Germany/Austria/Switzerland
 

Heading to Munich in 3 weeks with family of 4 (two adult children). We have one week where we are all together in Germany and Austria, then one has to come home via Munich. The rest of us have a second week in Switzerland. Thought is to head striaght to Fussen/Reutte area to use as a base for some day trips (3 days), then head over to Hallstatt area and find a base there to see the lakes region, Salzburg, Berchtesgaden for 3 days prior to return to Munich for airport drop. Second week would be in Berner-Oberland region.

I am looking for what towns would be good as a base in these areas, and suggested places to stay. Looking for smaller, nice places, not farms. Finding nice accommodations is a challenge when you have never been there. Looking for one large room for 4, or two rooms if necessary for the first week. One room to sleep 3 is fine the second week.

Can anyone be of help with this? Highlights to see in these areas?

Thanks in advance for the help. I love this site.

We enjoy staying at the Schernthaner Hotel in St. Gilgen on Wolfgangsee. Small town with much to do in the area. The Schernthaner is family owned and the owner, Frau Eisl, is a sweetheart! They have two apartments altho we've always stayed in the hotel but the apartment might work better for your needs.

http://www.hotel-schernthaner.at/sei...e_sommer_e.htm

It is just a short drive to Salzburg and the many other lovely lakeside towns in this area, including Hallstatt. Berchtesgaden is less than an hour away.

http://www.wolfgangsee.at/en

I have stayed at the Hotel Schernthaner two times by bettyk's recommendation. June 2009 and June 2010 and I will be there June 2011. The rooms are nice and of course very clean. And I just love the tiny town. I take the bus back into Salzburg for a day trip. Another day I take the boat to St. Wolfgang and the Schafberg bahn up the mountain.

I also have stayed in Hallstatt 4 times and will return in June. I stay at Hotel Simony, a very old building. It may not be suitable to all. The floors are creaky which may bother some. But it is located right on the lake and the restaurant there is wonderful. Hallstatt is one of my favorite places in the world.

Not sure if you were also asking about accomodations in Switzerland, but we LOVED Wengen. There are a number of hotels there. We stayed at the Hotel Caprice.

We stayed in Interlaken, Switzerland a few years ago. It is a bit larger of a town, but definitely not a large city. Very easy to get to many of the smaller towns in the BO area because of the access to the trains.

Hallstatt is a long wau from Salzburg and Bertesgaden, both of which are shorter and easier day trips from Munich.

Are you going by train or car or both?

If by train the Swiss Saver Pass can be a great deal - especially once in the Jungfrau area where it covers many normally expensive lifts and gives 50% usually on those not covered in full. But this would be of use only if you were taking the train from Germany there and back. For more on Swiss trains - some great IMO sites - www.swisstravelsystem.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com; www.seat61.com; www.ricksteves.com. If going by car to Interlaken or above (can only go by car as far as Grindelwald or Lauterbrunnen and staying for a week then check out the Berner Oberland Pass that covers practically everything that moves in the whole region.

Traveling by car for ease of getting around to smaller villages.

Hallstatt, while beautiful, is not a good place to base IMHO!

Maybe St. Gilgen, as bettyk said, would work out better for day trips to Salzburg, Hallstatt and the Dachstein Mountain area

-john

But don't miss Hallstatt! If I had to chose between all those Austrian places and Bertesgaden I'll chose Wunderbar Hallstatt!

Agree that between Hallstatt and Berchtesgaden, I'd pick Hallstatt every time! But it doesn't work as well as St. Gilgen for day trips IMO.

On our last trip in September 2010, we spent 2 nights each in Berchtesgaden, Hallstatt and St. Gilgen (even though they are close together) because all of them have their own "flavor" and IMO are best experienced when the busloads of day trippers are gone.

We will be making our 4th or 5th trip to St. Gilgen in September 2011. We really love the area and we love the Hotel Schernthaner.

I agree that St Gilgen or nearby St Wolfgang make superb bases both location-wise and being really cute and in great settings. And you can easily day trip from there to Hallstatt and Salzburg and Berchtesgaden - the Hallstatt day trip if sans car would be to take a bus to Bad Ischl (hope i have the name right) and then a train from there up to Hallstatt,s train station, across the lake from Hallstatt and hop the ferry that meets trains over to Hallstatt itself. The journey to and from Hallstatt is as nice as Hallstatt itself!

http://www.turtlewindsfirewalker.com/index.html
this guy has the best rate to stay it near koln germany

In Reutte, we stayed at the Hotel Moserhof, which we really liked. The hotel is family-run and is a really comfortable and inviting place. The rooms are very comfortable with nice-sized bathrooms and many with a small balcony. There is a restaurant with a nice terrace and a bar area. We stayed for 3 nights and had breakfast there each morning and dinner one night. Very good.

We chose Reutte as a base for visiting the Ludwig castles because it isn't far away and we could find nice accomodations in our budget - we were travelling in the summer and the only places in the Fuessen area we found in our budget were very small guesthouses, which isn't what we wanted. Ruette itself was fine - not as charming as Fuessen - but the location is good.

I'm partial to the Berchtesgaden area, haven been there a few times, and personally would choose it over Hallstatt but that's just a matter of personal opinion. I do like Hallstatt but I think it's too far out of the way to make for an ideal base. If you want to stay in the Salzkammergut, I too would choose St. Gilgen or St. Wolfgang. Easy drive to Hallstatt plus other towns in the area. We stayed in B'gaden and daytripped to the area on our visits but if I should return (which I certainly will) I'll be leaning towards St. Gilgen.

Tracy

We also stayed at Schernthaner Hotel in St. Gilgen in 2009 as a result of recommendations on this forum and loved it! It was the one place that had everything that we required for accommodations. We hope to return some day.

So glad to hear that TAW!

I got a quote from Schernthaner today and it loooks good so I think we are going to stay there sue to all of your recommendations. We are running into something interesting in Wengen that I did not anticipate. Many of the hotels there close around April 10 after the winter season and do not open again until June. Break time for rest and cleanup after a long season. We may end up in Lauterbrunnen as a result. Still looking for some good hotel suggestions for the Berner-Oberland area that might be open. I am told Alpenruhe, Baeren and Bernerhof are open in Wengen. Suggestions for Lauterbrunnen?

Thanks for the help.

By the way, we will have a rental car. Does it make any sense to stay in Wengen? Will we have to park in Lauterbrunnen and pay for parking while we stay in Wengen?

Does the weather in Late April make a difference in where we should stay?

We stayed at the Baeren in Wengen and really liked it. We did pay to park in Lauterbrunnen and took the train up to Wengen.

On our Switzerland/Munich/Salzburg trip, we spent a few nights in Fussen to explore the castles (Newschwantstein, Linderhof), and stopped in to see the beautiful Rococo Weis church. On a recommendation from Fodors, we stayed at the Hotel zum Hechten and would also recommend that.

Outside Salzburg, my kids really liked the Hellbrunn castle, with all its trick fountains.

We loved the Hotel Oberland in Lauterbrunnen. They have their own hotel parking right across from the hotel. The owner is the Chef and the food is really good.