Part 1

Better late than never … here’s our trip report from 5 weeks in Germany, Austria & France in Sept/Oct. To set the scene, my husband & I are Australians, in our forties and in determining our itinerary we wanted to see some great scenery, walk through pretty towns and eat and drink good food & wine. We flew Emirates Brisbane – Munich (approx 22 hrs flying time) and got a convertible Peugeot through the Open Europe scheme dropping it back at Orly airport after around 30 days of touring.

We used Munich for two nights to get over jetlag. Arrived the week before Oktoberfest kicked off and the city was buzzing. Spent most of our time walking the main part of the city around the Marienplatz but also ventured out to the BMW museum. Munich is a great city just to wander around with a camera at hand. Highly recommend the Augustinerbrau for a beer and a meal. We stayed at the Acanthus Hotel and would recommend it primarily for its central location.

After picking up our car just outside Munich airport we hit the autobahn and headed to Austria. By the time we turned off the motorway, we were able to take the roof off the car for the drive to our first base - Hallstatt. During our time here we drove to Bad Aussee (looking for the t-shirt!), the Grundlsee, and St Wolfgang on the Wolgangsee. We thoroughly enjoyed the whole area (great driving & scenery) though we did think that St Wolfgang was a bit over the top with touristy shops. In Hallstatt we stayed at the Gasthof Zauner. Good location, okay sized room with a balcony and a view over the Hallstattersee.

From Hallstatt we moved to Obersalzberg, stopping at the Gollinger Wasserfall on the way. We were the first visitors of the day and had climbed to the top of the waterfall (about 20 mins) without seeing another person. The waterfall was very impressive and well worth the stop.

From Obersalzberg, we went out on the Konigsee, again early before a lot of other people were about. The first part of the boat trip was in fog but it then cleared to blue skies. Very impressed. Walked to the Obersee, which only took about 15 minutes. Visited Ramsau and got our feet wet in the icy stream that flows beside the town. The church in Ramsau is reputed to be one of the most photographed churches in the world and once you see it and its location you can understand why. We spent some time in Berchtesgaden itself and found it to be a nice town. We stayed at Hotel zum Türken, which we were a bit disappointed in. Paid top dollar but the room was fairly small with more furniture than it needed and only a curtain as a door to the bathroom.

Part 2

From Obersalzberg we headed west along the German Alpine Road. Stopped at Ruhpolding, a very pretty little town, for the best piece of apple strudel you are ever likely to find! Still travelling on the German Alpine Road, headed for Grainau, just outside of Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Stopped in Partenchkirchen for lunch and a look around. Loved this town. We visited the Eibsee for a walk part way around the lake – well worth it; drove out to Linderhof and strolled the grounds without doing the tour of the castle; went to Oberammergau – way too touristy for our liking. Grainau is a great alternative if you’re keen on the smaller towns. We ate out both nights in the town, surrounded by the locals and really felt part of the place. We stayed at the Hotel Post and our room had a nice view of the Zugsptize.

Left Grainau heading to the Otz valley in the Tyrol region of Austria. Stopped in Mittenwald and enjoyed strolling the streets of the town. The drive down off the mountain we hadn’t realised we’d climbed was staggering. Stayed in Habichen, spending the afternoon wandering off on one of the numerous hiking paths that led us to a waterfall through some beautiful forests.

From Habichen we drove to Lindau on Lake Constance. Lindau was a surprise. It was really only a transit for us but we ended up having a fabulous afternoon there. It wasn’t so much the lake, which we could hardly see due to the haze, but the feel of the town – very laid back.

Next stop was Titisee in the Black Forest. We didn’t stay in the town – which again was too touristy for our liking – but at the Alemannenhof, a 5 minute drive around the lake. We spent our days driving around the area, enjoying what is very much a beautiful part of the world. Our room overlooked the lake and the hotel has a very nice restaurant attached.

We next moved into France and had our first minor problems. We stayed in Colmar at the southern end of the Alsace Wine Route and our first experiences with France were not impressive. For the first time in our trip we got lost, partially due to their signage system which took some getting used to, and ended up driving around the town a couple of times until we got our bearings. Went to find lunch and had one of those bad tourist experiences with waiters being rude, food being dodgy, etc. It did get better though. Next day we drove out to Kayserberg and after wandering the town, taking photos of the storks nesting, we stumbled onto a small, back street where we found a small wine producer. Had a memorable experience with none of us being able to communicate with anything but our hands. Same day we had a picnic in the vineyards which will go down in my memory as one of the most enjoyable settings for a meal.

Final - Part 3

From Colmar we drove up the Wine Route for an overnight stop at Ottrott, just outside of Obernai. One frustration around this area was that we bought picnic supplies in Obernai and then went looking for someone to eat it and whilst we were surrounded by beautiful countryside we couldn’t find a spot to stop and have our lunch. In Ottrott we stayed and dined out in the restaurant at L’Ami Fritz. Great experience even though we ordered, and ate black pudding without realizing it until a couple of days later!

