Hello,
We will be arriving in Budapest on Saturday sometime in the End of august.
We will spend, Saturday, sunday and monday night in budapest.
Then our trip starts.
We rent a car from Budapest, drive through Austria-Switzerland and maybe little bit italy north, and make a loop to get back to budapest by the next saturday
So if we start on 23rd august, we want to be back in budapest by 3rd september.

We are a couple, and would be renting a small fuel efficient car.
there are some things I already know about rules in Europe
1. I will have my Drivers license along with IDP
2. I will get Austrian and Swiss vignette from gas stations near the border

I had also finalized a few routes, but its getting confusing for us, as we want to do scenic places, and many nice villages in switzerland are car free. So we need to park, and then spend a couple of nights in a nice village.

We will do city sight seeing in Budapest, and after that its preference to
1. Lakes
2. Glaciers
3. Green mountain vistas.

Originally, I was thinking, drive St. Gotthard pass towards italy, and enter Switzerland from south end over the St, bernard pass.

But south alps are not green, they are bare. Have done a lot of high altitude Himalayan driving(15000 feet+) so bare mountains are not a preference. We prefer lakes, glaciers and mountain vistas with lot of greenery

The rough plan (if we start on 23 aug is)
23 - Budapest - Somewhere scenic in Austria
24 - Take a scenic route through austria, slowly driving. Sort of like a small nice driving highway with frequent stops. Stay in a nice area of Austria
25 - Arrive near Switzerland or somewhere in italy
26 - Enter switzerland, and drive through some scenic route to reach a small town where we park our car
27 - Take the cable car or whatever to a high place with glaciers and meadows
28. Come back by evening to our car-town
29. go to some other place and take cable car to another nice place
30. Spend time there
31. Spent more time there
1. come back to our car town
2. Start journey back towards budapest
3. Reach budapest by evening and return car to rental
4. Fly out

So our priorities
1. Roads with best sceninc viewpoints - Alpine, glaciers, mountain peaks
2. One or two quaint towns on the way with nice architechture(old europe, churches maybe?)
3. Two major destination in switzerland which we can explore by car or foot.

I had even made a rough itenary, but then I realized I was focussing to much on the non-green alps.
Anyways, here was what I was thinking
1. Budapest - Ferleitental, Austria
2. St. Gotthard pass - Stelvio, Bormio, Italy
3. Stelvio pass road into switzerland - I am told this is an amazing driving road

Once into switzerland, I drew a kind of blank and was wondering whether to take the "Thun" road towards Interlaken/Jungfurao etc,

It was all a mess

So some advice would be great.

On the non-place advice front, I have some general queries
1. I would like to rent a small diesel hatchback with CDW, LDW and Third party damage insurance. I think for 2 weeks it will cost me around 500 EU, right? Or am I underestimating my rental cost?
2. Austria and Switzerland countryside is considered safe as compared to Italy, right?
3. We live in India which is Left hand drive, like the UK. but I have driven a lot in the USA, and also done Alpine driving there. Wondering, is there anything special I should take care off, aside from common stuff like speed limits etc., I know radar detector, and speed camera GPS are not allowed, and we won't be carrying any
4. In Budapest we would like to pre paid sim card which I will use in my Triband LG-P500 (Optimus One). Its a GSM phone and its unlocked. What kind of plan would suite us which will allow us to have cheap data on roaming. Downloading directions and google maps will be the thing, so around 2-3GB of data for those 2 weeks is enough. costs and carriers please?
Can I show my pass port and get a sim immediately, or is there some more verification required for activation?
5. How much tourist rush will be there in End august. Should we expect packed hotels and book in advance? We want a nice clean room with attached bathroom for around 60 EU max/day. Is it possible to find such homestay/hotels?

Sorry, I don't have time right now to evaluate all your questions right now. Just a few bits and pieces now:

Not many villages in Switzerland are car-free, it's actually just a few. See via this link:
http://www.auto-frei.ch/cms/front_co...elang=2&lang=1
There are certain restrictions for taking the car into places like national parks or close to glaciers, but from an overall perspective, Switzerland is 99% accessible by car.
Considering your budget, keep in mind that those few car-free villages are car-free because so many people want to go there. This may conflict with a 60 EUR budget, which I consider unrealistic in those prime locations in CH in high season.

For driving regulations and requirements you can easily print from this page for each country
http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice...bycountry.html

End of August still is high season in the Alps. Anywhere.

The Italian side of the Alps is not less safe than the Austrian or Swiss side.

The Southern Alps are not barer or greener than the Northern side. The treeline is a matter of altitude. The Southern side has actually a more milder climate than the Central or Northern Alps. Lots of wine and fruits are grown there, esp. in South Tyrol/Italy.

Have done this by europcar.com and renault eurodrive

Lease is cheaper for several weeks or more.

Rental car is fun in rural areas

though quite expensive in cities

You might do better to stay on regional trains seat61.com

and budget more for hotels Otel.com booking.com

Little decent in the Alps for 60 euros...

Careful research yields better experience.

ricksteves.com good for euroewbies...

viamichelin.com good route maps cheapo hotels etc

Thanks, how about a 90 EUR/night budget. We want to see countryside of switzerland and austria, thats why choosing car instead of train.

Hello, I would recommend to you to go by train from Budapest to Vienna, than to Salzburg
to Innsbruck , Feldkirch and Zurich. From Zurich you can go by SBB to any mountain place
in beautiful trains and comfortable and not expensive. For you must be difficult to drive on
the right side and for sure confusing.

Go to www.sbb.ch or www.oebb.at

You can buy a round trip ticket from ÖBB. You will see
much more by train than by car and hassle free. Have a nice trip.