Hey guys,
That time of year has come when it's time to plan where to go and what to explore. Last year we did a trip to Poland and hiked Tatra mountains and that was a successful trip as some of us had been there already and its roughly one days drive from our country.
This year we are planning on going to Austria to Hike in Austrian Alps and do some general sightseeing around Austria (probably Carinthia region). It is planned in summer of 2020. Possibly in July. We are planning early to be able to put down money, plan vacation times and book everything early.

But planning is a tad more difficult this time. It's 1600 km to drive there. We would lose 4 days being on the road and no one really wants that + its a tedious drive.. So we are planning on flying there. But flying there raises some restrictions. We dont have a car to drive there. Luggage is limited.

So this is where I hope some knowledgeable people could come in and give some advice. Someone who lives in Austria or who has flown there for some reason.
The idea for now is to rent some kind of apartments (for a group of 8 people), fly there, rent a car there and be there for 11 days hiking and visiting places.
Some of the questions I have for now -

What would be a sensible time to buy airplane ticket ? Could we expect sale on Christmas for example.

Where would you suggest to rent a car and what would be a decent price for renting a car ? (for now I am looking at some cars that cost around 20 - 30 euros a day. is that a reasonable price?) should we rent at airport or it would be cheaper elsewhere ?

Which region and/or city would you suggest to live in ? And where would you suggest to look for a place to rent ? Would Airbnb suffice ? Havent used it myself, thats why I am asking.

I would appreciate any input on traveling to Austria regarding planning the accommodations and transport. And if you have any suggestions what to see while there, I'll be sure to make a note of that :)

I am running short on game keys lately, so I can offer only one giveaway for now

Thanks in advance :)

4 years ago*

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Have you ever visited Austria ?

View Results
Yes, for business
Yes, for vacation
I live in Austria
No

Advice #0: Don't do Hitler jokes.

4 years ago
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It did cross my mind that it wouldnt be a good topic for jokes while writing this, thanks :D
Cant remember why you where on my blacklist, but thats a good advice - removed you from it if you are interested in the giveaway

4 years ago
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Probably because sometimes I don't follow my own advice?

4 years ago
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why not? you won't get shot for that anymore :-).

(i am austrian)

4 years ago
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Advice #0.1: Don't litter, don't spit.

4 years ago
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To be honest, Im surprised that many people still need this to be reminded

4 years ago
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Come to Bulgaria and you'll see why those advices(or actually rules) must be repeated 24/7 :)

4 years ago
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Advice #1: don't look for kangaroos in Austria :P

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4 years ago
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Noo, it cant be :(
Next your going to tell me its not surrounded by oceans and located in southern hemisphere ?!

4 years ago
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As Ryan Reynolds said, that country is barely on the planet. Jokes aside many people traveling through Austria are convinced they just crossed Australia.

4 years ago
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LOL

4 years ago
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This comment was deleted 10 months ago.

4 years ago
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:D

4 years ago
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Fun fact: there are wild kangaroos in France. 30 years (or so) ago they escaped from a zoo and now live in the wild :)

So maybe some day they'll live in Austria too. Then there will be now way to distinguish the countries :o

4 years ago
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Ahahahah, this is funny! And that would a wild scenario XD
Thank you for sharing this fact! :D

4 years ago
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I loved being in TIROL Area. From the only inn in the very (!) small village Hinterriß I was able to do several hiking tours without being bothered by any tourist or human at all. I recommend this! But I do not know how to come there by plane. I was driving there using my own car.

4 years ago
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Thanks for suggestion :) Checked out some pictures on Google. Tyrol area looks beautiful

We are planning on driving with cars there. Looks like Hinterriß is a 500 km drive from Vienna airport. I'll put this place down as a possible destination and see how it goes in the plan of other destinations :)

4 years ago
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And don't forget to check out Apfelstrudel ;)

4 years ago
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I will keep that in mind :) thanks

4 years ago
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Well, I was living in Vienna for some years as I was UNI student there. Never used a car there, the public transport good there, the parking became hell expensive.

About tourist attractions: well, never visited other parts of Austria, so no clue what to see, Vienna and it's area offers a lot tho. You can literally get from the airport to Vienna with "Schnellbahn" (some sort of public transport) and you can easily get to other bigger cities or tourist attractions via public transports so I believe in most cases the car could be skipped.

