Starting location
First, learn facts and figures about Austria, its people and their customs by starting the tour while driving on the highway. Driving time approx. 75 min.
Melk Abbey (pass-by) - A Baroque Jewel- is the symbol of the Wachau Valley. Enjoy the view of its steep, terraced vineyards overlooking the Danube.
Driving time through picturesque Alpine region of Salzkammergut, famous for its beautiful landscapes, culture and a love of tradition. Salt from the heart of its mountains has brought affluence to the region - but its most valuable assets are the lakes. Even before we all became travellers in search of beauty and inspiration, the banks of its picturesque lakes have attracted writers, poets and emperors. Driving time approx. 120 min.
You will visit a heart of Salzkammergut region – a fabulous town of Hallstatt, lost among the high mountains on the shore of the lake with blue azure coloured water. This place is considered to be the main view of the Alpine Austria, but no picture can show a splendid atmosphere of this town and its original character. During your free time you can walk through the narrow streets of the town and admire magnificent views of the lake and huge mountains.
On the way to Salzburg we will prepare for your meeting with the capital of classical music. Once you know the history of Austria and understand its culture and customs, you will look at the picturesque streets and squares of the old city in a completely different way. Driving time approx. 60 min.
Salzburg - a cozy beautiful town on the banks of the Salzach river, made in the baroque architectural style, the world capital of classical music, the birthplace of the great Mozart and Karajan. You will have free time to walk through the Mirabel Garden and see the house where Mozart was born, the Salzburg Cathedral and one of the oldest monasteries in Europe - the active monastery of St. Peter. You can also leave our group tour here and to Vienna at your own expenses by train.
After embracing the cultural side of Salzburg, you'll start you way back to Vienna. Driving time approx. 90 min.
We will make a short coffee break at a quality restaurant on a highway, where you can relax and enjoy a comfortable rustic atmosphere and stretch your legs during your break (optional).
On the way back to Vienna you will have a chance to rest and plan with the help of our driver your next free days in the Austrian capital. Driving time approx. 120 min.
Last stop
It was a good experience start with the transportation, a comfortable journey all through out. Good airconditioning. Tour guide is knowledgable, consistent with the rules and regulations. We left the the meeting point on time and we came back on time as well. Just concern with the allotted time for the on your own pace hope they”ll make it a bit longer to really enjoy the scenery
Hallstatt was breathtaking! Me and companions totally enjoined the place and scenery! I think 2 hours stay/sightseeing is too short. Olga was good with imparting us the history of Hallstatt. Thanks for the Hallstatt souvenir. I learned the salt history! Salzburg is beautiful. It’s a shame the stay is too short. The local guide has very interesting storytelling about the royals … although she was walking and talking too fast. She’s hurrying to complete the time allotted to her. I don’t know if Viator offers a day tour for each place. I think that should be considered. Otherwise, the trip is wonderful. Viator delivered the activity as advertised. 4 star!
Awesome experience. The natural beauty of Hallstatt was like paradise on earth. Will visit again. Will strongly recommend it to anyone looking to experience the scenic beauty of Austria.
It was a smooth ride until we got rain ,but Olga the Guide made it a pleasant ride telling the history of the town.Will recommend it
For the love of god allow seat selection. 2 arguments in the bus first thing because they couldn’t sit with companions for the 13 hour ride. We were fine but I wouldn’t book to sit separated from my wife.
The tour is long, and the bus is quite uncomfortable. We arrived very early at the meeting point; we were third in the queue, and when the bus opened the doors, everyone left the queue to jump on the bus through the middle door so that the people who were waiting to get on the bus from the front door could not find a place to sit. My husband and I had the last row, where 5 people can be accommodated, so the seats are narrower. Being on that bus for long hours was really uncomfortable. Poor organization from the tour guide. In Hallstatt, you are by yourself, so you can walk and enjoy the beautiful landscape. In Salzburg, you must have access to the internet, or you cannot find the final meeting point, which is different from the tour starting point. The group was big, and the local tour guide had to shout despite having speakers. A tip: take the train from Vienna and do it yourself with a local tour in Salzburg. This tour was overpriced for what was offered.
Hallstatt and Salzburg are beautiful and certainly worth seeing, however, the group was large, double decker bus and 9 hours of travel for 2 hrs at each stop I found too long. Lilly our guide was wonderful, enthusiastic and helpful imparting lots of interesting information along the way. Unfortunately it was a wet rainy day and I’m sure on a nice day I would have enjoyed it more. Having said that it is a very well run and co-ordinated tour.
Although there were long bus rides involved, the views were spectacular and worth it! More stores took credit cards than I expected but don't count on it!
