Trip To Austria, Hungary And Slovakia: Castles, Cheap Beer, Dodgy Hostels & A Hungarian Boxer’s Bar

Salzburg: Castles, Lakes – Austria showing off

n 2002, my brother, a mate, and I decided to tap into a piece of Eastern Europe for the first time as we headed to Hungary via a trip across Austria.

We landed in Salzburg – being one of those cities that looks like it’s been painted – pastel buildings, mountain backdrops, and church spires everywhere.

We climbed up to Festung Hohensalzburg – Salzburg’s medieval castle, sitting 500m above sea level, dominating the city. The panoramic views were stunning across the lakes and surrounding mountains. We later wondered around the beautiful old town – stuffed with cathedrals and churches – St Peter’s Abbey,The Salzburg Dom, and Franziskanerkirche.

In the afternoon we joined a bus & boat tour through the Salzkammergut – Austria’s lake district with snow-capped mountains – stuffed with tiny lakeside hamlets. Each stop was the same – a beautiful tiny village hugging the water’s edge – with narrow cobbled streets, several church spires and a scattering of souvenir shops. After stopping at Fuschl, St Gilgen, Krotensee and Mondsee, we took a 45‑minute boat trip on Wolfgangsee Lake, stopping at St Wolfgang on the opposite side of the lake – yet another gem.

The scenery all around was ridiculous: glassy lakes, steep forested hills, chocolate‑box villages. Absolutely picture-postcard perfection.

This was Austria totally showing off its natural beauty and ability to stuff it with numerous quaint villages.

Linz → Mauthausen → Vienna: Trains, Camps & No Nightlife

The next day, we caught a train to Mauthausen – home to a grim past – a Nazi concentration camp from 1938. It was a sobering visit – as we visited gas chambers & torture chambers – a reminder of the absolute horrors of world-war two.

Slightly subdued, we headed by train with our own cabin, onto Vienna, arriving early evening.

Vienna: A Mummified Head & plenty of churches

We planned for just one day in Vienna, so we headed out the next morning and first, we visited the Wiener Kriminalmuseum – The Crime Museum which contained a mummified head – as you do.

Being suckers for views, we then went up Donauturm, the 160m observation tower for expansive views across the city.

The rest of the day was spend wandering around visiting the Prater amusement park to see the old Riesenrad ferris wheel, then hopped the metro to visit St Stephen’s Cathedral, Karlskirche, Rathaus and Votivkirche – all old grandeur buildings of a rich history.

We then decided to stay another night, but our hostel turned out to be full so we made an executive decision to do something random and jump on a train to Bratislava, Slovakia’s capital – our first time in Eastern Europe, before Slovakia joined the EU.

We had no guidebook, no maps, no accommodation and we knew nothing about the place.

Thankfully a tourist office at the station saved us and booked us into the most ridiculously cheap hotel around the corner.

Bratislava → Budapest: Rain, Tesco & Terrible Hostels

Having not figured how on earth the bus system worked, we decided to walk into town. It would give us a feel for Eastern European life anyway. And then it hammered it down. Once in the centre, we struggled to find anything worth seeing, apart from our surprise to see a massive Tesco supermarket slap bang in the middle of town.

We made another swift executive decision and jumped on a train to Budapest late afternoon.

We found an Irish pub which served decent beer and food and called it a night.

Budapest: Rain, Pizza Hut & A Hungarian Boxer’s Bar

Our time in Budapest was wet. It did not stop hammering it down.

We walked around a few sights but absolutely soaked through we bundled into a posh sports bar to see if they were showing the England football game.

As luck would have it, the bar was empty and the staff obliged, finding the match on one of their 500 channels.

It turned out the bar was owned by a Istvan Kovacs, a world champion Hungarian boxer. And the only other person in the bar, was him, surrounded by 3 stunning models. Say no more.

The food was amazing, the beer cheap and England won. All while the rain continued to lash down outside. All in a all, a great find.

Budapest: City Tour, Souvenirs & Bali Bombing News

The driest way to see the city in the end, was to join a city tour – the highlights being Heroes’ Square, the Citadel, and the Castle District.

As the rain eased off, we wandered the Danube River, which separates Buda from Pest.

Vac → Graz: Finally, Sunshine

Wanting to see more of the country, we got a train to Vac. We wandered around without getting soaked and later in the day returned to Budapest, to connect to a train to take us back into Austria, to the city of Graz.

Graz was very quiet, so we went to the Irish pub and climbed up the bell tower. I caught an earlier flight home than the other two, so I missed the highlight of Graz – the gym that Arnold Schwarzenegger first trained in.

It had been a great little trip, the highlight being Salzburg and the experience of travelling into Eastern Europe. I knew that one day, just like Arnie, I’ll be back.