Btw, don't forget to drive to the most famous Austrian village and take a picture at the village sign:

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4 years ago
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How expensive is the public transportation ? For example the Schnellbahn ? I think we will still stick with renting the car, but maybe renting it somewhere else instead of airport could be cheaper..

Damn, I really have the urge to visit that village now :D:D Got to put it down as a possibility, thanks :)

4 years ago
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And I may add: Vienna is cool too! You may visit the cemetary there, it is impressive, I think. As I remember, public transport was not too expensive but very good with no long waiting times.

4 years ago
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Wow, never would have thought of a cemetery as a tourist destination
But looks like thats a cool place with some awesome celebrities buried.
I saw that tours cost a lot, but is there an entry fee ? or if you dont take a guide its free ?

4 years ago
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No, I went there by train and there's no entry fee. Explored it by myself! Didn't even consider to take a guide, so I don't know anything about it ;)

4 years ago
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1,80EUR

I don't suggest to rent a car for the days while exploring Vienna.
Consider buying Vienna Pass instead:
https://www.viennapass.com/what-you-get/

Free public transport use and free entry to a lot of tourist attractions, including Museums and Schönbrunn Palace (you need to check winter opening times of those attractions tho, some might be closed during winter)

Also, once you done with Vienna, you might want to take another rent for those days, not inside Vienna, might be cheaper and perhaps traveling to Pozsony-Bratislava, Capital of Slovakia, might be an option too, not far from Vienna, and rent a car from there and also booking the flight back from there might be cheaper.

While you driving: Don't forget to purchase Autobahn Vignette (or ask at rent if the car has it, it probably does if you rent in Austria). Austria is full of secret and hidden radars, don't pass the speed limit. If you rent a car in Slovakia, make sure it has Winter tires. I don't know if its a must to have in Slovakia by law, it is not in Hungary, but it is in Austria, if you don't have any on the car then you can expect a huge fine. Also, in Austria, you need to have snow-chain in the car, for the tires. Well, there are many regulations for cars during winter in Austria, perhaps still better to rent a car in Austria:-D

4 years ago*
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We are already planning on buying Kärnten Card as Carinthia looks like the destination for now so I dont think we'lll buy another one for Vienna. Maybe its even straight into cars and a drive to Carinthia, so its possible we wont be staying there
But I'll check out Vienna and see what we could visit there, thanks for suggestion

I checked Bratislava out, but there are no direct flights from our airport to Bratislava. Gong to and from Vienna is the best way at the moment.

Edit : Rental place will probably have it all sorted out, but thanks for reminding. This is definitely something to check before getting the car.

4 years ago*
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Ahh, so the traveling more about the exploration of the mountains and not sightseeing. I can't give much advice on that one, good luck with it:-)

Or, if you go there because of Thermal-Bads for next time I would suggest Hungary instead. Not because it is my country, but in that category, it is unbeatable with visitable cave lakes and cave thermals:-)

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4 years ago*
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Thanks for suggestion :) A friend of mine went on a trip some time ago and did go into such tunnels. It could have been Hungary for all I know.. But that was some 8 or more years ago

4 years ago
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I don't think I'd be good at giving advice (especially for Carinthia) but I lived in Vienna, Lower Austria, Vorarlberg and now Salzburg.
Also no idea about renting prices for cars...for obvious reasons, I do however travel by train often and I don't think it's expensive (I do have a railcard which lowers prices a lot), it's also cheaper to buy group tickets.

4 years ago
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here a serious hint - coming to austria in dec/jan is mainly for one thing --> getting a hut in the mountains
you are 8 ppl and you love hiking - its perfect - get a hut close to a skiing area in vorarlberg/tirol/...
most ppl do this around new year holidays - u have to be fast to get a hut in the best region of the world
(i have many friends who own such huts, because thats the best in austria in dec/jan)

if u want something else, there are christmas markets in austria in december
go to vienna and drink a "hot mulled wine" at every christmas market around
you will need many days (schönbrunn, stephansdom, mariahilfer, and 100 more)
(all austrians get drunk on street all day there)

4 years ago
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Oh, you made me realize I didnt specify dates we are planning on going :D

Its planned in the summer of 2020 (in july possibly). with 2020 starting we want to now what we are doing with plane tickets, cars and living (and of course to plan vacation time and money accordingly). And to save some money of course by buying and booking everything early

Thanks for suggestions though ;) Going to mountains in winter to celebrate new year or on a skiing trip will definitely come. Maybe after this trip to Austria in the coming winter.

