Dear all,

I am planning a trip to Italy and Austria this September and have so far come up with the following rough iternary. I'd love to hear your thoughts/comments and any suggestions you may have. Please feel free to suggest other places too if you think I'm crazy for wanting to go somewhere

We are a couple in our late twenties, love nature, little villages but also big towns, good food, luxury and shopping All suggestions for places to stay, hotels etc are more than welcome.

Thanks in advance for your comments!

3 Sep: fly into Milan from Amsterdam in the morning, day in Milan
4 Sep: pick up rental car and drive to lake maggiore
5 Sep: lake maggiore
6 Sep: drive to Lake Como
7 Sep: Lake Como
8 Sep: Lake Como, maybe day trip into Lugano
9 Sep: Drive to Bolzano, stay in Bolzano
10 Sep: Drive to village nearby, perhaps Ortisei
11 Sep: Activities around Ortisei
12 Sep: Drive to Bavarian Alps, stay in little village?
13 Sep: Activities around Bavarian Alps
14 Sep: Drive to Salzburg
15 Sep: Salzburg
16 Sep: Drive from Salzburg to Vienna, stop in Melk?
17 Sep: Vienna
18 Sep: Drive from Vienna to Bled
19 Sep: Bled
20 Sep: Drive from Bled to Garda Lake, stop in Verona
21 Sep: Garda Lake
22 Sep: Garda Lake, drive back to Milan
23 Sep: Milan-Amsterdam

This is a strenuous trip even for a couple in their twenties with days of driving over difficult terrain and little time for touring and luxuries of any kind. It is also a little late to do the details of a trip in prime season in Northern Italy and Austria. You may want to focus on a few cities and do far less driving. But others can advise on this.

Thanks RJD for your input. We love roadtripping and don't mind driving. I am thinking about cutting our either lake maggiore or lake como in order to have a few extra days later on the trip.

Looking forward to more input from others!

Sounds like a lot of stress. When you drive in mountain areas like Lake Como to Bozen, you can either go on the autostrada which is a huge detour or drive those mountain roads which will be a stunning scenery but rather slow. Como to Bozen looks shorter than it actually is. Salzburg to Vienna autobahn as well is packed with slow moving traffic (trucks and others) from the eastern countries. Driving is quite stressful at times. Vienna to Bled hasn't got much traffic, but is a long way too!

So it's possible to do the trip, but at some point, you may no longer be willing to spend the whole day in your car, esp. when you're only browsing through beautiful places at high speed.

I'd stay in Oggau or Rust to try and buy some of the best red wines in central Europe. And I'd visit Haydns home in Rohrau too. Slow down..

You have 10 destinations in 21 days---at some of my favorite venues in the world. I would drop 3 of them---not sure which 3 but Bed is the outlier, and you do not need 3 of the Italy lakes. Slow down to enjoy more!

Guys, thank you for all your comments.

Im beginning to think we need to do less ;-)

If you had 3 weeks, starting and ending in Milan, how would you divide your time?

Must sees for us are Lake Como, the Dolomites, Salzburg and Vienna. Been to Venice and Milan already, will only stay in Milan for 1 day at the end or beginning of the trip.

All tips are welcome!!

Count hotels.
I would stay in these locations:
1. Lago Como
2. Mittenwald
3. Salzburg
4. Vienna
5. Hallstatt
5. Riva del Garda
6. Milan

Nice trip---take the camera.