7 days in Austria: itinerary

Austria is small but its best bits sit on one east–west rail line, which is why a week works. Vienna gives you palaces, museums and coffee houses; Salzburg gives you the baroque old town and the lakes within reach; Innsbruck puts cable cars above the rooftops. Three bases, two hotel changes, no hire car.

The trade-off is depth. Seven days buys three cities done properly, not three cities plus Hallstatt plus the Wachau plus a ski valley. If lakes and mountains matter more than museums, cut Vienna to 2 nights and add a night in the Salzkammergut — but then you are on a different trip, closer to the 10-day route.

Book trains early. Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) sells Sparschiene tickets from about €9.90 on long-distance routes when bought in advance; walk-up fares are far higher. Seat reservations cost a few euros and are worth it on Friday and Sunday afternoons.

The line runs Vienna → Linz → Salzburg → Innsbruck, with Munich and Zurich beyond Innsbruck and Budapest and Bratislava beyond Vienna. Everything on this itinerary is on that spine, so you never backtrack.

Vienna has one main station (Wien Hauptbahnhof) plus Wien Meidling and Wien Westbahnhof for regional trains. Salzburg Hauptbahnhof is a 15–20 minute walk from the old town. Innsbruck Hauptbahnhof is a 10-minute walk from the old town and a short tram ride from the Nordkette cable car.

Day 1 — Vienna. Drop bags, walk the Ringstrasse loop past the Opera, Hofburg and Parliament, then cut into the old town for Stephansdom. Book a coffee house for late afternoon rather than queueing at peak. If you land early, Schönbrunn's gardens and Gloriette are free and worth the walk uphill.

Day 2 — Vienna. Pick one big interior: Schönbrunn Palace with a timed ticket, or the Hofburg Imperial Apartments. Add the Kunsthistorisches Museum in the afternoon. In summer, buy Schönbrunn tickets online days ahead; the palace sells out.

Day 3 — Vienna. Belvedere for Klimt's The Kiss in the morning, Naschmarkt for lunch, then a standing-place ticket at the State Opera or Musikverein in the evening. Standing places are cheap and sold at the door and online; prices and rules change by season, so confirm before you go.

Day 4 — Salzburg. Take a morning train, leave bags at the hotel, and spend the afternoon on Getreidegasse, in Mozart's Birthplace and up at the Hohensalzburg fortress. The fortress funicular saves the climb; the walk up is steep but short.

Day 5 — Salzburg. Choose one: Hallstatt as a long day trip (roughly 2h 30m each way, with a change at Attnang-Puchheim and a ferry or train into the village), or a gentler lake day at Wolfgangsee or Mondsee by post bus. Hallstatt is small and crowded between about 10am and 4pm; arriving early or late is the whole trick. Check Sunday and public-holiday timetables before you commit.

Day 6 — Innsbruck. Morning train, then the old town: the Golden Roof, the Hofkirche, and the Nordkette cable car from the city centre up to around 2,000 m. Go up in the afternoon for softer light; check the last descent time and the weather before buying.

Day 7 — Innsbruck. Either a second cable car or a walk, or Schloss Ambras if it is raining, then fly out of Innsbruck or take the train onward to Munich or Zurich. Allow 2 hours at Innsbruck Airport for a Schengen flight, more if you are leaving the Schengen area.

Trains do the work. ÖBB runs the long-distance services; the Railjet and ICE are the fast ones, and regional trains are slower but cheaper. Buy Sparschiene tickets in advance for the fixed legs and keep them on your phone.

Within cities, Vienna's U-Bahn, trams and buses run on a zone ticket; a 24-, 48- or 72-hour pass usually beats single fares if you ride more than twice a day. Salzburg and Innsbruck are walkable, with buses or trams for the edges. Validate paper tickets where the system requires it; fines are enforced.

A hire car is a liability on this route: you pay for parking in three cities and the motorway vignette, and you cannot reach Hallstatt's centre by car anyway. Rent one only if you are adding the Grossglockner or a ski valley, which this week does not.

Flights: Vienna (VIE) is the main long-haul gateway; Innsbruck (INN), Salzburg (SZG), Graz (GRZ), Linz (LNZ) and Klagenfurt (KLU) are smaller. Flying home from Innsbruck, Munich or Zurich avoids a train back to Vienna.

One bed per base, near the station or the old town, and you never move mid-city. In Vienna, the 1st district is central and expensive; the 6th, 7th and 8th districts are quieter, cheaper and 10–15 minutes' walk from the museums. Near Hauptbahnhof suits early trains.

In Salzburg, the right bank (Andräviertel, near the station) is cheaper and 15 minutes' walk from the old town; the left bank puts you inside the postcard but costs more and is noisier in summer. In Innsbruck, the area between the station and the old town is the practical choice.

Book 2–3 months ahead for May–September and December. December rates in Vienna and Salzburg spike around the Christmas markets; the same rooms cost less in January and February.

Mid-range, per person, excluding flights: about €900–1,500 for the week (2026 estimate). That assumes a private room or mid-range hotel at €80–160 a night, two restaurant meals a day, museum entries and advance train tickets. Hostel dorms and self-catering pull the low end down; four-star hotels in December push it well past the top.

The biggest lever is train timing. Sparschiene fares on Vienna–Salzburg and Salzburg–Innsbruck start around €9.90 each when booked early; buying on the day can cost several times that. The second lever is accommodation dates: the same Salzburg room can double in festival and market weeks.

Swap Innsbruck for the Salzkammergut. Vienna 3, Salzburg 2, then 2 nights at Hallstatt or Bad Ischl for lakes and the Dachstein. You lose the alpine city and gain water and mountains; buses and ferries replace some trains, and Sunday service is thin.

Swap Salzburg for Graz. Vienna 3, Graz 2, Innsbruck 2 works by rail but adds distance and a change; Graz rewards food and design more than baroque. It suits a second trip better than a first.

Add days rather than squeeze them. The 10-day route adds the Wachau and a lake stay without rushing; the 14-day route goes end to end via Graz, Carinthia and Zell am See. If you have 7 days and want ski time, drop a city and take a full week in one valley instead — the Arlberg and Zillertal both work as single-base weeks.