Next on our itinerary was the Mosele. We stayed in Beilstien, a small village in a picturesque bend in the river. Had a great time tripping about the river and exploring the wine villages and the wine! Enjoyed a visit to Cochem, a tour of Burg Eltz and a morning strolling around Bernkastel Kues. Stayed at Haus Lipmann with a view overlooking the river.

After traveling down the Mosele we had an overnight in Trier, which is a delightful city.
From Trier we drove the motorway to Beaune in Burgundy. Absolutely loved Beaune. We spent one morning driving around some of the wine villages, but most of our time was spent exploring the town. We did a tour of the Hospice – well worth it, as well as a tour of the Wine Museum – not so worth it unless you’re into every aspect of wine production. We splurged on the food and wine in Beaune and it was well worth it for the experience.

From Beaune we drove down to Julienas, a small village in the Beaujolais region. Had 2 nights here and I’d have to say that the cloudy, hazy, drizzly weather did not make our time here as enjoyable as we would have hoped. Having said that, the countryside was very picturesque despite the weather.

Leaving Julienas we headed north again, for an overnighter in Avallon, taking a detour through parts of the Morvan. Very scenic despite heavy fog at times and one of the places we would have spent more time if we could. Stopped at the Museum dedicated to the local WWII Resistance, which was a very interesting and moving experience. We stayed at a delightful hotel - Hôtellerie du Moulin des Ruats - outside of Avallon but didn’t end up exploring the town.

On the way through to Auxerre we stopped at Vezelay, which was an absolute treasure to explore. We weren’t very impressed with Auxerre - probably as we had very much gotten used to small towns. Did however spend a great day visiting the towns of Chablis and Noyers.

From Auxerre we had to drive to Orly to drop off the car. That was an experience in itself but we made it without too many wrong turns! We took a taxi from the airport to our hotel just off Boulevard St Germain. Surprisingly it only cost us about 22 euro.

We had four nights in Paris. We spent our days walking the city, taking in the sights and doing some serious people-watching. In particular we enjoyed the Eiffel Tower at night from the Trocadero, strolling around Ile de Cite and Ile St Louis eating Berthillon ice cream, the Luxembourg Gardens, and shopping in the small back streets we stumbled across. Stayed at the Hotel de Fleurie, which I would highly recommend due to its location, size of room and friendly staff.

Thanks to everyone on this forum that answered my questions and helped me plan out what ended up being a fantastic holiday!

What a great sounding trip! You covered a lot of wonderful territory too! We will be seeing many of the same sights this summer and I will use some of the info in your report.

Thank you, swood, for putting together a trip report. I especially enjoyed reading it because I think we prefer the same sort of places. Some of yours I've already enjoyed and some will now be on my list. In fact, I'm going to see if I can find some photographs of Grainau and Alemannenhof. Any chance you have some photographs posted somewhere? J.

Hi swood,
Great to read your report.

Agree with you on Beaune - really a special place.

Wondering if you found the Bad Aussee t-shirts? How did they go over back home?

You stayed at some of my favorite towns, including Beilstein where we also stayed at Hotel Haus Lippman and liked it a lot.

I laughed at your experience in Colmar because a friend and I had a similar experience there. We sat about half an hour waiting for a waiter. My friend, who is British but speaks French fluently, finally went inside to find a waiter and was informed that they were too busy and weren't serving any more customers. They just hadn't bothered to tell any of those who were waiting at tables outside.

Loved Beaune also!

Your trip from Hallstadt thru to the Black Forest interests me since we will be taking a similar route in June. I'd love to know how many nights you spent in each place. It sounds like you kept moving, which is what my husband and I like to do, but so often people say to stay put and do day trips. But it's hard when all the destinations go from one to the other.

Thanks for the report! We, too, enjoyed Noyer and the area around Avallon.

Jmw44 – we stayed at the Hotel Post in Grainau and the Alemannenhof Hotel on Titisee. Both hotels were recommended by Karen Brown (www.karenbrown.com) so you should be able to see some photos from both her site and the links to their sites. My husband is the guru with regard to our photos and he’s away at the moment. I’ll check with him and see how we can get you some pics. We took lots and I think you'd enjoy them if we can work out the best way of making them availabile. Stay posted!

SusanEva, no unfortunately we didn’t find any t-shirts – it was still worth the drive there though. As a consolation we took a photo of me in the car, with the roof off, with the sign for Bad Aussee.

Loves2sing – we took a slow traveller approach. We did 3 nights in Hallstatt, 3 nights in Obersalzberg, 1 night along the German Alpine Route in a small town called Neubeurn, 2 nights in Grainau, one night in Habichen and then Lindau, before we hit the Black Forest. Lots of advice said that 3 nights in Hallstatt was way too many but this area was a main focus for our trip – we simply don’t have the lakes & alps in Australia that they do in Europe. We also wanted to take our time in the driving, being able to have the time to stop whenever we felt like it. In the end we did over 4000kms in the 30 days and when we reflect we probably would have done fewer 1 nighters if we had our time again but I also think we ended up with a good blend. I should add that we used mapping software to plan out this trip, agreeing where we wanted to go and how many kms we felt confident we could do in one day (both via the scenic route and the fastest route if the weather was bad). In prioritising what was important, it really drove how many nights we could stay in one place. Hope that helps!