Day trips from Salzburg: Berchtesgaden by bus in under an hour, Hallein and Werfen by train, Hallstatt in about two hours, and what closes in November

💡 The Short Version: Berchtesgaden is the quick one: bus 840 from beside the Hauptbahnhof takes 49 to 55 minutes, and the Eagle’s Nest is open only to 8 November 2026. Hallein’s salt mine is 19 to 24 minutes by train and Werfen is 38 to 46, but the ice cave closes on 1 November and Hohenwerfen castle on 2 November. Hallstatt is about 2 hours each way by bus, train and ferry; a 5.5-hour half-day tour saves the changes and leaves 2.5 hours in the village. The Schafbergbahn and the Wolfgangsee ships stop on 1 November. Munich and Vienna are train days. Carry a passport or national ID card for Berchtesgaden and Munich: Germany checks its Austrian border to 15 March 2027. Prices are in euros. Or book a tour: the Hallstatt half-day tourad is from €85 and the Eagle’s Nest tourad from €105 (GetYourGuide).

The day trips compared

Entry prices are the operators’ own, for one adult. A tour’s price is GetYourGuide’s lowest “from” price, which moves with the date. Journey times are from the Hauptbahnhof.

When a tour is worth it

A tour saves the connections and the planning, not the entries. It is worth it for Hallstatt on a short stay, where it replaces a bus, a train and a ferry each way, and for the Eagle’s Nest, where it replaces the booked-bus rule and two bus changes. It is not worth it for Hallein or Werfen, which are one direct train, or for Berchtesgaden on its own, because bus 840 leaves twice an hour. The listings do not say whether entries are included, so read each one before you book.

Panorama Tours runs the first six. Its own site prices the Hallstatt half-day at €80, the Eagle’s Nest tour at €100 and the two paired tours at €135, so GetYourGuide is €5 higher on each of those four.

Where each trip starts

Two stops outside the Hauptbahnhof matter. Bus 840 to Berchtesgaden leaves from Engelbert-Weiß-Weg, beside the station. Bus 150 and 150X to Bad Ischl and the lakes leave from Südtiroler Platz, in front of it, with the city buses. The trains to Hallein, Werfen and Munich leave from the platforms. The Panorama tours meet at its bus terminal on Mirabellplatz (Hubert-Sattler-Gasse 1), 15 minutes before departure, with no hotel pick-up.

Overnight guests ride the regional trains and buses inside the province of Salzburg free on the Guest Mobility Ticket, which covers the trains to Hallein and Werfen and bus 150 to St Gilgen. Salzburg public transport has the rules.

The trips

The Eagle’s Nest and Berchtesgaden

Bus 840 · 49 to 55 minutes · bus and lift €34.70 · to 8 November 2026

Buses leave at ten and forty minutes past the hour. The Kehlsteinhaus is open daily from 8:55 to 16:00 until 8 November 2026, weather permitting. Panorama Tours runs its tour daily to 31 October. The Eagle’s Nest page has the connections, the tickets and the Königssee boat.

Hallstatt

Bus, train and ferry · about 2 hours each way · half-day tour from €85

The village is open all year. The Skywalk and the salt mine above it are open too; the mine’s last tour starts at 15:00 from 2 November. The Hallstatt page has the route, the tour and the parking rules. From Vienna the same trip is Hallstatt from Vienna, and from Munich it is a train to Salzburg first.

Hallein

Train · 19 to 24 minutes · mine €35

Salzwelten’s mine on the Dürrnberg runs a guided tour with a raft across an underground salt lake and the miners’ slides. The Hallein page has the hours, the Friday and Saturday shuttle and the Celtic Mountain.

Werfen

Train · 38 to 46 minutes · ice cave €41 online · castle from €13.90

The Eisriesenwelt is a May-to-October trip and Hohenwerfen closes on 2 November. The Werfen page has the 1,400 steps and the bus from the station.

The lakes

Bus 150X · 42 minutes to St Gilgen · Schafbergbahn €61 return

The lakes page covers St Gilgen, St Wolfgang and the Advent rides on the Schafbergbahn.

The Königssee

Boat to St Bartholomä €23.40 return · €11.70 one way · to Kessel €9 one way

The Königssee is a lake south of Berchtesgaden, and the boats of the Bayerische Seenschifffahrt run from the Seelände jetty all year except 24 December (seenschifffahrt.de). The landing stage at Salet is no longer served. From Salzburg, take bus 840 to Berchtesgaden Hauptbahnhof, then a local bus for 12 to 22 minutes and walk 10 minutes to the jetty. The Berchtesgaden half-day tourad is from €75 and includes the lake. With the Eagle’s Nest on your own, the two come to €58.10 before the bus fares. Germany’s border checks apply.

St Bartholomä’s church on the shore of the Königssee. Photo: H.Helmlechner, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

The Grossglockner

Car only · toll €36.50 in autumn, €46.50 for a day ticket otherwise

The Grossglockner High Alpine Road is open from the start of May until the start of November and closed in winter, when snow makes it impassable. The operator expects the final closure in early November; until then it opens 8:00 to 17:00 with the last entry at 16:15. Winter tyres or snow chains are compulsory when the operator signals “winter equipment”, and the road is closed to motorcyclists and cyclists until further notice. The autumn rate of €36.50 for a car, instead of €46.50, applies from 15 October 2026. The Kaiser-Franz-Josefs-Höhe visitor centre is open daily from 10:00 to 17:00. The Crystal Grossglockner observation tower is closed from 22 October (grossglockner.at).

A cobbled hairpin on the Grossglockner High Alpine Road. Photo: Arne Müseler, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 de.

Munich and Vienna

These are train days.

• Munich: 1 hour 43 minutes by the fastest Railjet or EuroCity, and 1 hour 55 minutes to 2 hours 8 minutes by the RE5, which the Bayern-Ticket covers. Salzburg from Munich is the same trip the other way round.
• Vienna: Railjet takes 2 hours 25 minutes to 2 hours 31 minutes, and the Westbahn about 2 hours 30 minutes to Westbahnhof, a different station. Salzburg from Vienna has the fares.

Before you go

• Passport: Germany has border controls on all its land borders, including the Austrian one, from 16 September 2026 to 15 March 2027. The bus to Berchtesgaden and the train to Munich cross it.
• Hallstatt in winter: the village and the salt mine stay open, and its Christmas market is on 8 December 2026.
• The one thing that ruins a trip: setting out for the Eisriesenwelt or the Eagle’s Nest after the closing date.

What to book in Salzburg lists the closed days for the city’s own sights, and Salzburg public transport covers the buses and the Guest Mobility Ticket. Salzburg airport to the city has the way in, and where to stay in Salzburg compares the areas. Three days in Salzburg shows where a day out fits.