Salzburg December 9th - 12th

kitzbuhel is a few hours away from Salzburg its Medieval Town and popular ski resort town. Home to the most famous ( because of all the crashs ) ski race on the world cup circut. Worth a look. The dates you are there is the start of the ski season, but this is not the best resort for early snow but if your not skiing or board that will not matter.

Ps. Salzburg Must city , I have been to Austria lots of times and only time i have spent in Salzburg is on the bus from the train station to the Airport. Innsbruck is the best city in Austria ( I think), its a city but its pretty small and you can easly walk a around it . Lots of touristy things to do , it held the winter olmypics a few years back ( ok maybe 20 ) .

When I went to Salzburg I took a side trip to Berchtesgaden Germany. Piece of cake for a day trip. I'd recommend it. I forget how long it took to get there but if it was more than half an hour it wasn't much more.

Another side trip, but you'd want to overnight IMO, would be Hallstatt. If you're looking for nightlife and that sort of thing, forget about it, but it might be the most beautiful town I've ever been too. (not so much the town itself, but the surroundings, google it and you'll see what I mean). You could make it there and back in a day but especially with days being short in December that might not be the best way to see it.

I saw a lot of clues that there were ski areas near both these place but I can't say for sure there are.

Have fun. It's a beautiful area. I was there in March and there was still some left over snow up in the mountains. I bet it's even more stunning in December if it's late enough to they've gotten a good amount of snow.

There are also a bunch of tours you can take. Any hotel will have brochures. I took one because I wanted to see a salt mine but the company had a bunch of options. I forget the price but although I don't remember it being cheap it wasn't too bad either.

kitzbuhel is a few hours away from Salzburg its Medieval Town

tom...although Kitzbuehel is indeed very pretty I think it's stretching it a bit to describe it as being anyway "medieval"...also it's a fair way from Salzburg...I would have thought Zell am See vicinity might have some better skiing options closer to Sgb...also puzzled as to why you would pass through Salzburg so often and not bother to check it out for a day or two...it is indeed very rewarding...

Zell am See or Zauchensee are two of the closest skiing resorts around Salzburg.

I doubt whether it is worth going there without skiing, though. If you're lucky, there will be enough snow in Salzburg by the beginning of December.

In Zell am See there is a ski race on December, 9th and 10th, might be interesting for you, although it's only a junior race (also the juniors are worth being watched in Austria, especially if you haven't been to a professional race so far).

Hi
forgot to mention in my PM:
While in Vienna, eat at the Schweizerhaus. It's in the amusement park, but their pork shoulder is hard to beat.
Enjoy your meal
www.schweizerhaus.at