Help me with my quandry - where to go for 2 weeks in June.
Mar 14th, 2009, 02:23 AM
#1
Help me with my quandry - where to go for 2 weeks in June.
hi folks,
first of all, apologies to all who helped out with my proposed trip to lake como, flying into and out of Milan. DH has decided he's "had enough of Italy for the time being". Is the man mad? [probably, but that's a different thread].
so italy's out, but we still have the quandry of where to spend the last two weeks of June. our parameters are that we want to fly direct from Bristol or Exeter, and prefer a mix of cities and mountains, neither of which we have in abundance here in remotest west cornwall.
Here are the options:
A: fly into Avignon, tour Provence [and alpes maritimes] and fly home from Nice. [or vice versa?] [flight via exeter, very convenient] This should be the height of the lavender season, and i've been trying to wangle a trip to this area for some time.
B:fly into Bratislava [ryanair] and spend 2 days there, then hydrofoil to Vienna, stay 4 days, pick up car and tour austria, returning car to Vienna and getting the hydrofoil back at the end of the stay. this has the advantage of seeing Vienna, and not needing a car til we leave there. not sure how many mountians we'll see though.
C: fly into Prague, pick up car, drive down into austria, tour, including Vienna, retun to Prague. [possibly a bit short on mountains?] this has Vienna again, and Prague which we liked a lot when we went there a few years ago in winter.
D:fly into Geneva, pickup car, tour including berner oberland, return to Geneva. [bit short on cities apart from geneva which i didn't much like the first time I went and have little desire to visit again, but heavy on mountains]
E: - your choice. what would you do?
we are reasonably fit 50 somethings [all right, DH is newly a 60 something but he doesn't look it, at least that's what he tells me!] and like a mix of activities.
thanks to all in advance
regards, ann
first of all, apologies to all who helped out with my proposed trip to lake como, flying into and out of Milan. DH has decided he's "had enough of Italy for the time being". Is the man mad? [probably, but that's a different thread].
so italy's out, but we still have the quandry of where to spend the last two weeks of June. our parameters are that we want to fly direct from Bristol or Exeter, and prefer a mix of cities and mountains, neither of which we have in abundance here in remotest west cornwall.
Here are the options:
A: fly into Avignon, tour Provence [and alpes maritimes] and fly home from Nice. [or vice versa?] [flight via exeter, very convenient] This should be the height of the lavender season, and i've been trying to wangle a trip to this area for some time.
B:fly into Bratislava [ryanair] and spend 2 days there, then hydrofoil to Vienna, stay 4 days, pick up car and tour austria, returning car to Vienna and getting the hydrofoil back at the end of the stay. this has the advantage of seeing Vienna, and not needing a car til we leave there. not sure how many mountians we'll see though.
C: fly into Prague, pick up car, drive down into austria, tour, including Vienna, retun to Prague. [possibly a bit short on mountains?] this has Vienna again, and Prague which we liked a lot when we went there a few years ago in winter.
D:fly into Geneva, pickup car, tour including berner oberland, return to Geneva. [bit short on cities apart from geneva which i didn't much like the first time I went and have little desire to visit again, but heavy on mountains]
E: - your choice. what would you do?
we are reasonably fit 50 somethings [all right, DH is newly a 60 something but he doesn't look it, at least that's what he tells me!] and like a mix of activities.
thanks to all in advance
regards, ann
Mar 14th, 2009, 03:16 AM
#2
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Option D or a variant, definitely. If you base in the Bernese Oberland, you can do fairly easy daytrips to some interesting cities - when I was there last year I went to Bern, Solothurn, Fribourg and Lucerne, all of which were fascinating, as well as the mountains and there are plenty of interesting things around the lakes as well. You don't even need a car, as it's all doable by train, although you could if you actually enjoy the driving side. (We stayed in Bonigen,which is just far enough from Interlaken (10 mins drive, half an hour's walk along the river) to be away from the hubbub (and very pretty), but very central and easy for getting around.
.
Mar 14th, 2009, 03:50 AM
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Option E...
CROATIA
You can fly to Dubrovnik from Exeter on flybe, and to Split from Bristol on Easyjet.
