Never been before but travel extensively thru Europe but mostly on arrainged tours. Like B&B's and sampling the local cultural and people.
Would someone in our late 50's encounter diffuculties traveling by car thru this area in May-June?

Hi bg,

You are unlikely to encounter difficulties on the road.

You will need an International Driver's Permit in Austria.
http://www.aaasouth.com/travel_drivers.asp#idp

You will need a road tax sticker (vignette) if you wish to drive on the larger roads in Austria and Switzerland.

You can get the one for Austria at the gas stations in Germany as you approach the border - about 8E for 10 days.

Ditto as you go from Austria to CH - 35CHF for 1 year.

Even if you don't expect to be on main roads, I suggest that you get the vignettes. You never know when a section of road might become a hiway.

What's your itinerary?

Very doable but you may actually prefer travel in Switerland by train. The key to your strategy is to pick up and drop the car in the same country--preferably Germany for best rates. I would start and end in Munich, or start in Munih and end in Zurich with train travel in CH. I hope you have enough time to enjoy that area--one of my favs.

>The key to your strategy is to pick up and drop the car in the same country--preferably Germany for best rates

Depending on your preferences you may not need a car at all. While especially true in Switzerland, many itineraries can be just as well (or better) done by public transport. If you want small counry roads, of course, a car will be of advantage.

I'd say for small country roads in Switzerland, the bus is better than driving. Swiss post buses are very modern and comfortable and they penetrate deep into the countryside and mountains.

However a car is nice in Germany and, to a lesser degree, Austria.

just returned from trip to the exact 3countries you mentioned. we rented a car from munich and returned it in interlaken, CH. we paid OW/drop off fee of 69 euros, as agreed when we booked the rental in the US, no surprises. in hindsight, we would have just rented a car to drive the romantic road (rothenburg to the north and fussen to do the Ludwig castles and Oberammergau to the south)and returned the car also in munich. then take the train on a bayern ticket from munich to get to salzburg, innsbruck and CH. we found the car to be more of an extra baggage in larger cities like salzburg because of the parking situation. otoh, the car allowed us to explore small towns and hamlet and harder to make a pit stop places like the weiskirche if we were on public transport. it gave our daily trips some spontaneity, which is nice.

whichever way you go, you can't go wrong with these 3 countries which are now my new favorite places to visit. (used to be provence)

One of my best road trips started with picking up a car in Vienna, stopping at Melk Abbey, taking the lakes route to Salzburg then on to Lindau on Lake Constance, Lucerne, Vevey and finally Geneva, where we turned the car in and took the TGV to Paris.

From Lucerne we did a day trip by train to Lugano to see the art in the Villa Favorita--I believe much of which is now in Madrid.

We didn't use the car in any of the cities, but were able to do so much exploring along the way.

I love train travel but that trip was so memorable for all the small moments along the road.

I've done numerous trips in those countries by car--even in my 60's, so I don't think you'll have difficulties. Traffic on the Autobahns is very fast, and you're expected to drive in the right lane unless you're passing. Germans are quite aggressive about flashing their lights if they want you to get out of the way.

The Autobahns are excellent roads, as are roads all over Germany. Some of the smaller roads don't have shoulders, so that you can't pull over to the side of the road, as you'd do in the States.

I've also traveled a good deal by train, and sometimes that's really more convenient.

If I'm traveling alone, I prefer to go by train, but if I have a traveling companion, a car is often more economical. I think it does depend on where you're going. I don't usually bring a car into a big city. It's just too inconvenient, though I have been compelled by circumstances to do so--in Vienna, Munich, Mainz, etc. Parking is a big problem, as it was in Zurich. I had to park the car in a lot outside of town and take a bus into Zurich.

Bavariaben recently did a trip report on his R&$ trip in Germany. He found very inexpensive pensiones, B&B's and Zimmers.

>aggressive about flashing their lights if they want you to get out of the way.
Flashing lights to pass is coercion and punishable by law, so we don't do it in Germany.

>Flashing lights to pass is coercion and punishable by law, so we don't do it in Germany.<

Must be all of those Italians in their rented Beemers and Benzes.

>Must be all of those Italians in their rented Beemers and Benzes.
Or other foreigners. Germans only use the blinker.