carolynaustriatravel-blog

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About Myself!

My name is Carolyn, and I’m a fourth year student at Western studying History! I’ve always been enthralled with the idea of travel, and I’ve always loved studying Western European history. With these two passions combined, I’ve had a desire for as long as I can remember to travel to Western Europe.

I’m heading to law school next year so I want to get as much travelling in as possible beforehand. I’ve worked for the past few summers and have been able to save some money, and I feel like the summer between fourth year and my first year of law school is the perfect opportunity to finally embark on my dream vacation! 

Me trying to emulate Maria in The Sound of Music

Maria in The Sound of Music

(First image is my own, all other image sources are linked to the captions underneath the photos throughout the whole blog - background image to the blog can be found here)

**NOTE: All italicized words throughout the entire blog are hyperlinks to outside sources.**

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Why Austria?

I’ve wanted to visit Austria for as long as I can remember. My mom and I have had a tradition of watching The Sound of Music together at least once a year ever year since I was a child, so the beautiful scenery of Austria that the film displays has been exposed to me from a very young age, and has always had that special mother-daughter bond connected to it. I know that I could never visit Austria without bringing my mom with me, so I’ve decided to plan this trip for the two of us.

My mom and I!

The hills are alive!

Also, because I’m a History major, I’m incredibly fascinated by Austria’s rich history. The major cities in Austria, such as Vienna and Salzburg, have their own unique histories that I would love to explore. Incorporating my love of history into my trip to Austria would make the vacation that much more meaningful and memorable.  

Vienna, Austria

I also have a keen desire to visit small towns in the Austrian countryside. I feel like the best way to have a truly authentic Austrian experience is to visit small towns that aren’t catered to tourists. Hallstatt, Austria, is one that I’ve seen beautiful pictures of and have read raving reviews of. I know it will definitely be on my list of places to visit! 

Hallstatt, Austria

Visiting Austria would fulfill so many dreams of mine. I would be able to visit the exact places where my favourite movie was filmed, and I would be able to experience it with my mom, which would make it so special since we’ve watched The Sound of Music together for my entire life. Moreover, experiencing Austria’s deep history would be so enriching for me, since history is my passion. I know visiting Austria would allow me to deepen the bond my mom and I share, while also allowing me to pursue what I love. 

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The Plan

✈ Tuesday May 9th - Thursday May 18th, from Toronto, CA to Vienn, AT. 

          ↳ travelling on these dates would allow me time to get home after the end of exams (the end of April) and get organized for the trip. Moreover, visiting Austria in May is optimal for the weather, which sits at an average of about 15 degrees celsius - not too cold or too warm! It also isn’t peak tourist season in May, meaning that places will be less crowded and prices will be cheaper.

● Visiting the following cities/towns in the following order: Vienna, Salzburg, and Hallstatt.

          ↳All of these cities/towns offer something different. Vienna is Austria’s capital, and offers so much history to explore. Salzburg also offers its own unique art history, while also being the city where The Sound of Music was filmed. Hallstatt offers the authentic Austrian village vibe, nestled amongst the mountains. 

Map source

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Flight Itinerary

I decided to fly Air Canada because I’ve flown it before and have had great service on it. Moreover, both my uncle and cousin are pilots for Air Canada, so I know that It’s a reliable airline that I can trust.

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Trip Itinerary: May 10th-13th

Location: Vienna

Accommodation: Hotel Schani Wien (< click hotel name for link to their Tripadvisor page, and all italicized words throughout the blog for links)

          ↳ I decided to choose this hotel for a few reasons. Firstly, it caught my eye because it was the highest rated hotel on Tripadvisor (#26/366) for the cheapest price ($106/night for 2 people). More importantly, however, it is located a short 5 minute walk from Vienna’s main railway station, Wien Hauptbahnhof. This convenience cannot be beat, and will come in handy when travelling around Vienna and to Salzburg.

✈ Arrive at the Vienna International Airport at 8:30 am on Wednesday, May 10th

● Rest and unpack at the hotel for a few hours 

● Roam around the Innere Stadt

          ↳ The Innere Stadt is Vienna’s historic district rife with medieval buildings, old museums, and historic churches. The history behind this district has made me want to visit it for so long! From photos of it, it also looks absolutely stunning. It would take a good day or two to thoroughly explore all the history behind everything the district has to offer - from the Stephansdom Cathedral to the Erzbischöfliches Palais to the University District where there are small, authentic Austrian cafes that tourists don’t tend to go to  - I know my mom and I would have a lot to do in the Innere Stadt!

