3 week trip help Austria Dolomites Switzerland +

Amy,
First thought: Renting a car in one country and returning in another has big drop off fees (500-1000 euros). You might want to reconsider driving.
Second thought: Two nights in one place means only one full day there. You are moving around a lot, cutting into your time at each place, plus every change of locations entails extra costs for train or bus. Figure a half day to check out of lodgings, get to train or bus station or airport, travel time, then getting to new lodgings and checking in. That doesn't leave you much of that day in the new location. Perhaps you could eliminate 2 or 3 locations and spend more time in those that are left.
Even with three weeks, it might be better to spend fewer days on the move.
I like to look at an actual map and see the big picture of my travels. That would give you a better idea of the distances you are thinking of covering, and may help in your planning.
Bonne chance et bon voyage!

Ty so much. Yes our plan is to travel by train. I have looked into doing second part in reverse and picking up car in Dolomites flying out of Milan. But not sure.
We travel a lot and usually move around fairly quickly but maybe will extend a night or two in one location to remove two nights in Switzerland.

You want to keep costs down and you are toing to Switzerland $$$$$ and Austria $$$? Maybe rethink the whole thing and do an Eastern European $$ trip this year. Don’t try and start and stop in Spain. Do an open jaw ticket and keep the flow in one direction. Or at least drop Switzerland this trip.

My thoughts on what you posted.

• Fly Madrid to Budapest 3 nights. So you will arrive maybe at noon? Then check-in, unpack and have a few hours (first night). IF you fly Wizz and you do carryon only, not an expensive trip.
• A full day in Budapest (2nd night)
• A full day in Budapest (3rd night) You are a full day short of sort of the minimum. But anything might be better than nothing. Only you know what you are interested in. I would suggest you get a hotel on the river. With so little time at least you will remember the views and the lights of the river.
• Morning train to Vienna 2 nights, arrive at 1pm cause checkin time is 2pm, Check in unpack and you have a few hours. (first night)
• A full day in Vienna (2nd night). You are two solid days short of the minimum. But anything might be better than nothing. Only you know what you are interested in. I would suggest you get a inside the rignstrass. With so little time this puts you in the heart of the style, beauty and culture of the city.
• Morning Train Salzburg 2 nights. Gives you a half day (night one)
• See Salzburg (2nd night) Actually not horrible for Salzburg.

I will stop there, because that’s where my expertise ends.

I suggested on another thread to look at a lot of videos of the places on your list. Get a feel for the size and scope and for what tourists go to these place for. Also read the country specific posts on the forum for the same sort of information. It might give you some more context.

Here is a start on Vienna and Budapest

Favorite Tourism Video of Budapest https://youtu.be/1nd5AtZIrTk?feature=shared
A good Vienna video by the same guy as the Budapest video https://youtu.be/aZkulG-jtv8?si=lSPvFLOpWnTs6IIr
Anthony Bourdain describing how visually pleasurable Budapest is https://youtu.be/0nd9DuDGCz0?si=aa0c19KaJHEtabkX

Thank you all so much.
Yes I know. Austria and Switzerland.
We were trying to do a hiking trip with a little city (Budapest and Vienna) thrown in.
We’ve found cheap hotels in Austria and actually Switzerland as well. All slightly above $100 a night (have two free nights in Vienna) but the Dolomites hotel was surprisingly expensive.
It’s more the day to day we are concerned about.
We’ve travelled through Croatia our last two trips. Love it. Considering rearranging trip to go back
Was just really excited about the hiking in a few places on the list.

Hotels in the Swiss, Austrian, and Italian Alps are all pretty expensive. Sept is no longer low season, but high season.

We’ve travelled through Croatia our last two trips. Love it.
Considering rearranging trip to go back

Since you mentioned loving Croatia and maybe rethinking it. There are other places, with some similarity, but would be new to you … instead of or with Croatia; Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania. Definitely less expensive than Switzerland. Make it late August and you might run into me in Bosnia (fishing in the high country). Probably one of the last remaining great hikes in Europe: https://www.strugglingpoettravels.com/post/a-guide-to-hiking-the-theth-to-valbona-hike Beautiful and unspoiled and culturally unique.

And if you want some City thrown in there are direct connections between Vienna and Sarajevo, Zagreb, Dubrovnik and Split; and there are direct connections between Budapest and Podgorica and Tirana.

You could fly to Vienna, spend a few days, then on to Sarajevo for hiking Bosnia & Herzegovina and Montenegro, maybe fly out of Podgorica after the hike and spend a few days in Budapest.

If you wanted mountains and coast you could fly Vienna to Dubrovnik then hike southern Montenegro along the coast and fly out of Podgorica for a few days in Budapest.

Most exotic would be fly Vienna to Dubrovnik and work down the coast and into Albania for the Theth to Valbona hike and then out of Tirana to Budapest.

Land transportation in the Balkans isnt as easy for tourists as Western Europe. If you are adventurous there are the busses. If not so adventurous I know a good trip planner for the region that can hook you up with drivers. A driver here is not an expensive thing.

Bosnia & Herzegovina
https://www.alltrails.com/bosnia-herzegovina
https://www.muchbetteradventures.com/magazine/karsts-and-rock-rings-a-guide-to-hiking-in-bosnia-and-herzegovina/
https://www.komoot.com/guide/71779/hiking-in-bosnia-and-herzegovina

Montenegro
https://www.komoot.com/guide/72090/hiking-in-montenegro
https://www.alltrails.com/montenegro

Albania
https://relentlessroaming.com/albanian-alps-hikes/

Wow. Thank you so much for all the information. I definitely have some research to do this weekend. We truly love Croatia especially the islands and our time hiking in Slovenia. So I really appreciate all the specific links to hikes and places!!!

Times and circumstances change and I always thought it best to do what you can do well at that moment. The other dreams will be there when the time is right.

You might contact this lady and tell her what you enjoy and see what she can do for you: Dijana Krkotic, Guide & Tour Designer, Doclea Travel, +382 69 277 749, [email protected], www.docleatravel.com

If you will have a car for the Dolomites section, consider staying outside of Ortesei. It’s kind of the Disneyland of the area: very touristy and crowded. We stayed at La Tambra in Santa Cristina and loved it. Selva is another option. There might be more affordable options than Ortesei, and the towns are about 5 minutes apart.

Food in Switzerland adds a lot to the cost. Expect to pay 1.5 times what you would pay in other areas. But surprisingly, grocery store prices aren’t as high. So if you can pick up some meals at the wonderful grocery stores, you can save some money. Even the small grocery in Wengen had lovely pre-made items and breakfast options.