With the euro the way it is, you'd get more kuna for your money, the scenery is stunning, and you have so much choice for places to see both on islands and on the mainland. The lavender will be in bloom on Hvar, and you will get your fill of mountains too (though they will not be as impressive as the Alps).
CROATIA
You can fly to Dubrovnik from Exeter on flybe, and to Split from Bristol on Easyjet.
With the euro the way it is, you'd get more kuna for your money, the scenery is stunning, and you have so much choice for places to see both on islands and on the mainland. The lavender will be in bloom on Hvar, and you will get your fill of mountains too (though they will not be as impressive as the Alps).
Mar 14th, 2009, 04:44 AM
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I'm partial to Julia's suggestion as we're planning our first trip to Croatia right now and am constantly amazed at the beauty in all of the photographs. Not sure if flying into Zagreb is an option for you, but you could wander up into Slovenia and the Julian Alps, and then see some of Istria.
My original thought before I read Julia's was to fly into Prague, but instead head toward Berchtesgaden and Salzburg. Although the drive is longer, the mountains are quite impressive and you could use Prague, Salzburg and even Munich as your cities.
Have fun deciding!
My original thought before I read Julia's was to fly into Prague, but instead head toward Berchtesgaden and Salzburg. Although the drive is longer, the mountains are quite impressive and you could use Prague, Salzburg and even Munich as your cities.
Have fun deciding!
Mar 14th, 2009, 06:12 AM
#7
My thought is to go further east - fly into Krakow (Easyjet) and go south via Zakopane into Slovakia. That gives you Krakow for a city and the Tatras for mountains. For pix see kwilhelm.smugmug.com/Travel/264391 Otherwise I'd definitely vote for Austria - and I see you can fly into or out of Innsbruck.
Mar 14th, 2009, 07:15 AM
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I like the Prague trip if you include the Salzkammergut region of Austria--one of my favorite venues in all of Europe. Stay at St. Gilgen on the Wolfgangsee and see Salzburg in one direction and Hallstatt in the other. Lots of lakes and mountains and friendly people. Do not miss Cesky Krumlov as you drive south.
Mar 14th, 2009, 01:49 PM
#9
hi y'all,
well thanks folks - some great ideas and two option Es. an embarrasment of riches.
nonconformist - we actually enjoy [some] driving "sur le continent" - although it's on the wrong side for us, having a hire car makes it easier, and after awhile you hardyl notice. [driving ones own car is much more difficult due to the controls always making one want to drive the "right" way]. i wil have a look at bonigen as a base; we;ve been to interlaken and teh berner oberland before, but only in the winter.
hetsmij and jamikins -yep it's my fave too. but DH is less enthusiastic. guess who gets the final say????
Julia- great Opttion E. i hadn't considered croatia. this is partly because we went there on "honeymoon" a ridiculously long time ago. Lavender an Hvar sounds very attractive. off to the guide-books to have a look at that one and check out the flights you mention.
phieglefan - don't think that Zagreb works for us, but the general idea is appealing. I remember lake bled where we stayed for the first part of that honeymoon being vey beautiful and obviously, the makers of the star wars prequels agreed.
thursdays - we're off to Krakow in about 2 weeks for DH's big birthday treat. otherwise, it's a great idea, and was part of a longer trip we started to plan doing Prague, Vienna, Krakow and Dresden. but I think that a) it was too long and b)we'd rather go to places we haven't seen like Vienna. so Prague, except as a place to fyl to, is out.
bob - I think the salzkammergut is hoving into view with options B & C. we should have time to get that far, though i have yet to play around a bit with Via Michelin to work out some distances and routes. thanks for your recommendation of St. Gilgen - I was wondering where we should aim at stopping. as there are just two of us, after Vienna we are planning on winging it and staying in small gasthauser or zimmer. My german is ok so that shouldn't be a problem.
any favourite places for us to lay our heads if we pick that trip?
thanks to you all for your ideas,
regards, ann
well thanks folks - some great ideas and two option Es. an embarrasment of riches.
nonconformist - we actually enjoy [some] driving "sur le continent" - although it's on the wrong side for us, having a hire car makes it easier, and after awhile you hardyl notice. [driving ones own car is much more difficult due to the controls always making one want to drive the "right" way]. i wil have a look at bonigen as a base; we;ve been to interlaken and teh berner oberland before, but only in the winter.
hetsmij and jamikins -yep it's my fave too. but DH is less enthusiastic. guess who gets the final say????
