Lawchick

I'm back from a four week germanic holiday.

2 days in Rothenburg ob der Tauber - Germany
2 days Melk - Austria
5 days Graz - Austria
20 days Dorf Tirol - Italy
2 days Heidelberg - Germany

Highlights included

One historical festival in Rothenburg - including lots of drum beating and open air drinking and debauchery

Cruise down the Danube from Melk

Lots of hiking at high altitude around Meran

Strange parish festivals in Dorf Tirol

Every type of weather imaginable - 32 degrees and walking on snow

THE most fantastic scenery

Great food and wine

traveller1959

What should be special about open air drinking?

This is our daily routine.

pja1

Hi Lawchick,

Welcome back! Twenty days in Dorf Tirol... wow. We stayed a few nights just west of there in Malles/Mals (Vinschgau) and loved it and am curious how you liked the area and where you went.

Paul

Lawchick

I loved the area. This was my first time in Sud Tirol and I'm definitely going back. My husband knows the region quite well. We rented an apartment up the hills half way between Dorf Tirol and Meran. Most of the time was spent hiking up the mountains around Meran...complete with 8 month old in backpack or buggy.

What I found surprising was the almost complete lack of any tourists other than Germans. I heard one American couple in 3 weeks....not even a few French.

noe847

I hope this is a prelude to a longer report (fingers crossed!)

pja1

Hi Lawchick,

We had a similar experience, except that we heard no one speak English! Glad to hear you liked the Sud Tirol. For some more spectacular scenery, maybe try to the east of Meran in the Dolomite region... Val Gardena, Alta Badia, etc. It's all good.

Paul

Maudie

Lawchick,
Please post more about Melk, we have "found" 2 days to slot into our trip and were thinking of Melk as a base. We would like to see the Abbey and also ferry up to Spitz and cycle to Krems. I was going to do my own post now to ask questions but you might have all the info I need. Where did you stay and where you happy with it? Did you find Melk ok as a 2 day base?
Any info would be most appreciated. We will be using public transport.
Many thanks.

Lawchick

I don’t usually write trip reports as I’m not hugely into the planned trips and anyway, people here are much better planners than me and seem to see much more on their trips…. However in this case I will do a quick trip report as there is so little about Südtirol on Fodors…

Anywho, it was going to be difficult
• first long trip with baby (8 months)
• one month away
• over 1000 km by car to get there
• small car (BMW coupe – not exactly child friendly – have yet to buy the bus)
• too many different events/weather (2 balls, one in traditional Austrian dress, hiking/skiing/sunning)

We set off from Brussels with car completely over packed. The baby takes up so much room with the car seat, buggy, travel cot, clothes for all seasons, toys. However, my husband seemed to take up even more, with his enormous back pack, sleeping bag, ski gear, numerous suits, hiking gear etc etc. I packed very light, but still had to haul the hiking gear, ball gown, dirndl.

We had to stop fairly regularly with the baby, every 2 hours or so as she was hungry and/or bored.

Our first stay on our journey was in Rothenburg. We stayed at the Prinzhotel Rothenburg which is situated within the city walls. We told them we had a baby and they gave us an enormous room. The hotel was very nice and really well located. There was a historical festival on in Rothenburg at the time which was good fun and very colourful with hundreds of people dressed in period costume reliving the 30 years war. There was lots of drinking and music and high spirits. Rothenburg really looks like a town made out of marzipan.

http://www.prinzhotel.rothenburg.de/e_html/index.html


After two days we went on to Melk. We were staying with family there so I can’t comment on accommodation except to say my husbands cousins house is very nice…..I had been to Melk many times before but this time we did something different and took a river cruise down the Danube with some friends. This was good fun and the weather was beautiful. The scenery is just outstanding. The river cruise goes from Melk to Krems through the Wachau region of the Danube river valley , passing monasteries, castles and vineyards. We stopped off in Spitz for lunch in a heurigen and had some great food with some local wine.
http://www.ddsg-blue-danube.at/engli..._lwac_plan.asp


We continued on to Graz, the hometown of my husband…which unfortunately is often overlooked by tourists. There we did some family stuff and also attended a “trachten” ball – where the traditional Austrian dress is worn rather than ballgowns and tux….so I got to air my dirndl.
While there, we had some big family dinners in some of my favourite restaurants including

The Erzherzog Johann - http://www.erzherzog-johann.com/ and the Kirchenwirt http://www.kirchenwirtgraz.comenm/2_restaurant.php

Then it was off to Südtirol. We rented an apartment in a typical Tyrolian house. http://www.dorftirol.com/fischerhof/fischerhof.htm
You can see its location with the flashing arrow on the top of its web page. We wanted quiet and solitude and we got it. The apartment was great and looks just like the photos. The owner, Dr. Bauer, was really helpful and has an honour system (I think the Americans call it) for his wine cellar where you note what bottles you take and pay at the end.