What a beautiful place Hallstatt is. A small town on our way to Salzburg from Vienna. Amazing place. The Viator tour was really good and very well organised. The tour guide in Salzburg was very good. #viator
While it is good that this tour covers two beautiful destinations in one day, there are some practical difficulties which people deal with and that has a scope for improvement. The tour was well organized but ended up becoming very hectic. The travel time was more and actual time at the spots was less. The bus was too crowded and seats were cramped. The seats weren't comfortable enough for such a long journey. There wasn't sufficient space to stretch the legs. The time given for toilet break in the morning was just 10 minutes for such a large group. The journey while going back was very long and boring. Olga was a good guide. She explained the history well and gave very clear instructions. She played good classical tunes which added to the joy. She gave a small souvenir at the end. Overall it is a good experience if you are prepared for a stretch.
The trip was well worth it and the beauty of Hallstatt is unbeatable with such picturesque views. I think the mention to the Lakes and desire to at least get a picture of the beauty was disappointing. While the lakes were pointed out, you could only get pics if you happened to pic the side of the bus for that lake and hope to get a shot through the trees driving at higher speeds than decent pics allow. Would have been ideal to just take 5-10 min picture stops for at least a few of them as they were beautiful but built up my frustration I couldn’t get a pic. After Hallstatt views it was hard to go to Salzburg after. It was interesting and the guide was good but didn’t walk away with the awe of Hallstatt. I still would do it over again just to see and experience. It is a long day on the bus, though catching a nap on the smooth ride was perfect. All in all it was a great day just would have liked to truly capture the pics of everything mentioned in the title even though it did say in the itinerary it was a pass by, it is more frustrating as the price is higher than the day trip without that listed so one expects more. Would have rather it not listed and then bonus if you are so lucky to get that pic.
Visiting Hallstadt and Salzburg were fabulous, but the amount of time traveling on the bus was a bit much!
Organized with military precision. Comfortable bus, long trip was animated well with insights about Austria. Tour guide Sophie was an incredible host. She made the trip. Top marks!
It was a great trip to Hallstat and Salzburg! Lily was an amazing tour guide and the long bus ride went by quick! We learned so much and we were able to do so much because of this tour! 100% recommend if you want to see the beautiful town of Hallstat, the mountains and lakes of Austria, and the town of Salzburg.
Olga was the best tour guide ever. She created an immersive, fun and unique experience making the drive there as unforgettable as the locations themselves. The driver was a very good driver aswell.
A beautiful day that allows you to get a break from the hustle of Vienna and instead enter the more tranquil areas of Vienna. Very good organization, and definitely worth it!
Long day in the bus. Elena was fantastic. She loves her job and it shows. Enthusiastic, so much extra info shared. She made the tour .
The guide was great and knowledgeable. Wonderful experience. The driver was great. Would recommend again.
Great day out, lots to see throughout the day Sophia our rep was excellent, very informative and helpful with everyone.
Despite the long distances traveled, time passed quickly for two reasons: the beautiful Austrian countryside and our guide Sophia’s fascinating commentary and tidbits, delivered with precision and with plenty of humour! Hallstatt was picture postcard perfect and Salzburg is chock full of history. I repeat: our guide Sophia was wonderful!
The seats are first come first serve… so if travelling with friends makes it a little difficult to be all together
The tour quide at Saltzburg did not describe buildings for the rear group ie. she would say.. the building on right and use her pointer. We are the rear could not tell what she was pointing at. Also, my headset was not working properly most of the time. Not a great experience at all. My pock ip was pick up was for 6.45, i was outside at 6.30 and did not get picked up until 7.25. I even received a text the night before to be ready for 6.45. am. We are heading back as i type and i suspect we arent going to Melk. Thanks
Olga was very knowledgeable and has a lively commentary. Gave us very good information about Hallstat, Salzburg and surrounding towns which was beyond our, expectation. She also gave us information about Vienna. A guide in Salzburg was also very good idea
Lilly was a fantastic tour operator who guided !!! Her way of welcoming has touched our hearts!!! I would love to go on tours organised by Lilly in near future!!
We had a horrible experience wit the guide Lidia. Iam not going to recommend this for the following reasons- When i look back on all the tours, this seems like a money making tour - there are approx 30 people in this group. - picked up at 7:30am and no option for breakfast. - nothing was served as well. No water, no snack. Esp for the price we have paid - Lidia/ Lydia/ lidya.. was poor with her comm skills. She can speak english but would struggle to stay on point of complete what she was saying. Over a bus speaker, this was very annoying. - she also was very curt with anything that was asked - we spent a lot of time driving than seeing the places. For the amount i spent, This should ideally be an over night trip. But they packed everything in 13-14 hours. - Halstatt is beautiful. But the tour only allows you to go to th touristy village and spend more money. Seems like an agreement with the Halstatt authorities - i would have loved to take a walk by the lke but we stopped only at the scenic places filled with shops and tourists. - Salzburg is another beautiful city in itself. There was a quick tour guide who took us for 45 mins.. she explained a few things very quickly without allowing time for photos - the audio phones wouldn't work most times - it was a tick in box activity for Lidia. She was only interested in doing everything on time. The time spent in both places were just not enough - all places need money to visit their toilets. Ive had guides who pay for our restroom visits and give us snacks or water bottles. This trip had nothing. - i feel bad to have spent so much and see the money has only gone into their pockets and the bus. - very poor experience.
