Gunter

Message: What a great place for information!!! We have to chose between: Germany, Austria,& Switzerland, or Italy. We dont care much for crowds or big cities. Like coastal locations, castles, abbies, churches, small villages, and staying in B&B's. Tours look to be economical but I wonder about quality. Well there you go you travel aficionados. Let me have it.

RufusTFirefly

When do you plan to go, and for how long? Just two of you? Do you have a daily average cost of accomodations in mind?

Traveler863

Gunter,
Kinda hard with your given info, though hope this helps nail that down! In Germany, the romanitic road is great with castles (Neuschwhanstein, though touristy!). Salzburg, Austria is very nice. Anything through Austria middle has great small villages, take your pick. Lichstentstein is different, some like it some don't...its a wedge between Switz and Austria, worth a stop. In Switz, Chur is interesting lots of history, Apenzell is hilly farmland and very interesting. Interlaken, Grindelwald, the Jungfrau region is gorgeous. Zermatt, the Mattorhorn village gorgeous too. The Engadine, SE corner or Switz quiet and beautiful. North Lakes region of Italy fantastic, Como and Maggiore. Slip into Venice and thats about all the top areas. But really best if for you get get some good detailed travel guides and do some good hard reading....there may be something off that beaten tourist trail that spikes your interest or perhaps someone on here may do that....Best off beaten trail travel guides are Cagodan's and Rough Guides. Good luck with the trip.

auntgrapes

check out bensbauernhof-fantastic website for germany. have you searched fodor's europe site yet?

Gunter

RufusTFirefly
It looks like the last week in May through the first couple a weeks in June, so twelve to fifteen days probably. Yes just two of us. No real restrictions on costs, we dont need "fancy" though.

bettyk

Gunter, if you go to http://bensbauernhof.com/ as suggested above, you will find lots of great information including detailed 7, 14 and 15-day itineraries. You could pretty much plan your whole trip with this one website.

bobthenavigator

Gunter, with 12 to 15 days I would suggest a loop that starts and ends in Munich and includes:
Castles of Bavaria
The Dolomites
Venice
Lake Garda
Salzburg[Salzkammergut]
That is some of the best natural beauty in Europe and is a tight loop that is easy to navigate. Of course, you will need a car.

beachbum

As Ira suggested on Gunter's other post, it appears he's choosing between a) Germany, Switzerland, & Austria, or b) Italy. Given Gunter's likes, Italy seems to fit the bill.