Question
Hallo Benedikt,
We are a couple from South Africa (about 60 years old) considering to explore parts of Austria (including neighbouring parts of Germany and Switzerland) in May and June of 2009 during a three week trip. We intend to have a car, drive ourselves and try to *experience* the country, rather than just *see* it, and herein lies the problem that I thought you might please be able to offer me some advice on. We plan to start and end the journey in Venice and I'm including a map picture of our planned route - the numbers represent chronological stops/points of interest along the route.
We are used to doing this kind of thing in Italy and we usually try to stay on the back roads, visit the small villages along the way, stay in rural bed and breakfast places and generally avoid the big hotels and city centres - other than to visit them during the day for the places of interest and have a meal or drink in at night. During my searches for places to stay in Austria, I always seem to get Hotels, even though they call them "Guest Houses", "Pension", "Gasthof", or "Bed and Breakfast". These "Hotels" seem to focus on the skiing tourist and my biggest concern is that they might not have a pleasant atmosphere for us as non-skiers to enjoy. So my first question is really - does the family run 2 to 4 room bed and breakfast exist in Austria and how do I find them? Alternatively, is my fear about the Austrian Hotels unfounded?
Will not being able to speak German be a problem at the family run B&B's - our native language is Afrikaans - a little like Dutch with some harsh sounding words of German origin in as well - and we are fluent in English Many thanks for your site and all the information on it - I'm still working through the various sections to add your attractions to the list of places to see/visit. I realise we're still missing some parts of Austria, but it's mainly an issue of time and distance, not any other particular reason for skipping it. My last question is about understanding the way of life in Austria. We are used to planning our days around things in Italy being closed between say 13:00 and 16:00 and then starting to awake again around 17:00.
I gather this is not the case in Austria? We'd then want to sit down for a drink at say 18:00 to admire the scenery or people going by in the town square - children playing in the "piazza". Is this a thing you see in Austria? I appreciate your time in answering my questions
Best regards, xxx
My Reply
Hi xxx, Thank you for your interest in my website and congratulations for the detailed plan you have worked out for the Austria-in-depth tour; I wish all visitors of my country would be that considerate. The tour seems well-balanced for Western Austria; you will cut out essentially all of Eastern and South-Eastern Austria at the benefit of seeing Bavaria and parts of Switzerland, which is consistant though and in many respects "one cultural sphere".
I will also give you a reason to come back and do Eastern Austria/Hungary/Slovakia/Bohemia one day. The route you are planning is really long, so make sure you plan to have enough time. Small, family-run B&Bs are usually called Pension or Gasthaus/Gasthof (with inn). They usually don't appear online, as they often don't realise how important the internet could be even for small companies. It is best to book them the 'conventional way', either through the local tourist information centres or by phone. I think you are right concerning your worries about big hotels - especially in skiing areas, they can be very sad.
I am sure you can order catalogues of B&Bs from local tourist information centres. I recommend to cross the Tauern mountains via Heiligenblut and the Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse, given that it will be free of snow and accessible at this time of the year: It is an amazingly scenic piece of Austria. In Bavaria, I saw that Hohenaschau is on your route; I was there a few months ago, check out the fortress (only IF it is open for general visitors - which is concerned with the Adel-in-Bayern exhibition!) and maybe, once you are there, the monastery of Seeon. Other monasteries you might want to see (just off or even on your proposed route) are Wilhering (Rococo) and Kremsmuenster (mostly Baroque).
Regarding opening hours: On the country-side, you might have lunch breaks for one or two hours, but this is the exception these days. Supermarkets don't close for lunch and generally, the situation is more "civilised" in Austria than in Italy. Shops are closed on Sundays and after 7 pm, though (or even earlier). English is wide-spread even on the countryside, it will be easier to communicate than in Italy - even though elderly people might not be fluent. Piazza life is less charming than in Italy, but still something worth seeing and a drink at 6 pm is a concept followed by many Austrians, too. Have fun on your trip!
Best, Benedikt
Second Question
Hi Benedikt
Thank you for your suggestions, I've included them in our itinerary. We'll certainly take the Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse route and we've decided to have an overnight stay at the Burghotel Aschau to have more time for the castle Hohenaschau I realise the route is very long and we've had to watch the time taking to visit all the stops - though fortunately some days turn out to be quite leisurely. As you can see I'm using Microsoft's Autoroute 2007 which does the hard work of figuring out the time taken to cover the distance using speed limits that I've set to below average driving speeds on all roads. My wife immediately noticed that your site "loads very quickly" so your CSS efforts must've paid off ;-) I especially liked your Dining and Cuisine section and as I have a rather sweet tooth and an inborn carnivorous disposition, I should do well in Austria.
And yes, we will bring our own tea. Speaking of tea, have you tried a South African tea called "RooiBos" - meaning "Red Bush"? It's a bit of an acquired taste because it's a bit sweeter than ceylon but very enjoyable once you've gotten used to it - not your typical herbal tea at all. You can read about it on www.rooibos.com and if you fancy a try just let me know - we'll drop you some off when we visit Salzburg because it is not widely exported and I can't imagine it being popular in a country that does not favour tea!? I just checked - they have a partner in Vienna - looks like an ex South African from the surname - so there goes a business opportunity ;-( Any other gastronomical interests we can satisfy? We have good wines too. And brandy's as well. Books on food/wines/cooking? Speaking of Salzburg - do you perhaps have a suggestion for a place to stay in Salzburg - somewhere close enough so we can walk to the main attractions but still easily accesible by car? Parking?
Many thanks and regards, xxx
My Second Reply
Hello xxx,
The fortress of Hohenaschau is only open since last autumn for a special exhibition - I don't know when this exhibition ends, but make sure not to spend too much time there if all is locked again (the fortress is normally used as a hotel for civil servants - rather bizarre, I know).
As for Rooibos: It will probably surprise you, but as far as tea goes, it is actually quite popular in Austria and sold under its Afrikaans name or as "Rotbusch". I quite like it; you can buy tea in Austrian supermarkets at good quality, in my article I was relating to the stuff you get in cafes and restaurants - various infusions of dried fruits and herbs and god knows what.
Funny that you mention the CSS - I have just changed that recently and didn't expect anyone to notice except for some geeky friends of mine.
Thank you for your offer to supply me with tea or other delights from South Africa! I am living in Vienna now, so I'm afraid we won't meet in Salzburg. But I can of course recommend places. For a central yet reasonably priced hotel, look into Goldene Ente. Since you have a car, consider the much cheaper places such as Ferienhotel Herzog in Neumarkt am Wallersee (about 20 mins from Salzburg by car, the town where my parents live, the hotel is run by a very friendly family and faces the lake and mountains behind it - http://www.ferienhotel-herzog.at/index1.html) or Hotel Obermayer, which is run by friend of a friend and is said to offer very good value for money: http://www.hotel-obermayr.at/
The hotel of a friends' parents can be found here: http://www.stefanihof.at/ Situated by the beautiful lake Fuschl very close to Salzburg - but be warned: The pension looks less fancy than the website, their son is a professional web designer. I would expect fairly good value for money, though, and Fuschl is nice. Parking in Salzburg is free if you are willing to spend a lot of time looking for space, or costs a small fee if you are not - in any case, the fee will be less than what you will save by staying at the Herzogs or in Hintersee.
Best wishes, Benedikt
