RachelK13

My fiancé and I are getting married at the end of May and will be spending 3 weeks in June in Europe for our honeymoon. We are flying in and out of Munich. I have a cousin that lives in southern Germany that is going to let us use her vehicle to get around the closer locations that we travel to. We are in our late 20s and very adventurous and are looking to see the "real Europe," not necessarily the more touristy towns. We can travel by car, train, or plane.
We were planning on staying in the southern Germany region, Italy, Austria, and southern France. Any suggestions on where we should go and places we should see? Any ideas are appreciated.

nytraveler

My first idea is that you get a couple of guidebooks and read them. Without knowing what your interests are: history, architecture, fine dining, wineries, hiking, clog dancing???? Do you want to see castles, cathedrals, scenery or heavy duty nightlife? And what does adventurous mean - white water rafting? Sky diving?

Without knowing more about you it's impossible to make recommendations.

And it wold be good if you picked out 3 or 4 specific must sees to build a trip around.

RachelK13

We love hiking and being outdoors. We enjoy trying new foods and learning about cultures. We love architecture and history. We plan on seeing the Eagle's Nest and taking part in a local Italian festival. We love beer and wine. Hoping to tour the winery that's catering the festival.

bilboburgler

Well much of what you have described is where the well heeled Europeans go for holidays, Lake Constance is a good site to visit, http://www.mybikeguide.co.uk/Lake_Constance_Guide.php

Potentially you have a big area to visit so you need to research and cut down. You will find Switzerland is small but the roads can take a long time to get through.

Clog dancing is bigger in Belgium and the UK

RachelK13

We looked last night and we are thinking of this...
Visiting my cousin in Garmish for a few days and attend the Italian party at the NATO school, spend a few days near Munich/The Eagle's Nest, then flyin to Rome for a few days, then fly to Marseille for two nights, then make our way across to Verona or Venice by train. We would like to know which cities we should make stops in and what we should do, where to eat/drink.

PalenQ

We can travel by car, train, or plane.>

Well if going to the tourist mecca cities most have been dreamain gof their whole lives then cars are not the best way as many cities are putting up all kinds of stumbling blocks for car travel - wide swathes of city centres now off-limits to private vehicles, parking can be hard, in city hotels may not offer it and if is found can be very expensive.



Trains are fantastic in all those countries - for lots of great info on European trains check out these fine sources: www.budgeteuropetravel.com (download this site's superb IMO European Planning & Rail Guide for lots of rail-oriented itineraries in those countries); www.ricksteves.com and www.seat61.com. If traveling on several trains check out railpasses.

Kathie

"then fly to Marseille for two nights" You do realize, don't you, that two nights means just one full day in a location? I can't think of anywhere I want to go where I would be satisfied with just a day to see/do/experience.

You need to figure out what you most want to see/do/experience and build an itinerary around that. Fewer stops means more time in each place. The more stops you make, the more time you spend in transit.

I agree with nytraveler - get some guidebooks and start reading.

StCirq

Will you be insured to drive the cousin's car?

I guess your plan is starting to come together...a bit, though it sounds pretty scattered. You do need to crack open the guidebooks and start looking at maps so you understand how far things are from each other.

topeater

I think you are trying to do too much if you are planning to be in Germany, Italy, Austria and France with only 3 weeks. Like Kathie said, the more places you go, the more time you spend traveling, packing, checking into & out of hotel, etc rather than exploring the area where you are. If you want to go to Marsielle, then after exploring this city, rent a car & spend a few days or a week exploring Provence. There's hiking, architecture, history & good food & wine which are things you say you enjoy.

dwdvagamundo

It would be better to drop France altogether as you really don't have time to see four countries and it's a geographic outlier. You're young enough so that you can come back to France another time.

I'd use the car to drive around southern Germany and northern Austria--Salzburg, Hallstatt, and maybe cruise the Danube to Vienna or drive along the north bank of the Danube.

Take a week and half to do this, then fly to Rome and work your way back through Florence to Venice. Then take the train or fly back to Munich.

Every place I've mentioned and dozens of others are worth an overnite stop, and all but Hallstatt I've mentioned deserve a minimum of three or four nites.

Again, get a guidebook or three to sort out what you like to do.

You mentioned you want to see "the real Europe." However, most of the places you're thinking about are on the beaten tourist track. I think your best bet to find truly "off the beaten path" places is Austria outside of Vienna and Salzburg.

But you should also see the tourist cities: places become popular for a reason. Rome, Florence, Venice, Vienna, Salzburg, Munich are all full of tourists because they are beautiful and/or interesting. To not see them would be like taking a vacation to Florida and spending all your time in Lakeland.

RachelK13

I was mostly referring to getting some insight on particular hotels, restaurants, cafés, etc. along the route I recently named.
No worries. We've travelled to many cities/counties before and we will enjoy ourselves regardless. Thanks for the help lol

nytraveler

Well it would have been better to know up front that you wanted hotel and restaurant info - and in which specific cities.

In the beginning you were asking where you should go and what you should see.

StCirq

This was your last entry: << We would like to know which cities we should make stops in and what we should do, where to eat/drink.>>

You obviously hadn't settled on a plan. How and why would anyone start suggesting specifics of hotels and restaurants nd cafés if you didn't have a firm plan in place for where you're actually going? Not to mention you didn't mention a budget for any such things.

dwdvagamundo

Rachel, none of your posts have the word "hotel" in them. So everyone here wasted a lot of time trying in good faith to answer the questions you asked rather than the question you did not ask.

In future posts, why not try asking exactly what you want to know about? It works better that way.

konig_ludwig_900

The Best romantic place to go in the south of germany is Hohenschwangau Village
the last stop of the famous ROMANTIC ROAD

and in hohenschwangau is located the most beautiful building in the world yeah but its , DONT MISS IT
just take a look here http://goo.gl/TO0L0v and see how amazing is it
by the way the castle is located in the south of Germany about 2hours drive from Munich and 5km from Austria border

Greeting from bavaria

PalenQ

The most beautiful building in the world... I love Neuschwanstein Castle but would not call it the most beautiful building in the world - a bit of hyperbole it seems - gorgeous, exquisite it is but is it a Tah Mahal or even Versailles - don't think so.

But the insides are also really interesting - a surprise at every turn - not your average Ersatz medieval-looking castle.

PalenQ

Honeymooners and Venice are made for each other - you can get away from the swarms of tourists who stick to a beaten path, leaving the rest of Venice earning its name Serenissima - Venice is for lovers, whether you take a gondola or not!

nytraveler

I can't get past that Neuschwanstien is "fake". I know it's real Mad Ludwig - but I would bet 50% of the visitor think it is a real castle from the middle ages - not something built at the time of the Civil War.

And IMHO there are many, many more attractive (and real for their era) buildings in the world.

bilboburgler

Whose Civil War? the 1660 one?

ashwinb

There's a lot you can do, I would recommend the Lake district area and Salzburg, since they are close to Munich, and tremendously beautiful.
You can have a loo at my page o Austria: http://ashwinbahulkar.wordpress.com/...ia-and-prague/
You can stay along one of the beautiful lake towns, and tour across the area, anywhere you go is beautiful and soothing.