CDNshelly

Hi, my first post, very nervous, but here goes. Some facts and history, married couple of 22 years, early 40's, September 2001 we travelled to Europe for the first time since we were children, a great trip with my husbands mom and dad, we went to France to visit my mother-in-law's family and spent 3 days in Paris, great experience. Two years after that we ventured on our own to Switzerland and could hardly wait to go back. We have just returned from Munich having spent 2 amazing weeks visiting Hallstatt and Imst Austria, Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland, and Garmisch Partenkirchen Germany. We arrived in Munich off a direct flight from Toronto (Air Transat, nothing fancy but comfortable) to pick up our Hertz rental car (great service) at the airport and drove to Hallstatt. We promised ourselves after our last trip, where we landed in Frankfurt and drove to Basel, that we would never drive that distance right off the plane, but we did it again. Have to say not so bad this time, got a little more sleep on the flight (took Tylenol PM and actually slept a solid 4 hrs. also had prebooked some good seats) the drive was not as long, about 2 1/2 hrs. Hallstatt was even more breath taking than we could have imagined. We had reservations at Gasthof Hirlatz, loved it. We had dinner there the first night for convenience sake but ended up back their the next two because it was so delicious and comfortable. Enjoyed spending some time with and getting to know, a couple from Alaska. Went to all the sights, the Ice Caves, Salt Mine, Charnel House, even though it rained, really enjoyed ourselves. Day 4 we drove to Imst, Austria. I picked this town after searching for a spot that would be about half way to Lauterbrunnen. Our dictionary came in quite handy and my husband's German was beginning to come back to him. Imst has a lovely town centre and we enjoyed the shops and had a great lunch. Our hotel was another great find, Hotel Auderer, although through my emails to them making reservations, I somehow agreed to half pension. Was comical the first night when they showed us to our table, and soup arrived a minute later, I said "well honey, I think someone has already made us dinner!" All was well, great 4 course meals. Really enjoyed each morning trying to translate the evening dinner menu selections. Also visited a brewery in a castle,interesting. Imst is in a beautiful location, was a good find. Day 7, off to Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland, was a five hour drive that went by so quickly, I cannot put down in words how beautiful this drive was. Stayed at the Hotel Staubbach, spent 4 nights, went up to Wengen for lunch, took a train to Thun and toured a castle, we spent alot of time just relaxing on our balcony watching the falls and the local people, we met a foursome from Illinois, shared some stories and some Bailey's. Day 10, drove to Garmisch, a long drive, 4 countries, 6 hours, but worth it, got a little lost, but this just made it more interesting also found out that September is road construction month. There were more repairs needed than usual due to the floods. We did see alot of the damage the floods caused in Austria and Switzerland but they are quickly making repairs. In Garmisch, we stayed at the wonderful, Hotel Roter Hahn could not believe how close we were to everything. We walked and walked, was glorious! Even though it was pouring, we hiked to the Olympic Stadium, glad we did it, just one of those things we did not want to pass on seeing. The drive from Garmisch to the airport in Munich was alot easier than we were fearing, had a great flight to Toronto, stayed overnight. Day 14, we drove the 4 hours home, happy but sad. We are already anxious to go again, 2 years before we can do it though, not sure where to, freinds want to go to Spain or maybe Scotland. I enjoy reading this site and have used many of the suggestions and advice and am sure it will play a part in where we decide to go on our next adventure.

RufusTFirefly

That's quite an impressive solid block of text.

kopp

CDNshelly, welcome to Fodor's! Isn't it fun that you can share you travel stories with other travelers?

It sounds like you had a wonderful vacation. How was the tour of the salt mine? We tried to do it in Salzburg a few years ago, but turned out it was closed the day we had available. Just seems like it would be unique.

Glad you enjoyed the Lauterbrunnen region as well. The views of the 3 mountains are so spectacular. I never grow tired of just gawking.

Happy travels!

Jolie

Sounds like a nice trip. Any chance there will be pictures posted on the internet? I am terrible, I don't know how to post my own, but I love seeing other people's pics (so I can live vicariously through them)!

CDNshelly

Thanks for the warm welcome! and yes I do enjoy being able to share travel experiences.

Jolie, being a beginner at this, posting pictures may be a challenge, hopefully I can figure it out, I have no shortage of pictures.

Kopp, this was our second trip to Lauterbrunnen and I agree with you, stunning location, Also the nicest, kind hearted, sincere people.

jmw44

Hi, CDNS, Thanks for the trip summary! How delightful! I'd love to read more about Imst, because that's the only one of your stops with which I'm not familiar (whoa, watch out grammar police). Did you spot any gems on the long drive from Lauterbrunnen to Garmisch? I'm wishing that you had a chance to stop in Lindau, but I suppose you would have mentioned it. I'd love to see some photographs, too, if you made any. Isn't travel wonderful? J.

yildy

Hello, WOW! you had some nice days. For sure I will get some advice from your trip.

CDNshelly

In my last response, I neglected to respond to kopp in regrards to the Salt Mine tour. The tour proved to be invigorating and interesting. We particularly enjoyed the hike to the mine and the slides we had to take to get down to the lower levels once inside.

jmw44, I picked Imst because we are not so confident driving in the cities, that is when I started to look for towns around Innsbruck and found Imst and what a find it was! Not so much a tourism town, so we were able to just shop, eat and enjoy the mountain views.

We did a direct drive trip from Lauterbrunnen to Garmisch, actually drove back through Imst then the Fernpass to Garmisch, so unfortunately, we did not see Lindau.