Hi everyone. This is my first post here and I'm hoping for some trip planning advice. My husband and I will be vacationing on the Amalfi Coast the first week in July. We will return to the US from Munich/Salzburg, Prague, or Ljubljana on 7/13, which leaves us with 6 free nights after the Amalfi Coast. We've been to Italy several times, so we'd like to spend those 6 nights somewhere outside of Italy. We would like to spend these nights in Austria, Slovenia, or the Czech Republic. We plan to fly from Naples to either the Munich/Salzburg area, the Triestse/Ljubljana area, or Prague on 7/7, so we'll have roughly a week to explore one or more of these areas. We're in our late 30's/early 40s. We enjoy good food, nice scenery (particularly mountain scenery), and light hiking. We're relatively active and we enjoy sightseeing, but we'd also like a few days to just relax. We also tend to prefer smaller towns to big cities. I'm guessing that there will be lots of tourists in the Amalfi Coast area while we're there, so we'd love to spend the second week of our vacation somewhere less crowded. Which of these areas, upper Austria, Slovenia, or the Czech Republic seems to be the best fit for us? Are there any must sees in the area that won't be terribly crowded in July? A trip that involves Salzburg and Prague is also an option for us, but that may involve too much travel time between cities. Thanks for your help!
Posted by
Seattle
4637 posts
Both Slovenia and Austria have absolutely stunning gorgeous mountain scenery. Czech Republic have lower mountains and highlands (lowlands too) therefore is more suited for light hiking. In July there will be more tourists everywhere but I still know areas in C.R. where you can walk (hike) all day and meet very few tourists or nobody.
Posted by
southwest, Missouri, U.S.A.
1717 posts
Hello Stephanie. I do not have knowledge of the airline flight routes and schedules for flying from Naples to Ljubljana in Slovenia. I think Slovenia is a good country to go to, for six days or less, because Slovenia has a variety of elements that Americans desire to see in Europe. Slovenia is a small country, therefore the travel distances within that country are short. Slovenia is likely to have hot weather in July. Munich and Salzburg and Prague will be very crowded with people in July. The scenic places on mountains in Austria are likely to be crowded with Austrian people in July. And the Danube river in Austria, between Melk and Krems, is likely to be very crowded. In the Salzkamergut region in Austria, there are resort hotels at very pleasant locations at the side of a big lake. One of those places is at Gilgan at the Wolfgangsee. It is not far from Salzburg. Reserving a room there, for some days in July, could be very difficult. When I was there, all the people working there talked in German, not in English. And all the guests there were German speaking people. I think flying to Munich could be satisfactory for you, if you travel away from Munich in a train. I think you could find information about small towns in Bavaria, that you would like, and they are not likely to be extremely crowded. I did not go to the Czech Republic.