My husband and I are going to Swiss and austria in august with our two teenagers.We don't want to change hotels many times,and we love to see the mountains. 1)If we stay in Hallstatt,can we take a day trip to many places including Innsbruck and Salsburg or not? We are flying into Zurich. 2)Is it possible to drive to Jungfrau after being in the plane for so long? My daughters love to go swimming,can they do that in hallstatt or Interlaken? IF we stay not in Interlaken but Murren or Wengen could they still be able to swim in the lakes or the distance will be a aproblem? We are rentig a car.3) Is the trip on the Danub from Vienna to Melk and back worth it or not? please help me . thank you

Could someone please give an answer? <BR>

Can help with the drive to Junfrau (region) question. It's a pleasant and not especially difficult drive of about two hours. We've done it several times, though we normally take the train. Moderately scenic. Would be a bit difficult to drive "to the Jungfrau" though, preceded or not by a transatlantic flight. <BR> <BR>Do hope you'll stay in one of the mountain villages (our first choice Muerren) rather than Interlaken. <BR> <BR>Depending on length of time in Switzerland consider using trains and a SwissPass (4, 8 ... days). If teens are under 16 they'll travel on your passes without separate fare.

Good afternoon, Adeleh <BR>Hotels Seerose and Seeblick in Faulensee are both on Lake Speiz. <BR>A number of hotels in Grindelwald <BR>have indoor pools. We have used the <BR>Schweizerhof a number of times and found'it very pleasant. Interlaken <BR>hotels have both indoor and outdoor, <BR>but the town is mainly on the river <BR>with no beaches...In Murren the Palace <BR>has an indoor pool and the Blumenthal an outdoor one. In Wengen, the Sunsstar shows indoor and the Lauberhorn an out <BR>door one. Go into www.swisshotels.ch/ <BR>search each city. Transport back to <BR>Interlaken from Grindelwald would be <BR>about 30 mins and from Murren and Wengen about a half hour longer. Also <BR>would question the water temperature of <BR>both Lake Thun and Brienz for swimming <BR>if beaches are available. Richard of <BR>La Grange Park, Il... <BR>www.berneroberland.cgh/ <BR>

Are you asking about the Hallstatt in Austria that is located on a lake southeast of Salzburg -- the Hallstattersee?? If so, it is an easy drive to Salzburg. You head west on routes 168 and 162 until you intersect the Autobahn, route A10. <BR>My map is not sufficiently detailed to reveal where you get on A10. <BR>It looks like it is near a little town call Kuchl. You can also go to Salzburg via another route that takes you through Bad Ischl and St. Gilgen. <BR> <BR>Trying to get to Innsbruck and back in one day is a bit more of a journey because there is no direct autobahn route. Not ever having driven those non autobahn roads in that part of Austria, I have no idea how fast you could go. Over similar roads in Switzerland, we were hard pressed to average 45 kph because of the traffic and all of the little villages we had to go through. I think I would try the route from Hallstatt to Salzburg to Rosenheim to Innsbruck. That route is mostly Autobahn, but my estimate is that a round trip Hallstatt to Innsbruck would involve 7 hours of nothing but driving. Perhaps someone else will comment on this trip. <BR> <BR>I suggest you stop over in Innsbruck on your way from Switzerland to Hallstatt for two nights and have a look around. <BR> <BR>As for your second question, I am not sure how to answer it. I have driven from Lauterbrunnen to the airport in Zurich, but not the other way around. I opted to take the train from the airport to Lauterbrunnen because I did not want to risk driving in a strange area when I was jet lagged. The route to Interlaken is fairly easy driving once you get on the autobahn. It takes you through Bern and Thun. (There is a route through Luzern, but it is slower.) <BR>Ed suggested a rail pass, but I think you need to add up the cost of single tickets versus the cost of the passes you will need. In my experience, you must travel a lot by train in a relative short period of time in order to amortize the cost of the passes. <BR> <BR>There are rental car agencies in the Zürich airport as you would expect. The train station, with some direct trains to Interlaken, is in the same building as the airport terminal. So it is easy to ride the train, just more expensive.

The Swiss Pass and Swiss Fleix Pass offer a tremendous bargain for a family of 4 with two children under the age of 16 traveling together. The two adults purchase the pass at 15% off of the single cost while the children travel free!! <BR>The Swiss train system web site at this location will give the details: <BR>http://www.sbb.ch:80/pv/sts_e.htm <BR> <BR>Here are some extracts. <BR>Swiss Pass: <BR>Unlimited travel on the whole rail, bus and boat network of the Swiss Travel System, including trams and buses of urban transport systems in 36 towns. It is valid for either 4, 8, 15 and 21 days or 1 month. It entitles also to discounts on many mountain railways. <BR> <BR>Swiss Flexi Pass <BR> Within a 1-month period, the guest can freely travel on any of 3 to 9 days of <BR> his choice on the whole Swiss Travel System network, same facilities as with the Swiss Pass. <BR> <BR>Swiss Travel System Family Card <BR>With the Swiss Travel System Family Card, children up to 16 years can <BR>accompany their parents free of charge, The Swiss Travel System Family Card is available free of charge in <BR>combination with the Swiss Pass, Swiss Flexi Pass, Swiss Transfer Ticket <BR>and Swiss Card. <BR> <BR>Some Flexi Pass prices: <BR>3 days within 1 month 187 chf, 2nd class for each ticket for 2 adults together <BR>5 days within 1 month 255 chf, 2nd class <BR> <BR>Swiss Pass <BR>8 days total 272 chf 2nd class each ticket for 2 adults together <BR> <BR>The cost of 1 round trip second class ticket from Zurich to Grindelwald is 126.80. The cost for 2 adults and 2 children under 16 would be 380.40. <BR>So the pass is a good deal for families with 2 children under 16 if any thing more than basic traveling is done on the pass. <BR> <BR>In the Berner Oberland, the various cable lifts and the trains to the higher mountain locations such as Kleine Scheidegg are not included on the pass as free trips because the rail and cable companies are private. The Jungfraujoch trip is expensive. So some consideration has to be given to the Swiss Card because it gives half off of the Berner Oberland rides, or at least it did in the past.