ITINERARY

Friday, July 3rd:

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• You will be picked up by your personal tour guide of the day who will show you romantic hidden places in Vienna and who is known for her professional service, reliability and expert knowledge. This guide will show you many different aspects of the city in a creative, charming, surprising way. This tour with your personal tour guide will take about 5-6 hours and includes a stop at one of the beautiful old famous coffee houses for coffee and pastry.
• In the evening at 8:00 p.m. enjoy the "Vienna Walz Concert". This concert takes place in the heart of Vienna in the Palais Palffy which was built in the 14th century. MOZART performed there in 1762 already. You will hear music by Mozart and Strauss with internationally renowned opera singers and ballet dancers.

Saturday, July 4th:

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Transfer to the Vienna train station.
• Your train will leave Vienna at 9:44 a.m. and it will arrive in Hallstatt at 1:27 p.m.
  You will be traveling first class in the train.
• In Hallstatt check in at your hotel "Gruener Baum" at the lake of Hallstatt, the world's most beautiful lakeside resort. Embedded between the impressing mountains and the picturesque lake of Hallstatt is the village of Hallstatt, which can look back on 4500 years of eventful history.
  The historic marketplace is the geographical and social centre of Hallstatt. The lakeside hotel Gruener Baum, which was mentioned in a document for the first time in the year 1700, is the most impressing building at the marketplace with its facade; the other side of the hotel opens to the lake with its inviting terrace.
  You will stay where Empress Elisabeth (Sissy) of Austria, Adalbert Stifter, Agatha Christie and many other celebrities stayed, in a hotel which has already served several times as the scenery for films...
  It's location, furnishings and the excellent service offered have always rendered the lakeside hotel Gruener Baum the resort's best hotel.
• Enjoy your day and evening in Hallstatt.

Sunday, July 5th:

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Transfer to the Hallstatt train station.
• Your train will leave Hallstatt at 11:11 a.m. and it will arrive in Salzburg at 1:52 p.m. You will have to change train one time.
  You will be traveling first class in the train.
• In Salzburg transfer to your hotel.
• Your hotel in Salzburg is the 5***** Hotel Altstadt" in the center of the "old town", right next to the river Salzach.
  You will stay in one of the beautiful Superior rooms.
  This hotel is at the place where Salzburg is at its most typical, in the midst of its world-famous Old City, luxury and elegance have united to create an extraordinary new dimension of Austrian hospitality - the Hotel Altstadt Radisson SAS.
  Discover enchanting details from times long past, such as the medieval wooden ceilings, stucco work and antique paintings, while at the same time enjoying the vivaciousness of modern amenities.
• Enjoy a wonderful afternoon in Salzburg.
• Ttransfer by cable railway to the Fortress Hohensalzburg.
  There you will have a candle light dinner and a concert in the magnificent Prince's Chamber of the Hohensalzburg Fortress with spectacular view of the city. This concert at Hohensalzburg Fortress, the city's mightiest landmark built in 1077, is another very special experience. The elegant State Rooms are the magnificent setting for the 'Salzburg Fortress Concerts', performing selected works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his contemporarie. The dinner by candle light will be at the fortress restaurant with it's breathtaking view overlooking the lights of the city.

Monday, July 6th:

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Transfer the Archbishop's Residence and Gallery. On a tour through the Residence you will experience two centuries of cultural history and discover in the sumptuous state rooms a harmonious architectural unity of Renaissance, Baroque and Classical styles. Masterpieces of handicraft, construction - and ceiling paintings, frescoes, stuccos, antique furniture, embroidery, marquetry, marble portals, numerous valuable clocks and paintings permit one a glimpse into the richness of earlier eras.
  The Residence Gallery Salzburg, housing the State of Salzburg's painting collection, presents European paintings from the 16th to 19th century. (The magnificent ambiance is the ideal setting for Salzburg's state collection and reflects the city's baroque character.) The collections focus on Dutch paintings from the 17th century, Italian, French and Austrian baroque paintings from the 17th and 18th centuries and Austrian paintings from the 19th century. In addition to its own changing exhibitions, special exhibitions are offered regularly, providing an interesting juxtaposition between historic and contemporary art.
• In the afternoon enjoy a personal tour where you will see all the significant places in Salzburg, like Mozart's birthplace for example. Every tourist arriving in Salzburg is overwhelmed by the magnificence of its streets, buildings, squares, churches, monuments and attractions. But only a few visitors to Salzburg know that there is a story behind every corner, every passageway and nearly every portal. That is why a guided tour will be a valuable enrichment to your stay in Salzburg.
• In the evening transfer to the Mirabell palace, where you will enjoy Mozart's finest music in one of the most beautiful music halls.

