baby108

Hi, I am planning for a road trip in June 2004 with my family.We are going to rent a car from Munich and spend 2 weeks driving in the 3 countries to see the castles and the beautiful scenary. Can anyone tell me how long will it take to drive to Vienna from Munich and then from Vienna to Geneva? You think 2 weeks will be enough to see the best part of the cities along way like Salzburg, Vienna, Hallstatt, Innsbruck,Luzern, Interlaken, Geneva and Munich ? Or there are other places you will suggest? My sons are only 5 and 6 by then and any suggestion on interesting activities for them?
Many thanks for any kind of tips!

rex

Planning the route(s) and estimating the distances and driving times is a snap with www.viamichelin.com or www.mappy.com

You have too many destinations, spread too far, from east to west, in my opinion. You need to get rid of and/or concentrate on the eastern end of the trip (i.e., Vienna) or the western end (i.e., Geneva).

There is quite enough "in the middle" to fill two weeks, if you want to simply construct a circle which begins and ends in Munich.

And it is far more economical to return a car to the same country where you rented it.

Best wishes,

Rex

carole99

Just got back from Austria and Germany. Rented a car in Vienna and drove to Krems (2 nights) then to Salzburg (2 nights) then to Munich. Krems to Melk is a beautiful drive along the Danube. Do a day trip from Salzburg to Hallstatt and see the Salt Mine. The kids will enjoy it! Salzburg to Munich is about 2 hours on the Autobahn. I would suggest leaving out Geneva....Germany and Austria will give you more than enough beautiful scenary.

baby108

Thank you to both of you Rex and Carole99! I think I will take your advice to concentrate on the eastern region since I really want to see Vienna and experience the classical music spirit of the city. I was going to drive straight from Salzburg to Vienna but if Krems and Melk are worth stopping by, maybe we will do that. Is Innsbruck a town worth seeing? My kids are into the medival castles and knights so I wonder whether there is a typical castle along the wayfor them to see. We will definately go to the Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany since that is my dream castle in the

baby108

Thank you to both of you Rex and Carole99! I think I will take your advice to concentrate on the eastern region since I really want to see Vienna and experience the classical music spirit of the city. I was going to drive straight from Salzburg to Vienna but if Krems and Melk are worth stopping by, maybe we will do that. Is Innsbruck a town worth seeing? My kids are into the medival castles and knights so I wonder whether there is a typical castle along the way for them to see. We will definately go to the Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany since that is my dream castle in the whole world!

dumas1870

baby108: Research some of these major Vienna Sights:

Kunsthistorisches Museum

Naschmarkt

Hofburg

Kisergruft

Café Hawelka

St. Stephans Cathedral

Stadtpark

Schonbrunn Palace

Kohlmarkt

Kahlenburg

Grinzing

House of Music

Belvedere Palace/ Botanical Gardens

Prater

Melk

Mariahilfer Strasse

Spitllberggasse/Schrankgasse

Karlskirche

dumas1870

Here are some more to consider:

TOP SALZBURG SIGHTS / ACTIVITIES


Take Old Town Orientation Walk

Tour Salzburg Cathedral

Tour Residenz State Rooms and Galleries

See Mozart?s Birthplace (Geburthaus)

Shop on Getreidegasse

People Watch at a Café on Mozartplatz

Explore St. Peter?s Church, cemetery and catacombs

Watch Glockenspiel chime (7,11, and 1800)

Tour Hohensalzburg Fortress

Take ?Hills Are Alive? Walk (Monchsberg approach Hohensalzburg Castle)

Use elevator from A.Neumayrplatz (Ggstattengasse 13) to forested ridge that has 15th Century fortifications and several view points back on Salzburg. Stay on the high paved paths or you will have to climb back to the castle. Consider a break at view terrace at Gran Café Winkler.

Explore Steingasse Street

Pretty medieval street with oldest nunnery (Sound of Music) and church where Herr von Trapp wedding (SOM) took place. Great castle views half way up street. Easy to combine with Kapuzinerburg walk

Visit Kapuzinerberg:Forest

Landscaped park with views to Salzburg. Cross Staatsbrucke spanning the Salzach to right bank, continue walking two mins to Steingasse, and then cut right to walk through the Steintor (gate to medieval walls), then climb adjoining stone stairway and follow signs to Kapuzinerberg.

