missyriesgo

My husband and I are hoping to sightsee for 6 days prior to my week-long work trip in St. Leon-Rot, Germany in mid-September.

We are have the following cities in mind and need help narrowing down a 6-day schedule as we'd like to just limit it to two or three cities. We love to do things outdoors and just enjoy scenery and local culture.

I realize we are literally all over the map...which is why I'm hoping for some help!

Prague
Vienna
Lake Como
Amalfi Coast
Venice
Interlaken
Crans Montana, Switzerland
Switzerland in general
Munich

Would love any advice on which places to choose based on our limited time. We could also use suggestions on reasonable places to say/see while we are there. This will be part of our first wedding anniversary trip!

Thanks everyone for your help!

bilboburgler

I'd suggest you use the trains to get about, seat61.com and bahn.de should help, but also use Google to get some timing ideas. It will save you having to see so much motorway.

You are starting in the west of Germany (Heidelberg) and going all over the continent.

For me I'd focus on Switzerland and Munich, though you could look at Prague and Venice as a 2 city combo.

Italy (nah, too far), (Interlaken has a great bus station, and...?)

missyriesgo

Thanks for your help!

Also, just to clarify, we will be starting our trip somewhere and need to end up in St. Leon-Rot, Germany.

Thanks again!

pariswat

I see Interlaken a lot on formus, yet never have been and never heard of somebody who has.
A Rick Steve bookd says it is a place to go ?

I'd limit my choices to 2 -max 3 places.
Amalfi, Venice and lake Como could be put together for example.

bobthenavigator

Pick two---within 4 hours of each other.

bvlenci

Venice is really quite some distance from the Amalfi Coast. I would suggest Venice and Munich. You would pass through Verona on you way, which would be nice for a brief stopover.

Sassafrass

With such a short time, you want to minimize travel time getting to the first destination and getting from there to Your place in Germany. So, besides choosing places of interest, I would let travel logistics factor into the decision.

You could fly into Munich, rent a car and explore that very scenic part of Germany.

Italian Lakes and/or Venice is a bit more complex logistically, but quite doable.

You could fly into Venice and spend the whole time in that area or into Milan and spend the time in the Lakes area.

You could fly into Venice, spend two or three days in Venice, train to the Lakes area for two or three days, and fly from Milan to an airport close to your destination in Germany.

You could also fly into Milan (often good flights from the states), spend three days in the lakes, train to Venice, spend a couple of days, fly from Venice to Germany.

Prague and Munich or Prague and Vienna also work well together. Fly into Prague.

Not on your list, but it would be super easy to fly into Paris, spend four or five days and train to Germany, a bit over three hours. Very efficient use of time and transportation.

You have time to visit the AC, and it is a good time to do it, but unless you could get a direct flight into Naples and a decent flight from Naples to very near your German destination, it could be hectic with more time traveling. You might be able to fly into Rome, and travel on down to Sorrento or Positano, and catch a flight from Naples to Germany.

Pick the place you most want to visit and see how it would work logistically. If it does not, go to your second pick, etc.

LSky

This is one of those times when "bloom where you are planted comes to mind."

You've ended up in a beautiful region with tons to do that will amuse you.

You like hiking and scenery? Drive south through the Black Forest (Schwarzwald) People make trips specifically to that area. Go down to Basel.

Or go towards Munich and Austria. (a little further afield)

Drive the Romantic Road in Germany.

Or cross the border into France and drive the wine route.

Head north into Germany and France

LSky

Go to Berlin.

BTW, I'm envious. How long will you be working in that area?

bilboburgler

Good point, there are some lovely places near to where you are, the Mosel valley with Trier and Luxembourg city on it, there is the Rhine valley which is almost as pretty, you could visit Rheims where the champagne comes from, you could go to Mastricht or indeed anywhere in the Netherlands and could even go to Hamburg. The Blackforest/Alsace also easy to do. So no real need to go all over the place in your 6 day trip and you would end up less tired from all the travel.