The Innere Stadt

● Do the Grand Tour of the Schönbrunn Palace 

          ↳ Although this is a heavily touristy place in Vienna to visit, it has been on the top of my list for a long time because of the rich history behind it. I’m passionate about pre-modern European history, and have learned so much about the Habsburg Monarchy in my studies at Western. The Schönbrunn Palace was in possession of the Habsburg Dynasty from the 16th century until it was passed to the state of Austria in 1918. Just thinking about the Kings and Queens that have walked those palace halls gives me chills. So even though this is a stereotypical touristy destination for people to visit in Vienna, its historical connection is incredibly special to me, as someone who has devoted the past four years of her life to studying history. 

The Schönbrunn Palace

● Visit the Prater

          ↳ The Prater is a large amusement park in Vienna. My mom and I both love amusement parks, and usually go to Canada’s Wonderland together at least once in the summer. Visiting essentially Austria’s version of Canada’s Wonderland together will be such a memorable part of the trip for us! The park looks absolutely beautiful at night, so we would definitely have to go once during the day and once at night. 

The Prater at night

Any other free time in Vienna will mostly be spent roaming around the city, talking to locals and stumbling across whatever we can find. I often find that this is the best way to experience a city - to go with the flow and walk its streets alongside the locals, instead of going on planned tours. I feel like this is a much more authentic way to experience the city and really get out of it what I want - a view of Vienna from the perspective of a local.

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Trip Itinerary: May 13th-15th

Location: Salzburg

Accommodation: Hotel Markus Sittikus 

          ↳I chose this hotel because of its rating on Tripadvisor (#41/137), as well as its convenient 10 minute walk from the train station, which is how my mom and I would travel to Salzburg. According to its reviews on Tripadvisor (click the hotel name for a link to the Tripadvisor website), it is in a great location to check out all that Salzburg has to offer - it is a comfortable walking distance from the old town, as well as many restaurants, shops, and other tourist destinations. Being in a convenient location is key to having a stress-free trip, as travel costs and travel time are no longer a huge concern, and the Hotel Markus Sittikus definitely offers this convenience to my mom and I.

● Arrive in Salzburg mid-day on the 13th via train

● Rest and unpack bags for a few hours

● Visit Mozart’s birthplace and residence 

          ↳ I’ve been a classically trained piano player since I was 5, so Mozart has always been apart of my life in one way or another. Seeing both his birthplace and his residence will be such a monumental moment for me. Moreover, because I love history so much, and Mozart is such a vital figure in music history, it will make seeing his birthplace and home that much more important for me. 

Mozart’s Residence

● The Sound of Music Tour

          ↳ Of course my mom and I couldn’t go to Salzburg without going on the famous Sound of Music tour! The movie was (partially) filmed in Salzburg, and the tour takes you to the places where some of the most famous scenes in the movie were filmed. Some of these include Mirabell Gardens, where Maria and the children sang “Do-Re-Mi”, The Gazebo, where Liesel, Rolf the Captain, and Maria had musical numbers, and Nonnberg Abbey, where Maria lived for the first part of the movie and where her and the Captain got married. The Sound of Music has been such an important part of my life and my relationship with my mom, so I know that this tour will, without sounding hyperbolic, genuinely be one of the most cherished moments of my life. Moreover, it will be a moment that will bring me and my mom so much closer together than we already are.

Maria roaming the streets of Salzburg

● Walk around the Old Town 

          ↳I think it’s incredibly important to take a full day to just roam around the Old Town of Salzburg. It has been named a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site and is filled with historical gems, from its baroque-style architecture to the Fortress Hohensalzburg perched on top, to the ancient St. Peter’s Abbey (founded in 696!). It would almost be wrong for a history major like myself to not scope out the Old Town in depth while I have the chance! Also, after going on two big tours (the Mozart tour and the Sound of Music tour), it will be nice to have free time for my mom and I to walk around and decide what we want to see, and really immerse ourselves in the culture and history of Salzburg, To me, being able to immerse myself in the streets of Salzburg is the best way to truly experience the city. Not from the seat of a tour bus, but within the streets, the cathedrals, and the fortresses. 

