Austria

[Finlaggan]

Hi we have flights booked to Vienna in July for 2 weeks. The plan is a night or two in a hotel in Vienna then drive to Salzburg maybe spend a night or two there and then maybe zell am see if we can get the right accommodation.

Any recommendations for accommodation, would happily do self catering for the bulk of the holiday?

Also does this sound like a good division of time?

We've never been to Austria before.
DC will be 7&3.5

Thanks

Sounds wonderful , lived there for a a few years so am a massive fan of Austria. Make sure you do Vienna justice and give yourselves at least 2 days, if not more. The zoo is particularly good and you might find this website useful Vienna Babies Club.

There is masses of high quality accommodation, you need to decide on a region and then look at the website for that area for listings. Like in the UK Self Catering tends to be Sat-Sat in peak season. As you will have a car there are so many places you could go, I've only been through Zell am See in winter but I'm not sure I'd rush back for a summer holiday. Don't get me wrong, it's lovely, but actually there are probably nicer/quieter places (just my opinion). I'll return with some more ideas

Also recommend the zoo and the belvedere gallery has some amazing
Kilimt paintings in lncluding the kiss. If you are a Klimt fan(I am) you can also stop in seewalchen am attersee as they have a small museum there and Klimt used to holiday there and in
Litzlberg and you can see schloss kammer and the lake which he painted many times. Trip on the lake would be great for your children. I lived there for 4 years and my kids loved swimming in the lake.

Responses, thanks to you both! lapse wondered why not Zell?
I figured, we don't speak German so it should be touristy enough for us to get by (will will try to learn some basics over the next couple of months), there should be plenty of off road safe cycle tracks for kids, proximity to mountains, good base for exploring beyond.

That said, accommodation is proving to be expensive so we are definitely open to suggestions.

Potential slight change of plan, fly to Vienna, drive straight to zell (or wherever we end up) day trip to Salzburg - is one day enough? Then back to spend two full days in Vienna.

Thanks again for any insight into potential stops and locations.

Klimt very much on my radar also architecture in Vienna.

DD wants to just be in the sound of music so she will be easily pleased

For cheaper accommodation in Vienna recommend the ibis near westbahnhof which also connects to the metro. Rooms are small, but clean and proximity to metro is a plus. We always stayed there when we visited Vienna as so many hotels in the centre do not have any car parking.

Will check it out thanks shanghai as we will need parking. Thanks

Go to bad gastein if you can. It's a spa resort in summer with natural mountain water. Spa massages etc, but also kids friendly and places have slides etc. Can go grass sledging and biking

Lovely swimming lake in the south of the country, Wörthersee. Might not be that convenient for your route though. Nice relaxing holiday vibe down there and lovely sunny summers.

Finlaggan - it's only that Zell am See is quite mainstream, I just prefer quieter places. Also be aware that the railway line runs right alongside the lake. Unfortunately Austria doesn't have google street view but you can see on the satellite version.

The Farm Holidays website is a good source of quality apartments in scenic locations, you can even narrow it down to lakeside options.

Don't worry at all about your lack of German, English is pretty widely spoken.

Zell am See and the area is nice enough but absolutely full of Arabs in the summer. Interesting to observe a different culture but the town loses its authentic Austrian character in the summer.
The tourist board realised many years ago that Zell is the Arabs' vision of paradise with its lake and mountains and did lots of advertising in the Arab countries. As there are now so many Arabs there, the area gets a lot fewer German and Austrian tourists. The Arabs spend lots of money but opinion is divided on wether the money outweighs the perceived disadvantage of the prevalent culture there in the summer months.