Linger in a Viennese coffeehouse, explore a lakeside village, tour a Baroque abbey, attend a glittering opera gala, or cycle past a terraced vineyard along the Danube - Fodor's Vienna to Salzburg offers all these experiences and more Our local writers have traveled throughout the country to find the best hotels, restaurants, attractions and activities to prepare you for a journey of stunning variety. Before you leave for your trip be sure to pack your Fodor's guide to ensure you don't miss a thing. The San Francisco Chronicle sums it up best -"Fodor's guides are saturated with information." - We frequently update our guide to Vienna and Salzburg, and we make every effort to bring you the most accurate and thorough book. Plus we provide timely updates about the area at Fodors.com. - Unlike other travel books, Fodor's guides rely heavily on local experts who know the territory best-so you know you're seeing the real Vienna and Salzburg. - We give you the planning tools you need to tailor your trip. We give options for all budgets. You make the choices.
Adequate as a jumping-off point, but be prepared to supplement the information.
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 17 years ago
This book is less than two years old, but it is already rather out of date. The subway map in the back, for example, is completely wrong for several U-bahn lines at this point. Also, there are certain things it recommends that have closed now, like the Lipizzaner Museum. It also doesn't seem to mention anywhere how difficult it is to see everything in March, or anytime before the summer tourism season begins, really. I went to both Vienna and Salzburg for my most recent Spring Break, and many, many things were closed, either due to the time of year or because they were under construction or renovation. Since fewer people travel to these cities at this time of year, I guess it makes sense. But it sure is a pain not to realize that ahead of time, and plan accordingly. It would have been nice to be warned, is all I'm saying. The book is helpful in a number of ways, but still falls slightly short. The German language pronunciation guide is very good, but it seems not to take into account the differences between Austrian and German phrases. For example, the common Austrian phrase for hello, "Gruss gott" is not there, nor are some other handy things that I had to be taught on the fly. There are also maps, but they are difficult to understand and there's no giant map of the entire city of Vienna like there is of Salzburg. You have to kind of flip through and look around and piece different maps together, since they are widely spaced throughout the book. There's also no map of the "snellbahn" trains, just the U-bahn. Another example is that the times given for hours of operation aren't that accurate. For instance, I went to Stephansdom Cathedral around 7PM because the book said they're open till 10 . . . and that was true, but they neglect to mention that the *only* part open after 5:30 is the main lobby with the mass/alter candles that you can light for people. The tower and the touristy areas were closed to the public after that, so we wasted an evening getting down there essentially just to wander inside and immediately wander back out again. The friend I was with had a Lonely Planet guide, and once we put the two together we got a good idea of things, but this book on its own was best only for recommendations and descriptions of activities. However, since hers covered Vienna only, we had to depend entirely on this one for our side trip to Salzburg. It did serve its purpose, but it could have been easier and more efficient. Overall, it's not nearly as good as the very similar Fodor's guide I used for Paris several years ago. Overall, I would recommend waiting until they update this book to purchase it.
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