terri_zager

We have 3 weeks and I have been researching for days and trying to plan this trip but I keep getting more confused as I go. Its taking away all the joy of going. This is a last minute vacation so I havent had the luxury of time to plan. We are looking for wellness adventures, romantic spots, quaint villages, a little history, castles, anything else thats worth seeing. Museums are not our thing but history is. We are open to any and all modes of transportation but a bucket list item for my husband is to drive fast, and maybe see the Porsche factory/museum. We are active and in our mid 50's from Lake Tahoe. Should we just wing it...get off the plane and point in a direction???
We havent done much traveling internationally. THANKS FOR YOUR INPUT.

sparkchaser

Your husband has no desire to see the Ferrari or Lamborghini Museums in Italy?

You didn't mention how much time you have. The activities I propose below will take at least 4-5 days.

As you know, the Porsche Museum is in Stuttgart (and it is a quite excellent museum). After you've done your sightseeing in Italy, head to Munich, pick up a BMW rental car from Sixt (make reservations beforehand and pick up in Munich and drop off in Nuremberg) and head to the BMW museum (it's worth it). After you have seen enough of Munich, drive to Stuttgart, realizing that there is indeed a speed limit on most of the autobahn, and go to the Porsche Museum and the Mercedes Museum. If you two feel up for it, head over to Nürburg for your husband to take a lap or three on the Nürburgring. After you have had your fill of fast driving and car museums, drive to Nuremberg, drop off the car, and take the express bus to Prague.

As for wellness, there are numerous spas and wellness centers in Germany (Baden Baden is world famous) and Czech Republic; however, not all of them cater to tourists so there might be a language barrier to contend with.

September is when Federweißer and Zwiebelkuchen (onion cakes) are available in the wine-growing areas of Germany (read more about them here: http://www.sparkchaser.org/blog/2011...r-federweiser/ ). Stopping at any of the villages around Würzburg is suggested to try the local wine.

michelhuebeli

Milan - stay the night on arrival, walk to the Duomo, climb on top of the roof, stroll past La Scala and hum your favorite opera melody, splurge on a nice dinner, sleep off the jetlag.

Next day, train to lake Como, head for the wellness and spa hotel www.grandhoteltremezzo.com/en/t-spa-lake-como/ near Menaggio and across from Bellagio.

After a day or two, take the Palm Express coach ( http://tinyurl.com/bu2ojq7 ) from Menaggio to St. Moritz, a fabulous ride to a ritzy place in Switzerland's vacation paradise, the Engadin region..

The next day, the Bernina Express ( www.rhb.ch/Bernina-Express.1676.0.html?&L=4) to Tirano and back is a spectacular day excursion.

Then take the train to Innsbruck ( www.innsbruck.info/en/home.html ) and combine mountain air with history and night life.

Next - train to Salzburg, land of Mozart and of The Sound of Music (www.salzburg.info/en/service/tourist_info).

Then it’s time to head for Munich where you rent a car and take advantage of the no-speed-limit autobahns, to Stuttgart to visit the Porsche factory, and to wherever else the whims take you. Eventually you have to surrender the rental car, either back in Munich where you can take the train to Prague, or elsewhere depending on your contract etc.

Trains in Italy at www.trenitalia.com, in Austria at www.oebb.at, in Germany at www.bahn.de

sparkchaser

<i>...and take advantage of the no-speed-limit autobahns...</i>

<b>Only on certain stretches of the autobahn!!!!</b>

On the autobahns there is an advisory speed limit of 130 km/h unless otherwise specified. If you see this sign: http://gearheads.org/wp-content/uplo...tions-sign.jpg then there is "no speed limit" but you're still expected to drive as the local weather conditions dictate.

greg

I can guess the issue underlining your difficulty. There seems to be no focus or priority. With so many different objectives, many things seem to have equal importance, and they all compete for your attention. You will need to cover a lot of distance in 3 weeks. I don't know when you are doing this, but winging it might make you end up in a town/city with major events going on - that means very hard to find a lodging at an acceptable price. I would at least research such places on the way even if I wing it.

First, you have Milan and Prague. And if you mention Porsche factory, that is Zuffenhausen just north of Stuffgart. If you are not interested in museum but car museum, then there is also a Mercedez Museum in Stuttgart. If you throw in BMW museum, that is Munich. So you connect Milan-Stuttgart-Prague as a minimum.

If we assume these form the basic framework, look at the map. You have to cross northern Italy, eastern Switzerland or western Austria, then southern Germany on the way to Prague. Look at guidebooks to see which cities and towns are interesting to you.

klondike

Gosh, michelheubeli, I'm ready to do your itinerary!!!

