Andrew
New York City
So I'll preface this by saying I have seen both the swiss alps and the austrian alps. I went to Grindelwald in April one year and Innsbruck in September.
My girlfriend and I are going to Europe in late Sept and I'm trying to decide which country to take her to for the Alps (she's never seen it so I'd like to take her somewhere breathtaking).
Now, I realize Swiss is for sure more expensive than Austria so that is something to consider. I do also remember seeing a much more amazing view of the alps from switzerland than austria though. When I was in Innsbruck a few years ago around the same time, it was surely impressive but didn't see many snowcaps (part of going in Sept I guess).
We are considering between either Interlaken, Innsbruck, or Salzburg as a base for a few days...
Any thoughts on this???
Thanks so much
-Andrew
Interlaken (Switzerland) Innsbruck (Austria) Mayrhofen (Austria) Grindelwald (Switzerland)
I've been to all of the places you named. I love Salzburg, but for views of the Alps I would go to Interlaken, Grindelwald and surrounding area. It's a beautiful area!
Mentioned in this answer:
I just got back from a trip in which flew into Munich and rented a car. We then drove to and stayed in Salzburg to start and ended up in Munich. Our favorite place was Hallstatt which is a very enjoyable 1 hour drive from Salzburg.
We drove through Tyrol 
And Bavaria to visit Neuschwanstein Castle
We had a fantastic time and prices seemed to be slightly cheaper then the states other than gas, but the car was very fuel efficient. I have heard Switzerland is very expensive.
Andrew
