Hey there,
Any fellow travelers going on this tour. My wife and I are on this trip and wanted to say hello and maybe meet a bit online before the trip. They just made the full itinerary available.
Also wondering what people are doing in terms of the Chamonix to Geneva shuttle if flying out Aug 22 back to US. There are a couple of options, but wanted to see what others may be doing.
Steve Curran
Hello Steve!
Thank you for starting this forum for the My Way Alpine Aug 11-22 tour!
Like you, I have been trying to do some pre-trip planning and scheduling. So far, I have reserved an ebike in Chamonix for 8/21/25 from Bike Chamonix https://www.bikechamonix.com/ The bike shop is very close to Plan B Hotel and they offer self guided tours. All tours are downloaded on a device that they let you take with you. So no messing around downloading an app and then struggling with service.
I searched for tickets to Neuschwanstein Castle on the official website about a week ago and there were very few open times on the date 8/16/25 we will be in that proximity. Now I see there are NO vacancies on their website. I see you can still book via a 3rd party for a considerable upcharge. I can share more of what I have found on that if you are interested.
Mostly I plan to hike so at this point I have not scheduled any other tours. Have you scheduled any tours?
This may be waaaayyy more information than you were looking for, but I thought I would share my experience regarding the options traveling from Chamonix to Geneva Airport.....
Rick Steve's advice regarding shuttle from Chamonix: We recommend booking your airport shuttle from Chamonix to the Geneva airport before you leave home. Mountaindropoffs.com offers shared door-to-door minivans, while BlaBlaCar.com and FlixBus.com have a set schedule on big buses. Note that the frequency of service will vary depending on time of year.
I researched the options and booked with Mountaindropoffs yesterday 47.50 Euro (I chose Flexi Saver SHARED). I immediately got an "Unconfirmed Booking" email with a message stating the final confirmation will follow. Since the booking is not confirmed, I do not know the pick up time from Plan B Hotel in Chaminox. I booked with Mountaindropoffs because the FlixBus schedule was not optimal for my flight time (12:40 p.m.) and BlaBlaCar only offers transportation via busses this far in advance. If you do a search for a day or two from today you will see car and bus options on the BlaBlaCar website. The prices on the BlaBlaCar website are too good to be true so there is something that I am not understanding about that website. Finally I checked UBER and that quote (scheduled in advance), 273 Euro. A private Exclusive rate on Mountaindropoffs is 255 Euro so the UBER price seemed about right. I am happy to share a shuttle and pay 47.50 vs 255!
If you decide to book with Mountaindropoffs, choose Chaminox (Centre). I emailed mountaindropoffs last week and that is the correct option for pick up from Plan B HOtel. Mountaindropoffs website gives good information so I was most comfortable with that option. https://www.mountaindropoffs.com/how-to-get-to-chamonix/
Please share any research you have done or advice on "must see" activities. I have been to Italy and France but never the Alps so this will be a fun adventure. Travelling solo this time around!
Looking forward to meeting the group!
Hello Steve,
Thank you for beginning a forum for the My Way Alpine Aug 11-22!
I choose to book the mountaindropoffs option for transportation from Chamonix to Geneva Airport. Their website gave very good information. https://www.mountaindropoffs.com/how-to-get-to-chamonix/
If you choose this option, Chaminox (Centre) is the location they told me to select.
The other bussing options didn't fit my time schedule and/or were not very clear (in my opinion).
I have booked an ebike reservation in Chamonix for 8/21/25. Other than that, I have not booked any tours. I looked into booking Neuschwanstein tickets but from what I can tell, there are none available on the date the tour will be in the proximity 8/16/25.
Have you booked any tours? Mostly I plan on hiking and doing the city walks. Traveling solo this trip!
Thanks for responding. I also booked with Mountain Drop Offs just today. I had the same experience while looking through the other options. Hopefully their shuttle service will be as sharp as their information on the website.
I am digging through the guidebook t try and figure out hiking in the Dolomites. We booked a Sound of Music Bike tour. I do want to tour one of castles. Too bad one is sold out.
I'll be digging through the book before we go trying to come up with an itinerary of sorts.
-Steve
You might find this helpful for your time in Switzerland.
https://lauterbrunnenhiking.wordpress.com/
Forum member shoe put this together several years ago. I’ve found it helpful for my time in Switzerland.
