Good luck! Even though the Schwalbennestl is kind of basic, we wouldn't stay anywhere else in Mittenwald. We love it.

The Schwalbennestl Is booked :(( ... Waiting on few more responses ... Sent emails to the following

http://www.hotel-alpenrose.de/alpenrose.htm

http://www.alpensonne.info/mittenwald.html

http://www.fichtl-mittenwald.de/mittenwald.html

We stayed at the Hotel Rieger in Mittenwald. Not sure if it fits your budget, but it's a very nice hotel with a great restaurant.

http://www.hotel-rieger.de/hotel.htm

If all else fails, we can also recommend the Gasthof Badl in Hall in Tirol, which is 45 minutes drive from Mittenwald. Stayed here 3 times ('01, '03, '05) and visited Frau Steiner (owner) while we were passing through in '06.

www.badl.at

Paul

bettyk .. I did email Hotel Rieger .. they are out of my budget unfortunately :( ..

Paul .. I will email them as well ... Thanks ..

Any recommendations to stay in Garmisch??

Just a note on the rental van/car--vans are pretty uncommon over there, so it is going to be expensive, especially if you want one with an automatic transmission. (Generally, only folks from N. America tend to rent automatics, and the rental companies jack up the prices accordingly.)

I would strongly recommend looking at renting a station wagon instead of a van--parking is going to be an issue with a van, and I would bet that the gas will put a big dent in you trip funds. Keep in mind, edven tho Euro cars tend to be more efficient than US ones, regular unleaded has been running around $9/gal for several years now. If you can get a diesel, take it.

For GAP, you might try the Gasthof Zum Rassen on Ludwigstrasse in Partenkirchen. (http://www.gasthof-rassen.de/) I've stayed there several times.

Finally, I too wonder about your itinerary--I overloaded my itinerary on my first solo trip to Germany, and as a result, missed a lot (because I ran out of time), and don't remember much of what I did see (too rushed). Plus, keep in mind that you'll be going the whole time, with no breaks. I would really, really consider cutting a few destinations and slowing downthe pace of your trip. Given what you've got planned, I have a bad feeling you're mostly going to have memories of being in the car the whole time....

> regular unleaded has been running around $9/gal
Let's not exaggerate :D. $5.50 in Austria snd $7 in Germany right now. It was only more expensive for a short while two years ago.

>logos999 on Mar 12, 10 at 9:35pm
>> regular unleaded has been running around $9/gal
>Let's not exaggerate . $5.50 in Austria snd $7 in Germany >right now. It was only more expensive for a short while two >years ago.

Ah.. fair enough. :) Still, that's considerably pricer than the $2.50-$3 it's running in the States right now, and can certainly be a bit of shock if you don't know...

$5.80 unleaded in Salzburg today, Diesel is at $5.35 Grrr. (Last week it was about $4.85). Samnaun/Switzerland is still at $4.40, but that's 150 miles from Munich.

Can't be more than one week until easter?

(Conversions done at current exchange rate ;-) )

You may be disappointed by Innsbruck and possibly Hall. Innsbruck had an old town and the rest reminded of of The City of Industry Or Commerce in Southern California I would suggest Mittenwald as the place to stay.

Hallstatt is very small. You can walk from one end of the town part on the lake to the other end in less then 10 minutes. You might enjoy a ride to Bad Ischl or St. Gilgen. If you have a sweet tooth stop at Zauners by the river in Bad Ischl.

vibhav-

For Mittenwald just look on Trip Advisor if you can't get a reponse from places here- we've always been pleased. As for rental car, we used a German Rail pass and now I've become a huge fan. It is just so easy! So can't help with the driving- only that there is parking at the base of Hohenschwangau, then you'd want to walk down to the ticket center. The town of Fussen is +/- 5k from the castles, so probably don't want to park there, because then you'd be stuck waiting for the bus like all the train riders. It should all be on the website for the castles.

Alpenrose is right in town and looked really nice- basically I'd be surprised if anything was bad in Mittenwald... we just loved it! They have grocery stores/ bakery right in the town square where we picked up beer and snacks (make sure to try schoko waffel) for the evenings- for a family you could easily get everything and take sandwiches/snacks on the day trips. Food prices were very reasonable. Remember to bring your own bag though or they will charge you. Next time i'd bring a whole foods reusable bag from the US to use, as we went to grocery stores in almost every city, or buy the ones they have there and sport it back in the US!

Also, Venice is a photographer's dream, in my opinion. The narrow streets, canals, gondolas, building facades, people, shops, bridges... it's endless. Bring a tripod and enjoy!