Julia- great Opttion E. i hadn't considered croatia. this is partly because we went there on "honeymoon" a ridiculously long time ago. Lavender an Hvar sounds very attractive. off to the guide-books to have a look at that one and check out the flights you mention.
phieglefan - don't think that Zagreb works for us, but the general idea is appealing. I remember lake bled where we stayed for the first part of that honeymoon being vey beautiful and obviously, the makers of the star wars prequels agreed.
thursdays - we're off to Krakow in about 2 weeks for DH's big birthday treat. otherwise, it's a great idea, and was part of a longer trip we started to plan doing Prague, Vienna, Krakow and Dresden. but I think that a) it was too long and b)we'd rather go to places we haven't seen like Vienna. so Prague, except as a place to fyl to, is out.
bob - I think the salzkammergut is hoving into view with options B & C. we should have time to get that far, though i have yet to play around a bit with Via Michelin to work out some distances and routes. thanks for your recommendation of St. Gilgen - I was wondering where we should aim at stopping. as there are just two of us, after Vienna we are planning on winging it and staying in small gasthauser or zimmer. My german is ok so that shouldn't be a problem.
any favourite places for us to lay our heads if we pick that trip?
thanks to you all for your ideas,
regards, ann
Mar 14th, 2009, 02:22 PM
#11
thanks again, thursdays - the guide book I was ooknig at put in a strong bid for Graz too.
now i'm wondering, do we head along the danube when we leave Vienna, "do" melk, the salzkammergut, etc. and then head back to vienna via Graz, or vice versa? or doesn't it matter?
regards, ann
now i'm wondering, do we head along the danube when we leave Vienna, "do" melk, the salzkammergut, etc. and then head back to vienna via Graz, or vice versa? or doesn't it matter?
regards, ann
Mar 17th, 2009, 03:06 AM
#13
thanks for all the suggestions, folks.
the new search engine seemed to work well this time - i was able to get up a load of useful threads just by putting in St. Gilgen - that Garni Scherthaner looks a cracker, Bob. But I'll look at Zell am See too and St. Wolfgang, and Hallstadt.
we've refined the plan a bit - this is what we've come up with:
Day 1 - fly into Bratislava. stay two nights. [not sure where yet - anyone been to Bratislava and/or got any ideas?]
Day 3 - train/hydrofoil to Vienna. Stay 4 nights. At the moment Hotel Austria [very central and no 2 on Trip advisor] has a double with breakfast for €396 on fastbookers. Pension Pertschy wants €132 per night which is quite a lot more.
Day 7 - leave Vienna in rented car and head along danube towards Salzburg. want to see Krems, Melk - where else? any good places to stay overnight along here?
Day 8 - 13 - spend week exploring Salzkammergut and Tirol. DH wants to go to [not necessarily stay in] Kitzbuel where he's never skiied and Soll where he has.
Day 13 - head back towards Vienna via Graz. stay night there.
Day 14 - spend morning in Graz, then return to Vienna to drop off car and get ryanair bus to Bratislava airport - flight leaves at 10pm so I suppose we'll need to be in Vienna by 6pm.
Does this look about right?
anything to tweak?
would you book all/any nights 8-14?
thanks for all the help,
regards, ann
the new search engine seemed to work well this time - i was able to get up a load of useful threads just by putting in St. Gilgen - that Garni Scherthaner looks a cracker, Bob. But I'll look at Zell am See too and St. Wolfgang, and Hallstadt.
we've refined the plan a bit - this is what we've come up with:
Day 1 - fly into Bratislava. stay two nights. [not sure where yet - anyone been to Bratislava and/or got any ideas?]
Day 3 - train/hydrofoil to Vienna. Stay 4 nights. At the moment Hotel Austria [very central and no 2 on Trip advisor] has a double with breakfast for €396 on fastbookers. Pension Pertschy wants €132 per night which is quite a lot more.