It’s not worth it. - we started at 7:30am. Spent most time in bus than in the actual places. - this should have been a two day trip for the price we paid. Because is no other entry fees or any other expense except the travel expense - the guide, Lidia, lacked basic empathy and communication skills. Her trail of thought would get lost and she repeated endlessly. It was annoying. But i can say this maybe just my experience. - Halstatt is definitely worth it. It’s beautiful and must make a visit. But this trip is not doing justice to the beauty. I would have appreciated if they allowed us to get off at the start of Halstatt lake so we can walk the beautiful trail. Instead, they took us to the most touristy place and gave us 1:45 hrs to see the place and eat and shop. This is when there was no breakfast. Salsburg has two atttraction- Morzart and Sound of music. Both are mere pass bys. We spent an entire day only to be rushed by Lidia so she can keep to her time. Did not enjoy the experience. We reached at 9pm. Not worth my one precious day in Vienna and not worth my money.
I booked the private/small group tour for 8 people.. on August 20, I even contacted the site chat, to be sure, that we will be 8 person in the mini bus, with the guide!! I payed 1191.68 Eu. There was no hotel pick up encluded.. on September 22, I contacted the Viator chat again, asking for hotel pick up.. they told me, they would check and come back to me. Nobody sent me anything.. So we arrived to the meeting point , on September 27, 7.30.. and discovered, that we are with the huge-70 people group.. :( when I expressed my pretentions, the ugly Russian woman, who whas in charge .. was so rude !! But as we had only few days in Vienna. and all our other days were fully booked with other trips. we had to join this group, had to travel in 2 floor bus.. where a guy beside me was sleeping and snooring all 6 hours of driving .. and 2 spenish speeking girls were talking on loudspeaker with their friends and realtive all 6 hour , that we spent in the bus. The guide Sabrina, yang woman, was giving only poor nessesary information.. :( in Salzburg , there was also ugly guide Natasha.. they were just only making their duty without any interest .. So we dropped this guide.. went to visit city by ourself :( The places to visit were really nice, but the guides and attitude to the customers were unaccepatble !! My question is, why they put us with 70 people group, while my request was the small group trip?
Alexander was very knowledgeable and gave lots of great information. The views were spectacular! We very much enjoyed the tour and did our own thing in Salzburg rather than spend time with the local guide. I would have liked more info on what to expect timing-wise. It is a very long day.
The experience was good, though a bit rushed for visiting two such beautiful places rich in detail. The downside of the tour was the bus; the restrooms weren't working (even though it had them).
Lovely young guide Sophie Was helpful uppity and professional. We left 15 minutes late. In Salzburg needed a little extra time, but because the driver had to finish on time, 15 minutes were lost that we could have done with.
VERY long ride if you are up to it. Hallstatt so so beautiful. The trip is very well organized. Sophia our leader was amazing and she does deserve credit along with driver. Only con is getting on bus. It was a free for all. Basically a dog fight. Would be awesome if when you bought tix you could pick your seats. That is most fair way to get your preferred seats - first come first to pick. And to sit with friends/fam.
Well worth it if you are short for time in Vienna . Fabulous day trip but short of time in each town ( 2 hrs each) if the bus started at 6am - more time could be spent in each one. Bus is 3 hrs to Hallstatt- which is fine as you can snooze on way there, the first hour is mainly city and towns and then countryside Hallstatt- we did the cable car up to the skywalk which is well worth it! The views are amazing. We did not have any time to go to the salt museum or venture down the Main Street fully which looked gorgeous! And we were not wasting any time!! The extra hour could definitely be spent here. So quaint. 1 hr in between both on the bus Salzburg - national day was being celebrated so we got the best of both worlds, the traditional outfits being worn by the locals really emphasised the atmosphere. Fabulous little streets with nooks and cranny’s which lead into other streets. 3 and 1/2 hrs back to Vienna If you have enough time it would be well worth spending a day in each place but if not - great choice of a tour !!
Everything ran on schedule. Our handsome, articulate and well informed guide, Alexander, gave a running commentary about the history, geography and economic status of Austria. He has every right to be proud of his beautiful country. A personable and cheerful person. I give him 5 stars. It is disappointing that none of the companies provided a guided tour. I was kind of lost in Salzburg and my phone battery died. Luckily I remembered the street where we were to meet.
