Denise (& others)--Some time ago I spent a year in Innsbruck. Before we went, people told us: you just *must* see (put in a small town). What we discovered is that most of these people had taken a quickie tour of Europe & spent a day or two in some Austrian village, & found it the most beautiful place they'd ever been. What we discovered is that there are hundreds of these absolutely lovely villages! My suggestion would be to pick some small town in the Innsbruck- Salzburg area, spend some days there & do local trips. Austria tends to be cheaper than Switz. or Germany, but the <BR>Alps are wonderful wherever. Mostly, don't try to see/do too much--good idea <BR>to plan a day-to-day itinerry, spend at least 3 nights in any given location, & allow 1 day out of 3 or 4 to rest. <BR> cheers.

Just wanted to add my two cents. Switzerland is very expensive. Interlaken was a disappointment. all they want to do is sell watches, sell this and that. We splurged and stayed at an expensive chatau style hotel in Grindelwald. It had a kitchen so we went to the market and bought prepared food that we had for supper. With a view of the Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau from the dining area or the balcony, it was worth it. We even stayed 2 nights. at over $200 per night. Leave your car at the hotel and walk to the train station. Take the train to Kleiner Scheidegg and the other train to Junffraujoch. You are at the top of the Swiss Alps. Gorgeous! There is a walkway there and if you want you can go onto the mountain. Dress warmly, Snow and wind in Sept. Take the mountain passes if you are driving, most specactular, Furka and Susten are wonderful. Go toward Austria. By yourself a good road map and plan it out yourself. The reason cars are cheaper in Germany is because of the VAT. We had a problem in Austria, we ordered an automatic transmission weeks in advance and they did'nt have any when we came to pick up the car. Germany has plenty of automatics, if that's what you want. We've been been traveling to Europe since 1986 yearly, so we've become fussier in our demands etc. We also us Autoeurope, very reliable. They even reimbursed us money when the mixup un Austria occured. <BR>E-mail me if you have any questions. If you taske the time and effort you can put together a trip that is yours and not the travel companies. Buy a couple of good guides. The Fodors and Lonely Planet guides are very good. Check out guidebooks from the library. etc etc.