Day 7 - leave Vienna in rented car and head along danube towards Salzburg. want to see Krems, Melk - where else? any good places to stay overnight along here?
Day 8 - 13 - spend week exploring Salzkammergut and Tirol. DH wants to go to [not necessarily stay in] Kitzbuel where he's never skiied and Soll where he has.
Day 13 - head back towards Vienna via Graz. stay night there.
Day 14 - spend morning in Graz, then return to Vienna to drop off car and get ryanair bus to Bratislava airport - flight leaves at 10pm so I suppose we'll need to be in Vienna by 6pm.
Does this look about right?
anything to tweak?
would you book all/any nights 8-14?
thanks for all the help,
regards, ann
Mar 17th, 2009, 04:57 AM
#14
Looking good, ann. I'd cut down the time in Bratislava - I was very underwhelmed by the city. And if you're headed to the Kitzbuhel area, take a look at Kufstein. Also, you can do Krems and Melk easily as day trip from Vienna by public transport (train and boat) if you want to hold off on the car for another day.
I can recommend the places I stayed at in Kufstein and Graz, see http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-venice.cfm?81.
I can recommend the places I stayed at in Kufstein and Graz, see http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-venice.cfm?81.
Mar 17th, 2009, 02:14 PM
#15
hi thursdays - just the sort of info i need.
i just re-read your trip report and realised it looked familiar - and then saw I'd contributed to it at the time!
I looked at your accommodation recommendations too - the Nossek is €130/night as againist €392 for 4 nights at the Austria - so the latter is still well ahead. by the sound of it, we'd be better off satying longer in Vienna and jettisoning Bratislava - which is OK cos our dates have changed slightly and with them the flight times, which are now much more civilised.
the places you stayed in Graz and Kufstein look lovely and I see that I was equally impressed last time. so i must be right.
thanks again,
regards, ann
PS - has the foot recovered? I limped around Edinburgh with a verruca as a child and I remember it still.
i just re-read your trip report and realised it looked familiar - and then saw I'd contributed to it at the time!
I looked at your accommodation recommendations too - the Nossek is €130/night as againist €392 for 4 nights at the Austria - so the latter is still well ahead. by the sound of it, we'd be better off satying longer in Vienna and jettisoning Bratislava - which is OK cos our dates have changed slightly and with them the flight times, which are now much more civilised.
the places you stayed in Graz and Kufstein look lovely and I see that I was equally impressed last time. so i must be right.
thanks again,
regards, ann
PS - has the foot recovered? I limped around Edinburgh with a verruca as a child and I remember it still.
Mar 17th, 2009, 02:29 PM
#16
Thanks for asking, ann! Yes, my foot is doing much better. Last spring I had trouble with a cold, but the fall trip went well. I definitely think Vienna is a better destination than Bratislava - lots to do there. You might consider a day trip to Sopron in Hungary if you want to get out of town.
Mar 18th, 2009, 10:59 AM
#20
BAD NEWS: due to work commitments, we have to put the trip back to Friday of the week, when we were planning to travel on the Monday.
GOOD NEWS: - Ryanair's flight times have changed so that we would get there during the day, not late at night. result.
BAD NEWS: DH has decided that he doesn't want to be away for a fortnight, so i am now looking at shoe-horning the trip into 10 nights.
GOOD NEWS: I think I've persuaded him that we can cut Bratislava, and head straight to Vienna.
BAD NEWS - can't think of any.
any ideas as to how to re-arrange my itinerary, giving us 4 nights in Vienna to start with, and allowing for us to have the whole of the last day to get back to Vienna to drop the car and get to Bratislava for about 8pm?
regards, ann
GOOD NEWS: - Ryanair's flight times have changed so that we would get there during the day, not late at night. result.
BAD NEWS: DH has decided that he doesn't want to be away for a fortnight, so i am now looking at shoe-horning the trip into 10 nights.
GOOD NEWS: I think I've persuaded him that we can cut Bratislava, and head straight to Vienna.
BAD NEWS - can't think of any.
any ideas as to how to re-arrange my itinerary, giving us 4 nights in Vienna to start with, and allowing for us to have the whole of the last day to get back to Vienna to drop the car and get to Bratislava for about 8pm?
regards, ann
