What's good in late September? Ideas?
 

Hi, actually I'm not sure what I'll end up doing, and if I'll indeed take off during late September, but it doesn't hurt to think about this now.

What'll be good in late September?

1. Scandinavia. I'm under the impression that some stuff will be closed. Tivoli from Copenhagen closes mid September, for example. I was thinking of going to Scandinavia this year, but if I can't leave early enough, I may just postpone this trip until another year.

2. Rhine. Much remains open until early October, so it appears.

3. Loire Valley. Open all year, I think. But the Villandry gardens may be closed, preusmably.

4. Switzerland. In particular, Lucerne and the Bernina Express. Lucerne should presumably be accessible and the Bernina Express should be running as well.

5. Italian Lakes. Would late September be too late to visit?

6. Chamonix/Mont Blanc. The cable car to Aiguille-du-Midi seems to be running. But part of the cable car to Italy will be closed (I think -- the one that leaves from the peak).

7. Bavaria + Salzburg. ?

8. S. France/Provence/Nice. ? Presumably accessible.

I've not been to any of these areas. I think that the Rhine is in. Probably the Italian Lakes, if things are still open (I've checked and there're cheap flights to Italy and Zurich from Cologne). Switzerland also seems like a logical choice given the proximity to Italy.

For some reason, the South of France always gets left out.

Thoughts and suggestions?

Thanks.

By the way, I've been to the Bernese Oberland, so I've omitted this from consideration (as well the usual suspects as far as cities are concerned).

Hi 111,

How about a drive through the Dordogne?

France...late September would be beautiful if fall folliage is out...wine makers have harvested...
wood fires would scent the air...

oh hell... I'll go!

Late September would be perfect in Provence. The weather would probably be a bit more moderate than the other areas you have listed.

SuzyC...take me with you! I'm sure Ms. Go won't mind...

On second thought, let's go to Tuscany or Umbria. A little chill to the air at night, but not so many tourists.

No car for me, ira. I'm the sort of person you don't want on the roads -- fortunately I'm in NYC where I don't need to touch a car. :-) I think that I'll be too stressed out in Europe.

Provence is always so highly recommended. Every time I tell myself I should go (and Mayle's books help in popularizing the region, no doubt), and then every time I find some reason not to. (My Lonely Planet guide of the region is from 2000 and I've not even set foot there.) The interesting thing is that the Michelin Green Guide doesn't quite rate this region as highly (I know, I'm still a stickler for the star system -- so sue me). But if everyone on Fodor's says it's good, maybe I can go. :-)

So will the mountains be too cold? The weather in the Rhine will be ok, no?

Hi 111op, we spent the last 3 weeks of September last year in Munich / Salzburg / Bavaria / Rothenburg / Rhine and it seemed like a nice time of year to be there. We mostly had lovely weather, with lots of sunshine, some days were warm enough for just Tshirts and others needed a light sweater or light spring jacket. And we didn't find the mountainous areas too cold. In fact, the day we went to Eagle's Nest in Berchtesgaden it was actually quite hot and I was in short sleeves ... I wound up just carrying my jacket around because I was too warm.

Thanks, travelgirl2, for sharing your trip experience! Three weeks sound lovely -- I'll probably get one at most.

Another vote for Provence...have done it then and loved it!My quandry is late October....anywhere not too cold or closed down?

Hi 111,

Is Provence a good idea without a car?

We traveled last September 20-Oct1 by train from Amsterdam to Cologne, down the Rhine, Basel into Lucerne and out Zurich. The weather was great - a few showers, cool-to-warm temps. Didn't even wear the longjohns, and wore short-slv shirt several days. Left the room windows ajar for air/coolness at night.

Budget Travel magazine, July/August issue has a wonderful, fairly extensive article called "Charming Provence" featuring mostly a lot of different towns and places to stay.

111op,

I don't think it matters where you go. Late September is the best time for travel almost anywhere.

Bernina -- yes! Did that Sept. 20th. Great.

Zermatt -- yes! Took the Gornergratt cogway Oct. 2. Rainy and gloomy on arrival, brilliant and cloudless the following morning.

Lake Geneva -- beautiful! That lakeside walkway from Chillon to Vevey, sunny and cool, had it all to ourselves.

Italian lakes -- yes! Lugano (I know, Swiss) and Morcote, fabulous.

Croatia -- Dubrovnik bustled and sparkled, Korcula was sleepy, cozy and charming.

Hi ira, I think that that could be why Provence hasn't quite made it to the final cut -- though supposedly the main attractions are all accessible by transportation.

Thanks for the thoughts so far, all.

Actually, I'm thinking, gasp, maybe I'll try to go to Venice. (I thought that I shouldn't really be thinking of the standard cities, but I haven't bene in five years.) I'm thinking of taking the Bernina Express from Zurich, which will let me off at Tirano. So if getting to Venice isn't too difficult from there, maybe it's worth to give it a try. The other obvious option, Lugano, is three hours away by bus.

Anyway, I'm still thinking about it.

Sorry -- attractions in Provence are accessible by transportation, of course -- I meant to write by "train." Duh.

111op-

If you choose the Zurich - Bernina Express - Venice route, you'll spend a lot of time travelling, esp if you only have 1 week. You can take the BE bus to Lugano, then return to Zurich for your return flight, skipping Venice altogether (gasp!).

Rhine will be a great area to explore with 1 week. In Sept they still have "rhine in flames". It may be difficult to find accommodations during that time though.
http://whatsonwhen.com/events/~48472.jml

Loire Valley should be nice, though may be a bit difficult to do without a car (but it's doable, as I've done that myself without a car).

Maybe you should decide depending on which city you can fly into with a good fare? That's what I used to do - find a good fare to any european city, then figure out what to do afterwards.

Hi yk, good to talk to you in a thread other than "Google obscure information for trivia game" thread. :-)

Yes, you're right that going to Venice after Bernina Express leaves me with no time advantage. I checked on bahn.de and the trains from Tirano will connect in Milan anyway and then go to Venice. On the map, it looks like Venice makes sense because Tirano is the Southwestern part of Switzerland. But in reality, I guess the rail routes must not work that way.

So it looks like if I do take the Bernina Express, I should plan on stopping by Lugano regardless of what happens after. If I want to go on to Venice, it would make sense to stop in Lugano anyway to break the trip up.

Lugano offers air connections to Geneva, so Chamonix would be a natural choice. But I think that I might be too late for the season to see the Chamonix and Mont-Blanc though.

You're also right that Loire seems inconvenient without a car, but I don't mind joining a tour group or something. There're lots of tours listed on the Tours tourist office website, so it looks like it won't be a problem.

(Those curious can check http://www.ligeris.com)

Anyway, I'm still thinking about it. For me a week is too long to explore the Rhine. I tend to rush around a lot because I want to see as much as possible. But it looks like starting with the Rhine first will be a good thing (of course, depends on how the schedule shapes up over the next couple of weeks too).

Thanks!

Oops -- Tirano is in the Southeastern part of Switzerland....

A drive up and down the wine road in the alsace combined with a trip to Paris.