Stroll Mirabell Gardens: Has marble statues and arbor from Sound of Music.

Wander St. Sebastion Cemetery (Friedhoh St. Sebastian): Grand Baroque/Italian statues and old tombs of Salzburg royalty. Close to our hotel on Linzergasse which is a good shopping street.

Riverside Bike Ride: Riverbanks have good views of Salzburg lit up at night.

carole99

Hi,

As for the drive from Krems to Melk, I would suggest breaking up the drive and staying at least one night in either town or Durnstein which is right in the middle. To give you perspective, Drive Krems to Melk without stopping is about 1 hour. But, the scenary is so breathtaking and the towns are so quaint and historic, that we made it an all day event, stopping all along the way.

Neuschwanstein was awesome. Either plan ahead to take a bus tour...or like us, we took the train to Fussen (21 euro for 3 people round trip) and then then castle entry tour fee. Also need to take another bus up the hill. And a bit of an uphill walk. Overall about 35 Euro per person vs. about 60 Euro on bus tour. The train is 2 hours and leaves Munich around 9 or 11 am.

If your kids like mid evil, then you may want to consider Rothenburg which is about 3 hours north of Munich. It is a walled in mid evil town. You can even walk the wall which again would be fun for the kids. It is very safe.

You will have a great trip!

Carole

kvf

Took family to Germany and Switzerland last year. A couple of don't misses-

Bamberg Germany- old Germany at it's best and untouched. Don't miss an evening beer and the remarkable view at Spezial.

Switzerland- Skip Geneva- it's a big business city. A couple of family suggestions: ABSOLUTELY don't miss the Jungfrau region. Cost effective lodging can be found in Lauterbrunnen and Wengen. Also. Sion and it's midevil church/castle are well worht a visit.

baby108

Thank you all for taking the time to give me all these nice suggestions. We will have a rental car so I was planning to drive to Neuschwanstein from Munich as a day trip.I don't know whether we can handle driving in big cities so I was thinking to stay in hotels at the outskirt of the cities and use the public transportation to tour big cities like Vienna, Munich.. Anyone can give me an idea of how difficult will it be to try to drive in the cities I mentioned above? We don't know any German or French but did manage to drive from Paris to tour Loire Valley couple years ago but we use the subway to see Paris since I don't think we could have handled the traffic in Paris.

rex

Munich and Vienna are quite easy cities for driving, in my opinion, compared to many other cities in Europe (like easier than virtually everywhere in Italy, for example).

As with any unfamiliar place, the key is a good navigator who can follow a map and can operate on the same speed/wavelength as the driver. There needs to be some common way of handling the issue of "where we are" (looking out the wondow) relative to where the map shows the roads going. The ability to quickly read and pronounce German street names is a plus, but you can get by with any other way of referring to landmarks.

carole99

As for driving the cities, I totally agree with Rex. This was my first time driving in Europe and you must have a good navigator. I am good with directions, but having someone following closely so you not miss a turn is invaluable. Also, you will be using the country maps from the car rental, but I suggest getting city maps before you get to a city, (if possible). That was our mistake, getting to a city and not knowing streets etc. We stayed in the city center in Vienna and it was great. Walked almost everywhere..did not need a car at that point. Took bus tours out of the city. We rented the car on our way out..it was pretty easy to get out of the city and onto the highway. If you can, the smaller car the better...parking and sometimes small roads were much easier to maneuver with a smaller car. Have fun!

Carole

baby108

Thank you again Rex and Carole. I think I've decided to stay in a smaller area within the 2 weeks and have to skip Austria this time but to concentrate on Germany and Switzerland. I will start a new thread to ask some specific questions later.
Carrie

tomboy

Most of the above are wonderful suggestions, but unfortunately are not of a type to interest 5 and 6 year old kids. You might consider a few days on a German or Swiss farm, which you could locate with some search engine or accomodation website work.