[Idyllchat] Re Austria Untour

[Mitchell S. Baltuch]

Well, I guess I better give the auto side of things :-).  We did the 
Austrian Untour in the Fall of 2005.  We decided, as we usually do, to 
opt for a car, rather than the rail pass.  The trains are wonderful in 
Austria and they will get you to most of the main areas.  However, while 
they allow you to relax, you are stuck going to places that the trains go.

That means you will miss the beautiful mountain areas above Kuchl, 
around St. Elmo, that are so pretty 
(http://www.mountainstorm.com/galleries/places/20050918056.html).  No 
train goes anywhere near there.  Also, the third day of our trip, 
everyone was going to Halstadt via the train.  Susan and I drove.  We 
made it there in an hour, while everyone else spent four hours on two 
trains.  We had a lot more time to sightsee and while we left when 
everyone else did, we were back in an hour, with plenty of time for a 
quiet dinner and still got back to our apartment before the rest of the 
group did.

Would we have enjoyed the trip if we only did the train.  Absolutely.  
However, a car gives you options that you won't otherwise have.

One thing I would caution you on, if you do go the car route.  Salzburg 
is not good for driving.  Too crowded and parking is a pain.  We went 
into the city twice and did it by train both times.  Much easier.

Oh, and if the rental company upgrades you to GPS navigation, watch 
out.  I swear the proper English woman (once we reprogrammed from German 
to English) giving the voice directions was not happy when we didn't 
follow her route and wound up sending us over a really interesting 
mountain.  It was beautiful, but the driving there was only fun if you 
are as whacked as I am.  It went from two lanes, to 1-1/2 lanes, to 1 
lane, to something less before it opened back up on the other side of 
the mountain.  Beautiful drive, but a mite hairy.

Mitch

Mitchell S. Baltuch
Mountain Storm Fine Arts
mbaltuch at mountainstorm.com
http://www.mountainstorm.com



Amy Gillin wrote:
> Six of us stayed at Gschwandtner in 2003; it's a lovely place, and the 
> yard is wonderful.  Very nice hosts as well.  We enjoyed being in 
> Pfarrwerfen, and took the train everywhere we wanted to go; it's not 
> quite to the point of precision as Switzerland, but it's 
> certainly easy to get around. 
>  
> I've got some photos of it here if you'd like to see:
> [URL=http://travel.webshots.com/album/115491557HbDEdt][IMG]http://thumb5.webshots.net/s/thumb3/9/19/26/115491926YXLfGh_th.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
>
> Enjoy Austria!
> Amy
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> > From: lmccain at mccainfinancial.com
> > To: idyllchat at lists.untours.com
> > Date: Tue, 15 Apr 2008 12:28:15 -0400
> > Subject: [Idyllchat] Re Austria Untour
> >
> >
> > We are looking at the Austria Untour and would like some first hand 
> advice
> > about accommodations. We are 2 couples, so limited to accommodations 
> that
> > sleep 4: Springl 3; Helmich 1; Gschwandtner Upper; Santner. Does anyone
> > have comments on these properties?
> >
> > Also, interested in the merits of rail vs. car. We loved the rail in
> > Switzerland; so much more relaxing than trying to drive. But notice that
> > several Austria untourists have taken the car instead. Any comments?
> >
> > Lucy McCain
> > lmccain at mccainfinancial.com
> >
> >
> >
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