Germany & Austria 17-day Trip
 

Report Abuse We recently returned from Bavaria, Germany and Austria (Sept 1-20). We had a great trip and many thanks to all who gave advice and who wrote trip reports that were most helpful in the planning stages.

We made our first trip to Germany last year visiting the Rhine and Mosel valleys and driving the castle road. We loved it so much, we decided to return to Germany to visit the King’s castles and venture into Austria. We enjoyed what we saw this year and did more city sights but liked last year’s trip better.

We rented a car again (we usually like having the freedom that a car allows) and had no troubles with driving or parking. We picked up the car when we left Munich and dropped it when we arrived in Vienna.

Weather:

We had beautiful warm weather our first week and it was perfect for visiting the King’s castles and Zugspitze. We then had off and on rain and clouds most days we were in Austria but fortunately not steady downpours and we used those rainy days to visit museums. Temps ranged from upper 70’s to low 80’s the first week to 50’s during those rainy days. We were glad we had packed sweaters and jackets.

Hotels:

Munich: Hilton Munich City – we used points to stay here and the hotel was convenient with the train stop directly under the hotel. The public areas were beautiful but the rooms and hallways could use some updating. The beds were very hard and we were hoping this wasn’t an omen on hotels to come. Fortunately the rest of the hotel beds were comfortable (except for the one in Mittenwald).
Fussen: Hotel Sonne – very nice hotel in the center of town with underground parking; excellent breakfast and great service. We would definitely recommend this hotel.

Mittenwald: Post Hotel - lovely hotel in the center of town with parking lot; very good breakfast offerings. We had a 2-bedroom suite that overlooked the mountains. The only complaint we had was that the beds were very hard. Thankfully we had a second bedroom to pull the duvet from and put it on the mattress to soften it, Otherwise the room was charming, large and beautiful view.

Salzburg: Bio Hotel and Villa Auersperg – this was the most expensive hotel we stayed at; but it was well worth it and highly recommend. Again, we had a large suite that overlooked the garden. The breakfasts were fantastic. This hotel is in located in the New Town in a quiet area, about a 10 minute walk to the Old Town.

Hallstatt: Gasthof Pension Gruner Anger – this family run hotel was a bargain and room had a balcony (although we didn’t use since it was raining). This hotel offers onsite parking and is a 5-minute walk to the center of town. Breakfast was good although not as plentiful as other hotels. We would stay here again.

Weissenkirchen: Hotel Garni Weinquadrat – The hotel has 12 rooms and this off-site apartment (which we had). The apartment overlooks the river and has a small terrace. It was quaint and lovingly furnished. The shower was in an odd place but overall the place had charm.

Vienna : Hilton Vienna am Stadtpark – We used points for this hotel. The service was great and we had a large executive king room with free breakfast. Although it didn’t have the charm of smaller hotels, this was a much nicer Hilton than the one in Munich. It was very convenient to the tram and train stops. We would stay here again.

Our itinerary (see attached link to our blog for our daily exploits)
Sep 1......DFW – London
Mon........Sep 2......London to Munich
Tues........Sep 3......Munich
Wed ........Sep 4......Munich
Thu.........Sep 5......Munich to Fussen
Fri...........Sep 6......Fussen
Sat..........Sep 7......Fussen to Mittenwald
Sun.........Sep 8......Mittenwald
Mon........Sep 9......Mittenwald to Salzburg
Tue.........Sep 10.....Salzburg
Wed........Sep 11.....Salzburg
Thu.........Sep 12.....Salzburg
Fri...........Sep 13.....Salzburg to Hallstatt
Sat..........Sep 14.....Hallstatt to Weissenkirchen
Sun.........Sep 15.....Weissenkirchen to Vienna
Mon........Sep 16.....Vienna
Tue..........Sep 17....Vienna
Wed........Sep 18.....Vienna
Thu.........Sep 19.....Vienna to London Heathrow Airport
Fri............Sep 20....London to DFW

Our Blog and Photo Album:
This is the link to our blog if you are interested in reading what we did day to day

http://winnick-germany2013.travellerspoint.com/2/

Very nice!

Thanks bardo1
Certainly appreciate your help with planning our next trip to Spain!

Hi TravelerKaren, I did a 3-week trip through Germany & Austria in 2011 on my own using a rail pass. I visited the Rhein/ Mosel region, plus several other towns in Germany, including Rothenburg, Mittenwald & Meersburg, In Austria, I visited Salzburg, St. Gilgen and Hallstatt (I stayed in each of these locations). It's too bad you had rain in Hallstatt, which is one of my all time favorite places. (I just returned from Bruges, Belgium and France -- it rained the first two weeks; the last week was mostly sunny). I skipped Vienna in 2011, wishing to visit smaller towns.

Looking forward to reading your impressions of these places (especially since you liked your last trip better). I'll check the blog tomorrow.

Hi Karen -- I just looked at your blog posts and photos: very nice! Were you carrying a DSLR camera? I'm guessing so from the image quality. I brought a state-of-the-art compact on my trip last month. Just tired of lugging a DSLR with heavy lenses.

Susan,

From my DH:

I use a Kodak Z981. It's a 14MP, with a 26x zoom, and covers a 26mm wide angle field. It uses standard AA rechargables and a standard SD card. I too did not want a heavy DSLR with the necessity to carry multiple lenses as I used to do pre-digital. Glad you liked the pictures.

Susan, I remember reading your trip report and using it during our planning stages of last year's trip. Our trip report from last year is posted under winnick if you are interested. We enjoyed the smaller towns on the rivers, castles and medieval architecture that we saw last year plus we had much better weather last year than this year.

Sounds like it must have been rainy all over Europe in September. I look forward to seeing your trip report. We were in Bruges and Ghent several years ago and loved it.

Karen -- Your husband got some nice results with the Kodak. I was happy with my compact, as well. A talented photographer in italy always travels with a compact. The expensive compacts are surprisingly good. Winnick is familiar. You may have posted on my Germany report. Will look up your previous report.