worldclass

my husband and i will be in munich on oct 17. i've booked our hotels and our itinerary is as follows:

munich(4 nts)-rothenburg(1 nt)-salzburg(2 nts)-innsbruck(1 nt)-B.O./lauterbrunnen(4 nts)-zurich(1 nt)

we are planning to rent a car to drive to rothenburg on Day 4 in Germany, then drive to salzburg then to innsbruck. this is where my dilemma begins: the drop off charge for the rental car is quite hefty to rent from germany and return in another country. should i buy point to point rail ticket from innsbruck to liechstentein or to a border swiss city then another 4 day consecutive day Swiss Pass? your advice is very much appreciated, thanks in advance.

ira

Hi W,

It takes 2:30 hr to drive from Munich to RodT.

A train will get you there in 2:30 for as little as 29E pp,

Visit RodT in the middle of your Munich stay; either as a daytrip or ask your Munich hotel to hold your luggage for you for an overnight.

After returning to Munich. Take the train to Salzburg - 1:35 hr 27E.

It's 2 hr by train Salzburg to Innsbruck- 37E.

You can take the train from Innsbruck to Zurich to Bern to Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen.

See www.bahn.de

For Switzerland see http://www.sbb.ch/en/index.htm

Enjoy your visit.

bobthenavigator

Get the car and keep it for all of Germany and Austria but drop it in Germany before you train to Interlaken. I would also skip Innsbruck and have more time in the Salzburg area.

worldclass

ira and bob,

thanks for your input. will seriously consider your suggestions. the munich-RodT leg: we might rent a car for the romantic road trip so we can see the little town and villages along the way. ira, you gave me an idea of shortening our munich stay by 1 night to drive along romantic road then on to salzburg. drive from salzburg to innsbruck, return the car somewhere in germany, maybe fussen, to avoid the hefty drop off charge for the rental car. then take the train to zurich from wherever we return the car. i am planning to buy a 4 consecutive day Swiss Pass for our 4 nights of exploration in the B.O. area. we will be at the Zurich Hilton on our last night, taking advantage of the hotel's free airport shuttle (and my HHonors points) for our early morning flight back to the US.

what do you think? please help in fine tuning this plan.

swandav2000

Hi worldclass,

I think you may be overpaying for the Swiss Pass for the BO area. It doesn't give you free rides to the mountaintops, only discounts. I think it would be wise to check the fares for your trips and then compare the sums against the Pass. You can get all the fares at

www.rail.ch for most journeys

www.jungfraubahn.ch for the mountain railways

Have fun!

s