Tuesday, July 7th:

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Maybe (actually it is a must see) you would like to take a trip to the outskirts, to the Castle and Watergarden Hellbrunn. Markus Sittikus (1574-1619) - Archbishop of Salzburg - spent the greater part of his youth in Italy. His palace of Hellbrunn was a monument in stone to his great passion for renaissance art. From the magnificent gardens and tree - lined avenues to the silent ponds - from the austere stone theater to the aromatic shrubs and flowers in the light-filled orangery: Hellbrunn Park deserves its reputations a masterpiece of landscape gardening.
  Hellbrunn, the summer residence of Salzburg's prince archbishops, is an example of the close link between culture and nature in the area around the city of Salzburg. The trick fountains, probably unique in the whole world, reflect the lifestyle of the Baroque age and the wealth acquired from salt-mining.

• After the trip to Hellbrunn you come back to the old town and visit the beautiful coffee houses and pastry shops, especially the "Fuerst", where you will be able to taste and purchase original "Salzburger Mozartkugeln".

Wednesday, July 8th:

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Departure from Salzburg. You will arrive at home with full of memories of an unforgettable experience...

This price does NOT include:
• Airfare to Austria and back.
• All transfers, personal arrangements and expenses.

This price INCLUDES:
• Two nights in a FOUR star hotel in the city of Vienna.
• One night in the hotel Gruener Baum in Hallstatt.
• Three nights in a FIVE star hotel in the city of Salzburg.
• Grand Tour of the Schoenbrunn Palace.
• Vienna Card.
• Personal Tour Guide in Vienna.
• Vienna Walz Concert.
• First Class train transportation from Vienna to Hallstatt.
• First Class train transportation from Hallstatt to Salzburg.
• Concert & candlelight dinner at the fortress Hohensalzburg.
• Tour of the Archbishop's Residence and Gallery.
• Tour of the city of Salzburg.

This itinerary is subject of change at any time and/or the sites included, should it be deemed necessary due to local conditions, time restrictions, or other circumstances.

Salzburg has a proud heritage as the capital and residential city of an ecclesiastical principality. Prehistoric findings have revealed that it is situated on ancient settlement soil whose civilization dates from the New Stone Age. The Romans founded a town they called Juvavum as the seat of a major administrative district located along an important military road which crossed the Salzach River. Foundations, mosaics and numerous artifacts were found throughout the old city districts.

After the chaotic mass migrations, a bishop named St. Rupert came to the area at the end of the seventh century and revived a monastic order, founded a convent on Nonnberg and became the founder of today's Salzburg. Under Charlemagne Salzburg became an archbishopric, sovereign over all of the Bavarian dioceses. The first cathedral erected by St. Virgil was one of the largest in the mighty Franconian Empire. The archbishops used their privileged positions as papal legates and primas germaniae to expand the archiepiscopal territory, ending in the 13th century, and had a decisive influence on the history of the Empire. The extension of the Cathedral, revealed by recent excavations, was a sign of their religious and secular power.

Many of the townspeople became quite wealthy as a result of the flourishing trade between Italy and Germany, the town, however, remained under the archbishop's rule. Whereas the archbishops of the Middle Ages were primarily involved in politics, their successors during the 17th and 18th centuries were mainly preoccupied with beautifying their residence. Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau, Markus Sittikus and Paris Lodron gave Salzburg the appearance it has today. Through Paris Lodron's clever diplomacy, the city was able to escape most of the hardships of the Thirty Years' War.

The city was further perfected through buildings designed by Fisher von Erlach. The turmoils of the Napoleonic Wars abruptly ended the long line of prince archbishops and Salzburg was secularized. After being passed back and forth, the city was finally given over to Austria in 1816. This not only resulted in complete political irrelevance but also in the loss of the most valuable objects of art. After emerging from a lengthy Rip van Winkle sleep, Romantic painters discovered the beauty of the city and its environs and made the city known throughout the world through their works. On a political basis Salzburg succeeded in regaining a certain independence in 1850 as a province of the monarchy with its own government and administration. This independence was to continue through the First and Second Republics. The establishment of the Salzburg Festival in 1920 was a decisive step towards the burgeoning of the city.

Above text courtesy of: Tourismus Salzburg GmbH, Auerspergstrasse 6, A-5020 Salzburg