The apartment was situated midway between Dorf Tirol and Meran – up the side of a hill. You have to be relatively fit in the area I would say as Meran itself is the only place on the flat. Dorf Tirol is a small scenic village with some good restaurants.
http://www.dorf-tirol.it/en/anreise-lage.php

While there we went to hear the Musikkapelle
http://users.south-tyrolean.net/mk-d...l/index_de.php

We also attended a parish festival with a local band playing and some very inebriated grannies dancing.

In Dorf Tirol our favourite restaurants were the Sonne http://www.hotelsonne.it/geniessen.phtml and the Weinstube Andreas Hofer.

We did lots of hiking around Dorf Tirol and ate in the local hutte en route. All of which were great and were very accommodating to the baby. One of the most spectacular views in Dorf Tirol is from the Gasthof Hochmut
http://www.hochmuth.it/gasthof/
where the chickens roam around and the food is great.

Meran itself is a mix of new and old. The new/industrial part of the town is not so great, but the old part and the promenade by the river is lovely. Some good restaurants in Meran are:

Sissi - http://www.gourmeran.com/meran/Restaurant-Sissi.html

Villa Tivoli - http://www.villativoli.it/ (where I heard the only english speakers in 3 weeks).

As I said, we did lots of hiking around the Meranerland, but also we did many walks with the buggy (stroller). There is a great little book “Südtirol mit dem Kinderwagen ” – which details routes suitable for walking with a stroller, albeit usually a heavy duty one. The routes are given a 1-5 stroller difficulty rating and the restaurants and hutte are clearly marked. This is a great little book even if you don’t have kids. It’s in german but you will get the gist of it in any event.

Hubby of course went off on more adventurous hiking and climbing, him being half mountain goat.

I tasted lots of regional wine. The main types are Vernatsch, Gewürztraminer & Lagrein. http://www.suedtirols-sueden.info/en...lean-wine.html

There is also a cheese made with Lagrein which is delicious.

On a few wet we went to the Therme in Meran which has about 30 different pools and lots of beauty treatments. http://www.termemerano.it/home/intro.asp

The baby was very welcome there and had fun in the water. There is a restaurant at the Therme which is nice and also one just a few metres away in the Hotel Steigenberger which is more up market and has fantastic food and cocktails (Mmmmmm sekt and mango juice Mmmmmmm.

We also walked around Hafling and can recommend the hotel Miramonti which has spectacular views. http://www.hotel-miramonti.com/

I have a lot more to report from Meran, but not enough time. In short, the food is great, the walking/hiking is great, the wine is fantastic, the people are friendly and babies and kids are most welcome.

On the way back to Brussels we went to Heidelberg. We stayed at the NH Heidelberg and again said we had a baby and got a room the size of a tennis court. For food in Heidelberg, I like the
Hackteufel and the zum Ritter for traditional food.

We had nice drinks outside the café Rossi.


So that’s about it. It may sound a bit boring for some here, but we had a great time. We wanted some rest and some outdoor activities, good food and good wine – but most of all we just wanted to be together for a month before I go back to work next week (after almost 10 months of being out – pregnancy difficulties, hospitalisation, premature baby etc etc.).

In short, I'd be very happy with Südtirol again and we're already palling to go back for a few long weekends.

Lawchick

"Planning to go back" - rather than palling - whatever that is.

noe847

Thanks, Lawchick, for the details of your report, including all of the links. Südtirol looks like a nice, comfortable, and beautiful area, just perfect for the type of holiday you sought. I'm bookmarking this for a possible future trip - we love mountains and hiking, although all of my visits to Austria so far have been in winter (and we've not ventured into Italy).

I've been to trachten shops and just wished I had the occasion to excuse purchasing a dirndl!

Lawchick

I bought a dirndl for my 6 month old...."fools and their money"