Salzburg Old Town

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Trip Itinerary: May 15th-18th

Location: Hallstatt

Accommodation: Gruner Anger Bed & Breakfast 

          ↳Because Hallstatt is such a small village (its population in 2009 was 859 people!), there aren’t a ton of options in terms of accommodations. There was only one hotel located directly in Hallstatt that was available from May 15th-17th, and its price was a little bit higher than I wanted to pay, so I found the Gruner Anger instead, a cute little bed & breakfast located less than a kilometre outside of Hallstatt. According to the reviews, the staff is very friendly, and because it is located outside of Hallstatt, it is actually in a better location if one wants to get away from the tourists that flock to Hallstatt. I don’t think hordes of tourists will be a huge problem in mid-May, however it is nice to be in a quieter area that’s only a short 10 minute walk away from Hallstatt. 

● Arrive in at the Gruner Anger mid-day on the 15th by train

● Unpack and rest for about an hour

● Because Hallstatt is such a small village, there are less “touristy” items on my agenda that I want to be able to tick off. My main objective in going to Hallstatt isn’t to see specific things, but rather to just soak in the atmosphere of an authentic, small Austrian village nestled amongst the mountains. Visiting Hallstatt easily could’ve been condensed into a day trip from Salzburg instead of spreading it out across a 3 day, 2 night endeavour. However, one of my goals in coming to Austria was to simply immerse myself in the authentic Austrian way of life. And I know that going to a small village, with no real agenda of things to accomplish, is the perfect way to do this. You can truly relax, truly enjoy the scenery, truly feel like a local. I think it’s important for travel to be like this sometimes. Obviously the big tourist attractions are tourist attractions for good reasons - and it’s important to see these, too, don’t get me wrong. But balancing that with the authentic, small village experience is important in getting a well-rounded vacation. And exploring Hallstatt for a few days without any concrete agenda will ensure that I get this well-rounded Austrian vacation that I’ve dreamed of for as long as I can remember. 

Of course, there are places in Hallstatt that I’ve seen online that look absolutely beautiful, and I know my mom and I will stumble upon them in our unplanned adventures in Hallstatt. A few of them are:

● Central Square Marktplatz: the main square in Hallstatt where there are an array of authentic Austrian restaurants, cafes, and shops.

● A boat tour of Lake Hallstatt, the lake Hallstatt is located on. Getting to view the village from the perspective of the lake, while also floating so close to the beautiful mountains that surround Hallstatt, would be absolutely breathtaking.

● Relax in the recreational area of Hallstatt. This area offers a panoramic view of the lake, the mountains, and the village, and also seems absolutely stunning. 

The Central Square Marktplatz

Hallstatt recreation area

The absolutely stunning village!

**Note: Because the flight from Vienna leaves at 10:35am on the 18th, it would be necessary to train back to Vienna from Hallstatt on the 17th at night. There’s a train that leaves Hallstatt at 5:07pm and arrives back in Vienna at 9:05pm on the 17th (source). We would stay overnight in the Hotel Schani Wien again, due to its close proximity to the railway station/airport. We would then board our flight home to Toronto the next day in Vienna at 10:35am!

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Expenses

(All $$ in CAD)

Flight

(See screenshot of flight itinerary in my Flight Itinerary post)

$1482 x 2 people = $2964

Vienna

Train from Vienna airport to hotel = $62 for two people

Hotel Schani Wien = $106/night for two people X 3 nights = $318 for two people

Grand Tour of Schöenbrunn Palace = approx. $45 for one adult and one youth

The Prater = approx. $40, depending on how many rides we want to go on

Salzburg

Train from Vienna to Salzburg = $216 for two people

Hotel Markus Sittikus = $142/night for two people X 2 nights = $284 for two people

Mozart Birthplace and Residence Tour = approx. $52 for two people

Sound of Music Tour = approx. $120 for two people

Hallstatt

Train from Salzburg to Hallstatt = $102 for two people

Gruner Anger Bed & Breakfast = $124/night for two people X 2 nights = $248 for two people

Boat Tour = approx. $44 for two people

Train from Hallstatt to Vienna = $188 for two people 

Hotel Schani Wien (in Vienna) = $106 for two people for one night 

Other

Spending money (food, clothes, souvenirs, etc.) = $1700 for two people

GRAND TOTAL = $6,489 for two people, or approximately $3,245 for one person

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Reflection

I haven’t travelled too much throughout my life, but the times that I have travelled I would probably define myself as an “Individual Mass Tourist”. This is because the majority of the trips that I’ve been on (mostly with my parents) have been arranged through a travel agent, and have been planned meticulously. I wouldn’t define myself as an “Organized Mass Tourist”, because my parents have never purchased predefined holiday packages that have everything planned out for them.

