Itinerary Confusion- Germany / Switzerland / France / Italy ? in 10 days
 

Repost - I guess I did not post the first message properly. Sorry!

We are becoming confused about where to go, what to see and do in the 9 days we have in Europe before needing to be in Salzburg. So, we land in Frankfurt on a Tuesday and need to be in Salzburg 10 days later. Everything else in between is flexible. We are renting a car. There are two adults, one teen traveling.
We want to see:
Beautiful cities and countrysides, spectacular cathedrals, quaint villages, possibly Mt. Pilatus, lakes, Herren am Cheimsee (sp?), maybe some Italy if the route needs to take us that far south.

Some places I've considered:
Middle Rhine- St. Goar, Oberwesel, Bacharach to start or
Mosel- Beilstein
Then- Strasbourg or Colmar? or Freiburg or Staufen?
Then- Annecy? Montreux? or Grindelwald or Kandersteg?
Then- Lucerne (1 night)
Then-Mittenwald
Then Salzburg

Or- from Annecy- go to Italy- Verona? Vicenza?

I really could use some advice. I am trying to figure out what we really want to see, but I seem to get sidetracked reading some great post about another place, and then add that one to my list. I keep reminding myself we only have about 9 or 10 days! Please help!

I'll limit my comments to Herrenchiemsee and one Swiss spot.

It is the largest Ludwig "build" of all with more than 200 rooms. It is truly a miniature Versailles and has the best interior decoration of any of the castles/palaces. As I recall, Ludwig's "Hall of Mirrors" is even larger than its namesake.

It is an extremely popular attraction amongst the Germans, is in a wonderful setting, and well worth the effort to see IMO so I would advise keeping it on your list.

On the way to Lucern you might want to consider stopping off to see the abbey church and possibly the famous library in St. Gallen.

Many have called the interior of the church "the most beautiful" in Switzerland. The library is extraordinary but has very limited visiting hours.

Wherever you go, have a wonderful trip.

your other thread is there, and has several replies

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34999389

To find all of your posts, click on your name . . . . .

I lived in southern Germany for almost 25 years, so here are my suggestions, for what they are worth.
Head south from Frankfurt to some place along the Mosel River, like Trier for your first night. You will be tired from the flight and if you are not used to it, driving the Autobahn can be quite an experience.
Next morning head south again towards the Black Forest area. You will find lots of really nice small towns with Pensione (B&Bs) and gorgeous scenery.
Head for Schaffhausen to cross over into Switzerland. Take time there to visit the waterfalls.
Go on to Luzern (Lucerne) and visit the lake, Mt. Pilatus and the Altstadt.
Next head east toward Innsbruck, which is definitely worth a stop. From Innsbruck you could go on to Munich, or first head for the King Ludwigs castles near Fussen -- Linderhof and Neuschwanstein.
Or if you head east from Innsbruck, visit Chiemsee then Berchtesgaden then Salzburg. Everything is so beautiful you will wish you had even more time.

Dukey, Bellini, Janis, thank you for your input. I like the homebase idea, just don't know how many days to devote to each place. I think we will return with great ideas for future trips.

Hi,
I have a suggestion for at least one "home base"...Mittenwald. Gorgeous small town with a beautiful mountain backdrop. From here, there are many places within easy driving distance to see.
1) Mittenwald has a cable car - The Karwendelbahn
2) Garmisch and the Zugspitze are about 20 min. or so away. There is also a "Sommerrodelbahn" luge ride there.
3) Ettal Monestary with it's beautiful church.
4) Ludwig's Linderhof castle
5) The village of Oberammergau
6) Innsbruck and our favorite place in the Tirol, Hall in Tirol, are less than an hour away.
7) For a spectacular church, from the Frankfurt area driving south, visit either the Wieskirche or Andechs Monestary (beer gardens and another stunning church).
For a day trip, Italy is just 30 min. south of Innsbruck, and there are quite a few places to see there, such as Sterzing/Vipitino, Castle Reifenstein/Tasso and our favorite town so far in Sud Tirol, Brixen/Bressanone.

Then again, we like Fussen and the Berchtesgaden area also. Too many great places!

Hope this helps.

Paul

Paul, can you recommend where to stay in or near MIttenwald? We would like to spend no more than 150 euros per night, including breakfast, for three of us- two adults, one teen. Also, would you recommend staying in Brixen or is that just a day trip location? The Mittenwald area is a big attraction because of the violins- my daughter plays.

Hi,
The place we stayed in Mittenwald ('05 and '06) is Pension Schwalbennestl. The photos on their website are old, as the rooms (at least the one we had) have been redone. Their website is only in German, yet you can correspond in English. Very nice woman (Frau Bader) owns the place. Excellent buffet breakfast, gorgeous balcony views overlooking Mittenwald and a 10 min. walk to the old town. Definitely within your budget (even for two rooms next to one another)!
www.schwalbennestl.de
You can see our recent photos at:
www.worldisround.com/home/pja1/index.html

Brixen is a beautiful old town with a very large pedestrian zone. We spent a couple of hours at the Diocesan Museum alone and thought it was just fantastic. We hope to go back again this Oct. We didn't stay in Brixen, we visited from La Villa, Alta Badia, in the Dolomites.
Just an idea, though not one that goes along with your itinerary as you posted, and hopefully doesn't complicate your decision making too much...Stay 2 nights in one of the villages of Val Gardena (Dolomites) and visit Brixen from here. We spent 4 nights in St. Christina, Val Gardena in Oct. '03 and loved it. The cable car up to the Seiser Alm was great. The Dolomites are spectacular and quite different than the rest of the Alps. Here's a couple of websites that may be of interest:
www.brixen.org
www.val-gardena.com
www.alpedisiusi-seiseralm.com/index.html

There are so many beautiful places to see, as as others have pointed out, tough decisions!
Sorry to make this so long...hope this helped in some way.

Paul

Paul, thank you so much. Your photos are great! The decision is so difficult. Still working on the final version!