4 years ago
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I can't give advice on the touristy stuff, but the best time to buy a plane ticket is not so easy. The math airlines use to calculate the price is incredibly complex, and is the reason prices can change not just day by day, but as soon as one person buys a ticket, the price can change for the next person.

That being said, right now, just check the prices every week. (or, if you're really OCD, every day, and take a moving average). While there may be some fluctuations, you should notice that pricing will slowly trend down over the next few months. About 3-4 months before your trip, prices will stabilize and even start increasing. That's when you should buy.

It won't be the absolute cheapest, but it will be pretty close. Flights within the region you specified are on average at their cheapest about 11-13 weeks before departure - but for any one particular flight the variance is much greater. The cheapest could be at 8 weeks, or at 16 weeks.

I recall reading a scientific study on it a few years back, and I sort of remember the results. The results were much more granular, and the best purchase time for specific routes could be much shorter or longer; Overall, common routes between major cities in Europe tended to be around the same

4 years ago
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Thanks for the information - interesting stuff
I do remember a situation from some time ago when there was a discussion about how the prices increase when you check it regularly from same IP. They go up every time you check it again to reel in you to buy it
And when changing IP or asking someone else to check it, there where original base prices.
But I dont know whats the situation now, if its still the case, or was it truth back then as I didnt really check myself that

4 years ago
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I remember that. They stopped doing that pretty quickly - most people have different options, and so if airline A's price keeps going up, eventually the flyer will buy a ticket from airline B, even though A was originally willing to sell it for less. It got replaced by the warning sign "only X tickets left at this price" - which is true. There will literally be X tickets available at any particular price point at any particular time, and once those tickets get sold, the price automatically changes. That notice does as good a job at encouraging people to buy, without playing games that could result in them not buying a ticket they were willing to buy at a price the airline was willing to sell.

4 years ago
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Hm yeah, Ive noticed thats something thats used a lot now

Ive seen several cases where checking the source code of the web page shows that the "remaining ...." is a random number :D so°it still can be used to cheat consumers

4 years ago
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interesting. I found that when I shop around, the number is consistent on the 4-5 different sites I use - and if I start booking on one site, the number of tickets remaining on the other sites drop by the corresponding number (e.g. if there were 5 tickets remaining on Site X, and I start booking two tickets on Site Y, updating Site X shows only 3 tickets remaining)

4 years ago
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The main reason that prices of airplanes are weird is because airline corporations dont let their prices get adjusted by demand and supply, instead they try to understand who is on a bussiness trip and who isnt in order to maximise their profits. Its a bit weird to explain but they follow the same rule of the prices of monopolies. And yes if someone wants to get the cheapest flight possible he should check the prices really often a long time before he books one.

4 years ago
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thats not entirely true. Airlines do adjust their prices constantly based on demand. The supply is fixed, and airlines have immense data on buying patterns. If people buy faster than expected, prices automatically go up. If people are buying slower than expected, then prices automatically go down.
However, that's further complicated by having different price points for the same ticket depending on how and to whom it gets sold (refundable, non-refundable, business bulk, ordinary traveller, combo tickets through travel agents, air miles, discount searchers, etc.), different classes of tickets (first class, business, emergency exit row, coach) and the fact that the goal is to always have a few tickets left for last-minute travelers. On top of that, some airlines overbook knowing that a certain number of passengers end up cancelling, whereas other airlines sell specific seats, and some airlines don't sell seating at all.

If you love mucking around with statistics, airline ticket pricing is a fascinating field. For everyone else, it just seems unpredictable.

4 years ago
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I see, thats actually really interesting. Thanks for the informations.