In the past we've done a six and an 8 wk trip where we just leased a car and, besides having the first and last hotels booked, just winged it. We loved it.

Winging it by train/bus is not as enjoyable imo--you will spend a lot of your precious time gathering information, looking for timetables, queuing up to purchase tickets at a much more expensive rate that if bought earlier. This would be more work & less vacation

If you decide to travel by car, even if only a portion of your vacation, be sure to have reserved BEFORE you leave!!! Get an international driver's license before you leave (go to AAA with 2 passport quality photos--easy)

You won't be traveling during high season, but things have changed over the years. If you are winging it, you will have to stop earlier to scope out hotels than you used to. In our last trip in southwest France, we started having to call ahead from the current hotel to the next town we thought we would be in by 16:00 using the Red Michelin guide and a Logis de France directory because good hotels in all the small towns were booked full. We only hit one "cluncker" doing this and even it was tolerable for one night.

Don't sweat the small stuff; take care of the big stuff before you leave--air, car & associated stuff, first and last hotel reservations. Enjoy yourself.

Dukey1

I would NOT do the Bernina Express both ways...yeah, I know it's great scenery but life is short.

What you COULD do is get the train from Milan to Tirano and take the Bernina one way and then go from there. No backtracking involved and you get to see a bit of Lake Come on the way as well.

dugi_otok

Written in pencil so far(from your other topic):
4 nights in Como or , Maggiore, or Garda.
4 nights Bern or Zurich Switzerland
2 nights in stuttgart (porsche)
3 nights in munich
3 nights in Salzburg (SOM bike tour??)
4 nights in Prague
.................................................. ..............
Building on your other topic:
Arrive Milan, Train to Lugano
3 nights in Lugano ,Train to Luzern
2 nights Luzern,Train to Karlsruhe-Rent car, drive to Stuttgart
2 nights Stuttgart(I like staying in Tubingen),drive to Rothenburg
2 nights Rothenburg,(Day trip-bike ride outside the wall) drive to:
4 nights Munich and/ or Garmish or Mittenwald (Day trip to Royal castles), drive to:
3 nights Salzburg or Berchtesgaden, drive to Nuremberg-turn in car
1 night in Nuremberg, to bus to Prague
3 nights in Prague
Depart Prague (fly home)

Hans

If you're in Stuttgart, want to head east and want to drive fast, I'd highly recommend the part of the A81 (E41) from Heilbronn to Wuerzburg. I've driven it quite often and it was nearly always empty and the perfect to go fast safely.

Wuerzburg itself might be a place to stop. Alternatively you can go on the Nuremberg and/or Bamberg which has about the largest density of breweries anywhere if you're into beer.

From there you could head north-east or south-east.

If you go north-east the route would take you (possibly via Erfurt) to Leipzig and Dresden.

If you like the music from Bach, hearing the Thomas choir sing in their church in Leipzig is something incredible. Leipzig is also preparing for the 200th anniversay of the Battle of the Nations if you're interested in Napoleonic warfare.

There are a lot of rural wellness hotels in Germany, often in stunning locations and buildings, with surprisingly low prices. This also applies to former Eastern Germany where people bought or acquired again many of the former seats of aristocratic families and turned them into hotels.

From Dresden I'd recommend a boat trip through the Elbe sandstone mountains. You can depart on the Czech side of the border and from there it's just a short trip by train to Prague.

Alternatively you go from Nuremberg south to Vienna and then via Bratislava to Prague. Vienna is of course one of the big cultural capitals but I can also highly recommend Bratislava which is less than an hour away from Vienna and on the way to Prague (you can also take a boat on the Danube). Bratislava is a wonderful place to sit outside in the summer and enjoy life.

Hans

I forgot: many places as Stuttgart or Nuremberg have large capacities of hotels which are only filled up if there's a trade fair. You can check on websites as www.hrs.de

If there's a trade fair at the time you want to be there, the list of hotels will be limited and the prices will be doubled even now.

If there's no trade fair, you can turn up at nearly any hotel in the evening and still get a room. So if you're not too interested in deals, it's easy to wing it if you want to.

And one last thing: don't worry about international travel. Most of the places you'll visit have ten(or hundred) of thousands of tourists or business travellers visiting each year. The hotels, railway stations, taxis, restaurants etc. are used to it.

Tabernash2

I haven't read the posts. But I know a man who has a business of renting out Ferraris in Tuscany. He owns a place there, and probably hooks people up with lodging, too. Not cheap, I am sure. If that interests you?