I signed up for the my way alps tour for next year. I hope you’ll share your experience after your tour.
There is a direct bus connection between Chamonix and Geneva Airport for €16.
I am on the trip that follows (August 20-31), but I am following this thread for the info!
We’re taking Alpine My Way in September 2026 but will be following this thread.
We took the Germany Austria & Switzerland tour in 2023, loved it so much we’re heading back to many of the same areas in 2026.
Recommendations:
If you cannot get tickets to Neuschwanstein Castle, try Hohenschwangau. Some like it better than Neuschwanstein. https://www.hohenschwangau.de/schloss-hohenschwangau
Do try to hike to St Mary’s bridge for a great view of Neuschwanstein.
Lauterbrunnen:
Are you staying in Wengen? Do take the Männlichen-Kleine Scheidegg Hike listed in the book! It’s a very do-able hike and absolutely beautiful. You’ll take the gondola from Wengen to Männlichen. Hike to Kleine-Scheidegg. From K-S you a take train to Jungfraujoch for another fabulous experience! Or take the train back to Wengen.
Also… Carrie’s post above is excellent! This website is so helpful!
https://lauterbrunnenhiking.wordpress.com/
Salzburg:
We took the Sound Of Music Tour with Bob’s Special Tours Mini-Bus. You’ll get to see a lot of the remote spots from the film (the church where they were married, the gazebo, the outside of the”house” they lived in.
Try to make a dinner reservation for the rooftop bar/restaurant! Magical.
https://www.hotelstein.at/de/kulinarik/
Enjoy! Would love to hear how it all turns out!
LB we are also going September 2026. Our first Rick Steves trip and our first time in those parts of Europe! 🏔️
I’m so glad I found this thread! I’ve booked a Neuschwanstein tour, plus made a couple of lift reservations. And thanks for mentioning Mountain Dropoffs, that looks to be the best bet. I made a reservation with Flixbus but have since seen some negative reviews. Can’t wait to meet everyone!
We went on the My Way Alpine tour in June 2024 and it was amazing. The Panorama hike on the Murren side of the Lauterbrunnen valley was our favorite hike. Absolutely stunning. We ended the hike in Gimmelwald where we sat outside on the patio at the hostel on a comfortable couch watching hang gliders over the valley while we had beer and pizza. Highly recommended! I also recommend renting E bikes in Fussen. You can ride them part way up to the castles and then walk around if you don’t have tickets. But also there are so many bike paths around the Fussen area. One path we went on was out a bit more on the plains where you could see the whole vista of both the castles with the mountains behind them. It took us to a river where we stopped and had lunch on a patio. We also used mountain drop offs to go to the Geneva Airport. They were prompt and professional. Going up the Aguille du Midi lift in Chamonix was incredible. Absolutely indescribable views. Enjoy!
Wow.. thanks for all the suggestions.
We have changed our inbound flight to land in Munich, and then train into Salzburg. It just worked better for us. We also booked a Sound of Music bike tour with Fraulein Maria's. I think Salzburg will be a bit crowded as the Salzburg Festival will be going on, but that should be fun as there are many plays and music events to see and hear.
I booked a tour of Neuschwanstein castle through Trip Advisor since the normal tickets were sold out for our date in Fussen, but it includes Mary's bridge, ticket and guide. I was able to get standard tour tickets for Hohenschwangau. So it will be a day of castles for us.
Very much looking forward to Lauderbrunnen Valley and hiking the surrounding area. We were there in 2017 on another Rick Steve's tour and loved it.
Getting excited now that we are now just inside of 2 weeks before departure.
Another resource I have found helpful in planning is the scrapbooks from those who have previously taken the tour.
https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/scrapbooks/tour-alum-scrapbooks
Click on each year and then scroll down to My Way Apline.
There’s none from 2024.
2023 has 3, including one from one of the winners.
2022 has 2 and so on.
I just thought of another thing. We heard about the free student recitals at the Mozarteum University and decided at the last minute one evening after dinner to check it out. I’m not sure if they will be taking place if the festival is at that time, but it’s worth checking into. We had paid earlier to hear a professional harpsichordist which was great but the student recitals were amazing. We still talk about that experience. When you go into the glass atrium area of the building of the university take the stairs to the lower level and that is where the recitals are held. Check to see if any are scheduled first.