4 years ago
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I stayed in Innsbruck last winter and it's been awesome! we have all some Austrian blood here in Northern Italy =P I found all Tyrol awesome, I've been in the years before and as a child many times to Wien and the whole of Austria as a tourist and I never had a problem, I can't give you many advices even because Austria and especially Tyrol lie extremely close to where I was born but I really loved everything there =) have fun you all! best of luck =)

4 years ago
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Thanks for suggestion :) Tyrol looks great

4 years ago
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Advice #2 don't

4 years ago
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I would start in vienna but would only stay there for 2 days.
Prices are like in other bigger west eu-cities and you going in midseason so hotels might be expensive.
Airbnb can be okay or a total fail... We had an airbnb in london and disliked it because it was just an illegal hotel. If your group is open minded go into hostels with sleepingrooms. I did this in portugal and it was totaly fine most people just stay for one night and come in late and leave early and at least in protugal it was always quite enough to sleep and cheap.

After that I would take a car (price sounds fine, have in mind that some streets will cost extra money and some are closed for tourists. Also you should take a look on the insurances because if you go in the mountains I would always go with a save for roof, bottom and glas to) .There are awesome places and nice campsides around the alps so maybe you just take the car (or two with 8 people) and some tents and make a round course ending in vienna again.
Restaurants and bigger Hotels in the alps are expensive but there are still some nice small places that are charming and nice (not on top ofc).
I was hiking around Innsbruck and it was awesome.

For me a "must see" is this: https://www.eisriesenwelt.at/

I book my plain with google flights and most of the time I rent the car already in germany via a german website and pick it up in the country I visit.

4 years ago
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We did check out airbnb suggestions
Depends on how many people we will be going.. But we did find some great offers for very cheap and with good reviews there.
We did think of tents at first, but we have been hiking around living in tents for several years now. We are thinking of upgrading to houses this time :D But its not out of the question

Thanks for the suggestions and tips. Innsbruck looks beautiful. Thats three suggestions for Tyron region, got to consider going there instead of Carinthia region, or maybe plan a second trip there

And thanks for the site to those caves. Looks awesome (we did get into an adventure in Tatra mountains by going into a cave which turned out to be very small and we had to crawl through it for some 15 minutes - in the linked discussion I wrote about that) so this would be an awesome addition :D thanks

4 years ago
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I'm with the other commentor on hostels - They're a decent affordable way to go.

A word of caution with AirBNB: What is your backup plan if the host cancels on you last minute? How much would a different place to stay cost at that time of year, or will other places to stay be filled up? A host is allowed to cancel a certain number of times before AirBNB charges them, but when a host does cancel too much the penalty is very little ($50 USD?) and goes to the company.

4 years ago
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Thanks for warning about airBNB .. None of us have stayed in a place from it so we dont really know all the details

And how would you suggest checking for hostels ? Would booking .com be a good site ?

4 years ago
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There's one or two international hostel organizations like https://www.hihostels.com/

Totally independent ones might do their reservations through sites like booking.com or hostelworld.com (mobile app)

BTW I've only stayed in hostels in North America so I have no clue if hostels are much different elsewhere.

4 years ago
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I know bugger all about traveling advice but wanted to say hope you have a wonderful trip! Just took a look at your last trip post and those were some really nice photos, love seeing mountains especially & hearing about people's adventures. Thanks for sharing with us. :)

4 years ago
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Thanks :) Glad to hear it, If this trip goes through successful I will probably create some kind of short movie and do a post again in the second half of 2020 :D But we'll see

4 years ago
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I live in Austria, but I have no experience with renting cars or flats.
If you have any other questions, I try to help you as much as I can though

4 years ago
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Maybe you know about toll roads ? Is it easy to get around if we decide to not use toll roads, and are there a lot of them ? A quick glance shows me some 9 toll roads IIRC.

4 years ago
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I've taken regular roads from CZ to AT, then the opposite way on tolls. Toll roads were more like highways, and non-toll seemed more like regular roads. It may be different elsewhere in Austria though. IIRC there are certsin types of shops in AT that are most likely to sell them - They're like smoke shops but they're not called that.

4 years ago
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To drive on highways you need to buy a vignette which cost 9,20€ for 10 days, that is the fastest way to drive around on most parts
there are 5 tunnels where you need to pay extra if you want to use them, depending on from where to where you want to go, they aren't that easy to avoid
list of tunnels with prices

4 years ago
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I never been there but regarding sales I would keep checking daily. Random deals pop ups. I seen some nice deal to barcelona. But just remember these deals will be for certain dates though. So it might not fit your schedule.

4 years ago
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4 years ago
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