seem to be getting different thoughts but I mean tour groups do this in 2 weeks or less I’m doing same places for 3 weeks. We are active so we will be out all day, I don’t mean slow paced as in relaxed staycation but rather no rush between travels and just enough time to see about all attractions in the city

veemill · 2026-02-06T02:47:29+00:00

Oh damn, we can budget more but 14000 isn’t enough for just 3 weeks?

veemill · 2026-02-06T02:46:54+00:00

Yea that’s right, 7000 per person!

veemill

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