Sofia was great, very informative. The views were breathtaking and it felt like you were in a dream. We were very happy with our choice in this tour. These cities were definitely worth seeing. I’m
It's excellent. It's a beautiful scenery and great journey. The tour guides are very experience, friendly and helpful. They are very good. The driver is excellent. We had a safe journey. Thank you very much for taking us to spectacular experience for exploring sound of music film. Mozart trip in Salzburg was excellent. Once again thank you very much ❤️
We knew that this excursion we went on was a long day of travel. The stops were very beautiful and that was awesome! Unfortunately, you are only off the bus for two hours at each location. The rest of the day is traveling. Learned a lot about the area and seeing the Alps is always priceless! There was also no use of the bathroom on board so we had to stop at Root areas along the way to go and no snacks provided on the bus. So plan accordingly.
It was a long day , but both cities were beautiful. Olga our tour guide was fabulous, the lakes were beautiful, and the scenery spectacular. We didn’t have great weather and it rained all day, but we still had an amazing time. Also we had a great bus driver.
It was very well organised with clear instructions. Olga was brilliant. She was very knowledgeable and clearly explained everything. There was also a guided tour of Salzburg included. We had a wonderful time
Our trip was fantastic from beginning to end, from the driver to the tour gide,the information about everything was sport on ,they did Motzart proud,and everything else ,highly appreciated and recommended, thank you 😊
Sabrina was very informative and was available to answer any questions we might have had. We wanted to spend more time in Salzburg but the time constriction did not make it possible. We returned feeling very tired but we enjoyed ourselves nonetheless.
Great trip Sabrina was lovely v knowledgeable. Really enjoyed Hallstatt. Felt needed longer in Salzburg. Also the bus needed head rests. Thank you
Salzburg is too far for the short time you get to visit. Hallstatt is incredible. Our local guide in Salzburg was not good and ended our hour tour in 45 minutes while rushing us through with no moments for pictures. Bus was nice, and guide was good and gave good history information on the way. I would like even more of that. She tended to be repetitive with instructions to the point of annoying. A mixed bag of good and not good. I would not do it again due to distance, but recommend getting to Hallstatt.
Our Guide Lilly was excellent! Halstatt was crowded with other tourists but the Lake scenery was amazing. Definitely helps to have Lilly advise us on how to navigate the area.
The lakes and Alps were just breathtaking.. nothing like freeing yourself in all the natural beauty ❤️
Beautiful view and wonderful history and information. Olga our guide was amazing! She was knowledgeable!
I booked this in advance for my trip to Vienna. I only had a couple days in Vienna. This trip should not replace an actual trip to Hallstatt or Salzburg. This is really only for people in Vienna who have an extra day and want to see more of Austria. If you have an extra day to spare then I would say to add this to your itinerary. This is a great way to see Hallstatt and Salzburg real quick. After doing this trip I would definitely need to return back to these amazing places. To get a real sense of these places, you honestly could spend all day in each village on your own. This long day starts at 7:30am on the dot. You must check in prior so arrive like 15 minutes early. We get a bathroom break and then straight to Hallstatt. We only got around 2 hours to explore, including time to go to the bathroom and feed yourself and buy some souvenirs and take pictures. Like I said you could spend a whole day getting to know Hallstatt. Honestly, for our itinerary, I think this was pretty reasonable but definitely can feel rushed. Olga reminded us to take it all in though. Salzburg was a quick trip from Hallstatt. And same thing, very quick. About 2 hours to do things. They drop you off near some Sound of Music sights and have an option to a Salzburg/Beethoven walking tour. Got to take some quick pics and try some chocolate. This was an overall well worth it trip. I’d recommend booking if you have a day to spare and get those insta pics if you want haha. Also bring a handheld fan, gets hot on the bus.
It was VERY long, and the drive from Salzburg to Vienna was 3.5 hours, so take a book, or if you sleep easily, then sleep. The journey is more enjoyable, and our guide Lily/Liily/Lillie was amazing. Point of order: if the stickers on the back of the sets say that you should ask the driver about buying bottled water from them... ignore it. They don't have water. Hallsatt is a must. Join the hundreds of other tourists there. Be warned, however, that many of the shops/restaurants there do NOT take cards, so take cash with you. All in all, a great 13 hours.
Great experience very enlightening tour. Tour guide was very informative and knowledgeable about all aspects of the country. Highly recommend
This was a beautiful tour and our guia Lily was extraordinary !!! The town is Beautiful you feel like in a movie
It is quite a long jourbey but so worth it. Halstatt is beatifull and Salzburg is amazing so full of history. Lily was a wonderful host
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