It was a sporadic decision, which isn't exactly all that different from usual. Though, perhaps this was especially sporadic.

We had spent the afternoon in Lake Bled, Slovenia, which offered some very impressive views, especially from the hilltop castle. However, as night was setting, Bri and I felt like our energy was fading with the daylight. Slovenia in the tourist offseason is really the offseason, so there was not a lot going on, and many of the hostels and hotels were in fact closed.

We took out our map of Slovenia to do a little pondering, and noticed that in the north western portion of the map there was a little arrow that noted that Salzburg was two-hundred some odd kilometres from the border. We looked at each other, cancelled our hostel for the night, called the rental car company to get the okay, then hit the road. Night was just approaching, and we headed for the border, full speed ahead. The fog? treacherous. The map? non-existent. The car? petite. The decision? 100 percent worth it. If you’ve only got two days, this Salzburg itinerary might help as well.

Here are five reasons that the spontaneous decision to go to Salzburg was right on the money.

1) The Elevated Viewpoints

At a certain point, you just think to yourself, "alright, this is getting a bit ridiculous." The historic Central European beauty that I found in Salzburg is really only rivalled by a few cities for me, and easily in the same tier as Prague, Vienna, or Budapest. Yet, only Prague has the same sort of compact centre where you cannot help but come across important sight after important sight. When Bri and I started the engine on our VW Polo and headed towards Salzburg, I could not have imagined the viewpoints afforded by this city.

We took the elevator in the Modern Museum (found in the Old Town, though the title of "Old Town" just may apply to the whole city) to the top and got out, where we walked along the hillside that looked over the city until we reached the castle on the other side. It took about 30 minutes, and I recall being struck again and again by the city's beauty.