September 28
My friends and I got in pretty late into Munich on the previous day so we woke up late on the 28th. We got a Munich day pass and used public transit to get to the old town, specifically Marienplatz. Marienplatz is the centre of Munich’s old town and has a really interesting Gothic church. We got a quick breakfast and walked around. We also got to explore the Hofgarten, a garden in the middle of Munich. I won’t lie, Munich’s old town is so far my least favorite old town. There isn’t a lot to do and the history is quite lacking.
We then made our way to Oktoberfest by around noon. The best way to describe Oktoberfest is that it is a giant Stampede focused on Bavarian culture. We saw a bunch of rides and other regular carnival affairs and eventually made our way to the Höfbrau tent. There are a bunch of tents at Oktoberfest, each with their own decorative themes. The food, however, are almost always the same: a pitcher of beer and a half chicken. My friends and I each had our own pitcher and chicken and visited the other tents. However, we quickly got bored and left by around mid-afternoon. Overall, I found that Oktoberfest during the day is quite average and wasn’t really worth spending a table reservation. However, this might be different during the nights and weekends.
One of my friends wanted to get a pretzel before we left Munich so we stopped by the Viktualienmarkt to grab some. The top pretzel shop at Munich is Karrol’s in the market but it was closed. We then took a train from Munich to Freilassing, a suburb of Salzburg. We got dinner there, did a midnight race where my friend injured his foot, and crashed at an Airbnb.
September 29
This day was dedicated to exploring Salzburg. We got into Salzburg through a quick train from Freilassing and checked out the old town. We started with Mirabelplatz, which houses a royal residence and some garden. I wasn’t that impressed with the palace or the gardens compared to what I have seen so far, but I did get to see a wedding!
We then walked over to Mozart’s residence and birthplace. It was pretty interesting learning about his childhood and family as well as his subsequent success, but I am personally not a huge classical music fan. These residences were thronging with tourists so I would recommend getting tickets beforehand to escape the crowd. I also feel that a guided tour might be nice to have if you are not too familiar with Mozart or classical music.
We then got lunch at a restaurant nearby (finally had schnitzel!) and made our way to Hohensalzburg, a giant fortress on a hill overlooking Salzburg. There are a couple options to exploring this fortress but we just took a funicular up, bought the cheapest ticket and explored. I honestly think this is the best move because the climb up to the fortress can be quite steep and the additional things added on to the cheapest ticket are not worth it.
The Hohensalzburg was one of the highlights of the visit. The group that runs the exhibitions in the museum did a fantastic job explaining the history of Salzburg. I would strongly recommend going to the panoramic tour of the fortress, which should be included in the cheapest ticket. The tour was quite touristy but you get some sick views of Salzburg at the very top.
Afterwards, we returned to Freilassing and celebrated Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival with some mooncake and Shin Ramen :).
September 30
We got up pretty early this day to explore Hallstat, a well-known town nestled in the heart of the Austrian Alps. We took a train from Freilassing to Salzburg and then got a private tour bus to take us to Hallstat. I had looked into options to take public transit to Hallstat but it would take almost 3x the time and required a few bus exchanges. I didn’t want to deal with that so I decided to pay a premium to get a direct bus to Hallstat.
This day was quite cloudy but it was a perfect vibe when visiting Hallstat. We also got there in the morning, so there were lots of clouds and mist, which made the lake quite picturesque (would recommend a morning visit). We walked around the lakeside and the Bone House, which is a burial area of Hallstat residents. We only had 2 hours in Hallstat before we had to take a bus back, but I think the half-day tour was just enough. Link to tour. I would say that this is skippable if you have already been to Switzerland since I wasn’t incredibly impressed. It’s still a cool sight though!
Afterwards, we got arepas in Salzburg and took a train to Vienna. We moved in our belongings to another Airbnb, hit up McDonald’s and crashed.
October 1
This was our Vienna exploration day! We got up, got some breakfast and made our way to the Schönbrunn Palace. Unfortunately, I had forgot to book tickets for the palace trips today so we had to line up to get timed tickets, which only allowed us in several hours after we lined up. We decied to go to Vienna’s old town instead and check out the Sisi museum. I have to say that Vienna’s old town blew my expectations. It is exceptionally pretty and had lots of intricately designed sculptures. I was in constant awe as I walked around the old town. We visited St. Stephen’s Cathedral and the outside of the Hofburg Palace.
We then did a tour of the Sisi Musuem, dedicated to one of the queens of Austria. I didn’t think it was worth the visit, but we also didn’t get an audio guides so that may have improved the experience. We made our way outside the palace and checked out Heldenplatz before we made our way back to Schönbrunn Palace. This palace tour was a lot better. We got audio guides as well that explained room design really well as well as the history of the Austrian royalty. It is not as nice as Palacio Real in Madrid but still was a great tour! We also checked out the gardens behind the palace which was really well put together and gave us great views of the palace.
Afterwards, we got dinner in Vienna old town (Reinthaler’s Beisl was a great choice from a friend) and then went back home.
October 2
My friend and I went on an early morning train ride from Vienna to Budapest this day. We got into Budapest and we were instantly taken aback with the city. Budapest is an interesting amalgamation of classical architecture supported by the Hapsburgs but also had a strong Soviet influence from the Communist days.
We made our way to Buda (Budapest is divided into two cities, Buda and Pest) and explored the Buda Castle, Fisherman’s Bastion and St. Matthias Church. These all offered incredible views of Budapest and the parliament building. Unfortunately, much of the museums were closed due to it being a Monday.
We then got lunch at Rosenstein, a Hungarian Jewish restaurant. This is probably the restaurant with the best food that I have tasted since my exchange term started. Would strongly recommend this restaurant! Also, it is quite affordable due to the weak Hungarian Florint.
We then visited the Szchenyi Baths, walked around the central Budapest City Park, made our way to Budapest’s parliament buildings, and walked over to Buda for sunset views of the city skyline. It was a pretty exceptional view of the Danube and the city! We then took a late night train back to Vienna.
October 3
We went to Vienna’s airport early to get to the Vienna Lounge (top class lounge!). Pro tip: get Chase Sapphire Reserve when you are in the States to get “free” lounge access in almost every airport!
Tips
- Oktoberfest tips
- You do not need a table reservation if you are going in during a weekday. If you want to get a table on Fridays, weekday nights or weekends, then I would recommend looking into table reservations. These are quite expensive, so think carefully if you really need them
- Höfbrau tent has plenty of space during lunchtime on weekdays for food!
- The food and drink got me incredibly catatonic since it is extremely heavy. Be prepared to battle through several rounds of tiredness through either the power of coffee or gelato
- I cannot claim that I know how Oktoberfest is like during nights, but I would imagine the vibe is a lot more merry. Try to plan to be there during that time
- I would not recommend visiting if you are a non-drinker; it is a little boring otherwise
- All of the cities that we visited in this trip had transit day passes. Make sure to buy them beforehand. They are the most economical transit solution if you are only visiting a city for a day
- We chose to live in Freilassing instead of Salzburg because it was a lot cheaper and it wasn’t too far away from Salzburg. This is not a bad option if you are ok adding 15-20 minutes to your travel to Salzburg
- The museums in Vienna are all timed-entry, so I would strongly recommend getting tickets before you go rather than trying to buy tickets at the museum
- Bring cash. Germany, Austria and Hungary are still very cash-centric, which is a little annoying. Hungary is also not a Euro country, so be prepared to convert money into florints
- Also bring coins! Many public washrooms here require a €1 entry fee
- Try not to visit these cities on Mondays if you are interested in museums, as they are usually closed.
- All of these cities can be explored within 1 day in my personal opinion.