Salzburg on a Budget using the Salzburg Card

Being a "slow" traveler, I am usually not a fan of those "City Cards", a tourist travel card that gets you free admission to tons of attractions (alot of it are museums), get discounts in shops and ride the local bus/metro free. Many of the popular cities in Europe have these cards (sometimes called "Pass"), eg. Lisbon Card, Granada Card, Firenze Card etc. I feel that I usually do not "use up" the value of the card as I usually visit very few attractions a day. Some of these Cards allow you to skip queues or grant priority access and for these, I think they are certainly worth considering (esp to those mega popular sites).

Now obviously not all the cards are created equal. I visited Salzburg Austria over the New Year last year, and found the Salzburg Card amazing value (for me). The card comes in 24-hour, 48-hour and 72-hour versions. Here's sharing some info and tips on how I used a 24-hour card over a 2-day period!

View of Salzburg city from Hohensalzburg Fortress

Now, the 1st thing to note is that it's a 24-hour card. This is different from some other cards, which may be a "1-Day card" or "3-Day pass" etc. Because it's based on hours and not on a date, you can actually use this card over a 2 day period. Today's technology is such that entry into attractions are through bar-codes and QR-codes etc, so the Salzburg card (which has a barcode) activation is done on your first use/entry into an attraction. The 24 hours validity of the card start from this activation time.

Mozart's Birthplace, now a museum of course!

So on my first day, I walked around the city in the morning, which is what I usually do when I reach a new city. I love to just walk around and get a feel of the place without visiting any attraction. Sometimes I can spend a whole day just walking (told you I am a "slow" traveler). I only started using the card like 1.30pm. Now, the list of free admission and discounts attractions are quite numerous. So read your favorite guidebooks or on internet to see which attractions interest you. Obviously, most of the Mozart/Sound of Music stuff are included in the list :). The key tip is, leave your favorite attraction or one that you know will take up the longest time to the last. So next day, just make sure to reach it before the activated time, eg. for me, I made sure to reach before 1.30pm. Once you enter, you can enjoy the attraction however you like even though your Salzburg card is past the validity since the validity is only checked on the point of entry! (by the machine scanning the bar-code on your card)

Cable-car up Untersberg - the cost of the cable car is 23.5€, which is almost the cost of the 24hr Salzburg Card!

The cost of the 24-hour Salzburg card in winter is 24€ and the cost of all the places I've visited worked out to be 84€, so I figured it's really value for money ;). As opposed to those "1-Day" kind of cards, where you'll have to cram visiting all the attractions in 1 full day, this allows you to split your "touring" over 2 days with an overnight rest! (assuming you activate it in the early afternoon like me)

For those who are only staying a night, arriving late morning/noon and leaving next day afternoon, can also utilize this card perfectly. Remember this card also includes free local transportation, so you could take the bus etc to the train station free. I have to say though, that Salzburg deserves more days! So enjoy this tip, and oh, it may be applicable to other "City cards" as well, so do read the fine prints / details!

Salzburg at Night

Walking along the river in Salzburg

Galapagos Islands on a Budget

I have never really looked at the Galapagos islands as one of my destinations, mainly because of my perceived costs of the cruises going there. But a chance conversation with a friend pointed me to the possibility of a Galapagos trip in an "independent" fashion. And so, I made it to the Galapagos Islands on a "budget"!

The Galapagos Islands lie about 900km west of Ecuador (which it is part of), and consists of a couple of main islands, a dozen other smaller ones and many more islets. They are well-known for the biodiversity available only in this region, which contributed largely to the formulation of Charles Darwin’s famous theory of evolution.

Of these islands, only Santa Cruz and San Cristóbal have access to an airport. So, independent travelers can fly in/out of any one of two — you could also fly in one, and out from another, which can be a nice arrangement if you are doing island-hopping. Several airlines fly there from either Quito or Guayaquil, so check out your favorite airline booking site. Flights can get as cheap as US$350 return, so do buy your tickets in advance. My trip to the Galapagos was a last minute decision, so I could only afford 5 days, and so I limited myself to only 1 island, and got myself return tickets to Santa Cruz island from Quito. TIP: If you ever fly airlines on the oneworld alliance, it may be worthwhile to signup LATAM's frequent flyer program and clock your miles in there, esp if you have intention of going South America. On my flight to Iceland from Singapore 2 years back, I decided to do just that and got myself about 16k miles. And guess what? Return flights to Santa Cruz from Quito can be redeemed for 16k miles (so 8k 1-way). So I only paid us$50 taxes for my flight to the Galapagos! :) :)

Now, the airport is actually on Baltra island, a tiny island just for the airport, and then you'll get a free shuttle transfer to the ferry port. From there, a US$1 ferry brings you to Santa Cruz island proper where you will then take a US$2 bus transfer to the town of Puerto Ayora.

There are clear information in the airport on how to connect to the islands

From Puerto Ayora, there are many tourist agencies that can arrange all manner of activities - from wildlife viewing to scuba-diving. Now, one of the advantages of coming to Puerto Ayora for independent travel, is that Santa Cruz itself has quite a number of attractions that you can visit yourself! Of course, for more intimate encounters with wildlife, especially those underwater, an arranged tour with an agency would be inevitable. So set aside some budget for that. But you do have the option and flexibility to choose what and where to go. There are a variety of day tours in all the agencies you can choose from, so you can shop around. Various islands in the Galapagos offer different wildlife viewing opportunities, and most of the uninhabited islands can only be visited by official tour operators and cruises. This ensures that the delicate ecosystem within the Galapagos is not overly affected by tourism. A typical day tour costs from us$130-$180, and there are of course 2 or 3-day tours as well. Do readup on the various attractions in your favorite guidebook.

As for accommodation, options range from hostels with dorm beds to comfortable hotels, so there's something to cater for everyone. I got myself a hotel with private bathroom for us$30+ a night, so it wasn't as bad as I initially thought! (Tip: It can get quite hot during the day, so having air-conditioning is a good thing....)

And similarly for the food, there are actually budget options in the form of small local eateries offering set menu del dias (menu of the day) at us$5! There are also more upscale restaurants, as well as touristy night markets that offer fairly good seafood!

The other two islands (Isabela and San Cristóbal) that support independent travel infrastructure similarly has budget options, although it may be slightly more limited than Puerto Ayora. I did not have time to visit them, so I could not provide more info but the point I am putting across is that the Galapagos islands can be visited and enjoyed in some manner by budget travelers. And you could actually mix the independent budget travel with a cruise too, as many agencies on Puerto Ayora offer last minute discounted cruise deals!

And the Galapagos islands are indeed a destination worth checking out! In one of my wildlife encounters, someone was taking photos with an iPhone, and someone remarked that only in the Galapagos could someone shoot wildlife with a mobile. Indeed, one could get really close to the wildlife here, and as testament to that, all photos shown in this blog post are taken on an iPhone 7plus!!

Enjoy!

Getting real close to birds and wildlife