{
  "name": "Premier Austria trip-finder data",
  "version": "2026-07-14.1",
  "reviewedAt": "2026-07-14",
  "canonicalUrl": "https://premieraustria.com/destination-intelligence.json",
  "method": "Matches four traveller choices to practical destination roles and explains the trade behind each result.",
  "questions": [
    {
      "key": "priority",
      "label": "What should the trip feel like?",
      "options": [
        {
          "value": "city-culture",
          "label": "A compact cultural city"
        },
        {
          "value": "iconic-day-trip",
          "label": "The iconic Hallstatt day"
        },
        {
          "value": "lake-time",
          "label": "Slow time on a lake"
        },
        {
          "value": "regional-exploration",
          "label": "Several regional day trips"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "key": "tripLength",
      "label": "How much time do you have?",
      "options": [
        {
          "value": "one-two",
          "label": "One or two days"
        },
        {
          "value": "three-four",
          "label": "Three or four days"
        },
        {
          "value": "five-plus",
          "label": "Five days or more"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "key": "transport",
      "label": "How do you want to move?",
      "options": [
        {
          "value": "public",
          "label": "Rail, bus, and boat"
        },
        {
          "value": "car",
          "label": "With a car"
        },
        {
          "value": "flexible",
          "label": "Whichever is more sensible"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "key": "crowdStyle",
      "label": "How do you handle busy places?",
      "options": [
        {
          "value": "avoid",
          "label": "I will change the plan to avoid them"
        },
        {
          "value": "accept",
          "label": "I accept them for the headline sights"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "defaults": {
    "priority": "city-culture",
    "tripLength": "three-four",
    "transport": "public",
    "crowdStyle": "avoid"
  },
  "destinations": [
    {
      "key": "salzburg",
      "name": "Salzburg",
      "canonicalUrl": "https://premieraustria.com/where-to-stay-in-salzburg/",
      "role": "Anchor base",
      "roleSummary": "The compact cultural city, arrival hinge, and strongest all-round base.",
      "stayAdvice": "Sleep here for the city and for the widest set of outbound day trips.",
      "timeShape": "Two full days for the city; add days three and four as outbound days.",
      "transportShape": "The strongest car-free base: rail, urban buses, and Postbus connections converge here.",
      "bestFor": [
        "first Austrian trips",
        "city and culture",
        "car-free planning",
        "mixed city-and-region itineraries"
      ],
      "caution": "A car is mostly a liability inside the city, and this is not a lakeside stay.",
      "sourceIds": [
        "salzburg-info",
        "stadt-salzburg",
        "oebb",
        "postbus"
      ]
    },
    {
      "key": "hallstatt",
      "name": "Hallstatt",
      "canonicalUrl": "https://premieraustria.com/hallstatt-day-trip-from-salzburg/",
      "role": "Timed day trip",
      "roleSummary": "The iconic draw, best treated as one carefully timed day rather than a default base.",
      "stayAdvice": "Base in Salzburg; stay only for dawn photography or when continuing deeper into the Salzkammergut.",
      "timeShape": "A full day from Salzburg, including roughly five hours of return transit.",
      "transportShape": "Rail requires the timed lake ferry; Postbus reaches the village; a car does not remove the midday coach peak.",
      "bestFor": [
        "the iconic village view",
        "early or late photography",
        "a single committed day trip"
      ],
      "caution": "Midday is the coach peak, beds are scarce, and the village is not an efficient regional base.",
      "sourceIds": [
        "hallstatt",
        "oebb",
        "postbus",
        "salzkammergut"
      ]
    },
    {
      "key": "bad-ischl",
      "name": "Bad Ischl",
      "canonicalUrl": "https://premieraustria.com/salzkammergut-lakes-which-base/",
      "role": "Regional junction base",
      "roleSummary": "The practical Salzkammergut base with a real town centre, rail, and Postbus interchange.",
      "stayAdvice": "Sleep here when several regional days matter more than waking directly on a lake.",
      "timeShape": "Useful as a multi-day junction, not as a one-sight stop.",
      "transportShape": "The strongest public-transport base inside the Salzkammergut.",
      "bestFor": [
        "regional exploration",
        "car-free lake-district trips",
        "infrastructure",
        "imperial history"
      ],
      "caution": "It is a spa town on a river, not the postcard lakeside village many travellers imagine.",
      "sourceIds": [
        "bad-ischl",
        "salzkammergut",
        "oebb",
        "postbus"
      ]
    },
    {
      "key": "wolfgangsee",
      "name": "Wolfgangsee (St. Wolfgang and St. Gilgen)",
      "canonicalUrl": "https://premieraustria.com/salzkammergut-lakes-which-base/",
      "role": "Slow lake base",
      "roleSummary": "The water-first choice: St. Wolfgang for the postcard, St. Gilgen for quieter Salzburg access.",
      "stayAdvice": "Sleep here only when mornings and evenings on the lake are the point of the trip.",
      "timeShape": "Best for several slow days rather than a checklist of distant day trips.",
      "transportShape": "Postbus serves the lake, but a car gives more freedom around its edges and onward connections.",
      "bestFor": [
        "lake mornings",
        "slow travel",
        "swimming and walking",
        "a quieter base"
      ],
      "caution": "No separate official overnight figure is available, and the lake villages are less connected than Bad Ischl.",
      "sourceIds": [
        "wolfgangsee",
        "salzkammergut",
        "schafbergbahn",
        "postbus"
      ]
    }
  ]
}