My wife & I are planning a 3-4 week vacation. We don't know the plusses/minuses of either a tour or doing it ourselves. We're thinking about the Innsbruck, Salzburg, Vienna area but think we'll run out of things to do for that length of time. Since we've never been to Belgium, Lichtenstein would that be a good addition?<BR>Any advice would be appreciated.

Austria is a beautiful country and there is plenty to see and do. Innsbruck, Salzburg and Vienna are definitely worth an in-depth visit but there is so much more than just these cities. I also would recommend spending time in the Salzkammergut region -- Wolfgangsee, Hallstatt -- very scenic. Graz and Klagenfurt are also worthy of some time as well as the Bregenz and Lake Constance. Do a search on Austria and I think you will find lots of good info from previous posts. Also, check out the following:<BR><BR>http://www.hallstatt.net/besucher/index.php3?lang=en<BR>http://info.wien.at<BR>http://www.salzkammergut.at/<BR>http://www.austria-tourism.at/us<BR>

Lichtenstein doesn't really have anything to offer. In fact, if they didn't have signs up telling you that you were there, you would never know it was any different from Austria.<BR><BR>The pluses of doing a tour is that you get to sit back and relax and let the tour company do all the planning and driving. Also many times you get to "jump" the line at important sights. Let's face it, a tour provides a tourist sight with a steady stream of cash. They usually cater to tour groups more than the individual tourist.<BR><BR>The minuses is that you are stuck on a bus with 30 other people. If you have a good group, that's great. But not everyone is "user friendly". In addition, some tour guides "shame" you into purchasing extras that can add thousands of dollars to your trip.<BR><BR>I was on a tour one time where I didn't sign up for one of the "special" dinners. The tour guide got on the bus p.a. system and said "I was consulting my list and Philip is the only one that didn't sign up". She obviously thought she was going to embarass me into shelling out the money. The day after the "special" dinner I went around and asked everyone what I had missed. More than half of the people said the dinner was lousy and they wished they hadn't gone.

Have you been to Budapest, Prague, Berlin? Those are reasonable distances among each other and Vienna and absolutely wonderful cities to visit.

Belgium is a very interesting destination of its own, and a very diversified country in spite of its smal size. It's the point where latin and germanic Europe meet. However, it is quite far from Austria (by European standard). You have to cross Germany from Southeast (Austria) to Northwest (Belgium), a trip about 1000 km. Driving from Vienna to Brussels takes about 14 hours (all on freeway however). Train would take about 24 hours with connections in-between. Flying is about 1h15.

Jeff---<BR>You've hit my most sensitive spot. Of all the countries of Europe, Austria is my favorite because of the variety of scenery, the lovely cities and quaint villages, and the nice people. So my suggestion is to spend your entire 3 weeks in Austria and begin to really understand some of the country. Even in that amount of time, you'll barely skim the surface. And, yes, the larger cities (Salzburg, Innsbruck, Vienna) are good to visit; but you need to get out into the mountains and the villages and the lakes to enjoy the small places most people don't bother to go. Stay in the small hotels in places you never heard about before; get to know how the Austrians live in various parts of the country. The northern Alpine regions are quite different from the southern areas of Carinthia, for instance; and so many of the cities and villages have loads of local festivals and attractions you just won't read about. You just have to be there to experience it for yourself. When you decide to go, my strong recommendation is to rent a car and get out into the countryside. If you will come back to this board with a post requesting out-of-the-way lovely spots to visit and stay in Austria, I'll be sure to make some specific suggestions. Enjoy your trip; I'd love to be your guide.