In planning this trip to Austria, I wanted to have more agency in my vacation than an “Individual Mass Tourist” would. I wanted to be able to experience Austria in an authentic way, from the eyes of a local. This is why in Vienna, Salzburg, and Hallstatt, I gave myself time to just roam around the cities/village, to converse with the locals, and to decide what I want to see/do as I take it all in. In this sense, I could be defined as an “Explorer” on this trip. For “Explorers”, travel is motivated by “a desire for authenticity tempered by consideration for personal safety.” I definitely desire to see Austria in the most authentic way possible, and I feel like giving myself time to wander around and experience Austria from my own eyes, not the eyes of a tour guide, is the best way to do this. 

That being said, I do want to go on quite a few organized tours while in Austria (i.e. the Sound of Music Tour, Mozart’s birthplace and residence tour, the grand tour of the Schönbrunn Palace, etc.). While free-roaming is definitely important to having an authentically Austrian travel experience, I do also believe that a certain amount of structure is also important - especially when these structured tours are of things that I’m passionate about. It would be silly to avoid going on these tours of things that I absolutely love just because I want to have an entirely authentic Austrian experience. Plus, because most of the tours that I am going on are ones rooted in Austria’s deep history (excluding the Sound of Music tour), I still feel like there is a sense of authenticity to these tours. Austria’s history is exactly what makes it its own authentic nation, and going on tours that display this rich history is both valuable and, in my opinion, authentic. However, because these tours are planned/structured, this aspect of my trip would classify me as an “Individual Mass Tourist.” This is because I still have a degree of agency over my itinerary, because I get to choose the tours that I want to go on, however the tours themselves are planned by the state of Austria. 

In the end, because my vacation has aspects of both an “Explorer” kind of trip, and an “Individual Mass Tourist” kind of trip, I would have to classify it as somewhere in the middle. I seek both authenticity and structure - and I think because I’m someone who likes spontaneity but also organization, this is the perfect vacation for me!

Taking a trip to Austria has been a dream of mine since I first watched The Sound of Music with my mom as a little girl. Seeing the beautiful scenery of Austria that Maria danced around in the movie was the first encounter I had with the world outside of my hometown, and it completely captured my heart. The Sound of Music quickly became my favourite movie, watching The Sound of Music with my mom quickly became a tradition that we’ve continued to this day, and visiting Austria quickly rose to the top of my list of things I wanted to do. As I embarked on my studies in History at Western and I learned about Austria’s deep history in my Western European history class, my desire to visit Austria only grew as my passion for its history grew.

Visiting Austria would both enrich my life and allow me to grow. It would enrich my life because I would finally be able to see all the sights of the movie that has been so dear to my heart for my entire life. And, experiencing it all with my mom, who I’ve watched the movie alongside with, would bring us so much closer together than we already are. I would be fulfilling a dream of mine since childhood while also strengthening the bond between my mom and I, and that would enrich my life in ways that I can’t even put into words.

Moreover, it would enrich my life in the sense that I would be able to combine my love of history with my travels. Being able to see sights like the Schönbrunn Palace and Mozart’s birthplace/residence, places that were so monumental in Austria’s history, would be so fulfilling to me as a history student. Visiting these places, and even just walking along the historic streets of Vienna, Salzburg, and Hallstatt, would allow me to connect with Austria’s history in a way that I couldn’t just from the pages of a textbook. Being able to tie my passion for history to my love of Austria would make the trip all the more special for me.

Moreover, embarking on this trip to Austria would broaden my horizons and allow me to grow simply by pushing me out of my comfort zone. Even though I would be with my mom, I would still be in a foreign environment, thousands of miles from my home in Canada. Any interaction with people from different cultures, whilst directly immersed in that culture, causes one to grow because of everything they learn from the foreigners they meet. This deepens one’s perspective as they realize that what goes on in their world is so different to what goes on in someone’s world from across the globe. I know that when I visit Austria and roam amongst the Austrians, I’ll learn more about the world and grow more as a person than I ever would if I simply stayed in my small hometown in Ontario.

Ultimately, this trip to Austria will provide me with the ultimate opportunity to fulfill my childhood dreams, connect my passion of history with my love of Austria, and expand my horizons and grow as a person. I know that it will be the trip of a lifetime, and I can’t wait to embark on it one day! 

So long, farewell, Canada!