We are planning a 30 day trip to Europe, to include hiking and sightseeing. We are open to an itinerary that includes Germany, Austria, Switzerland. We are 2 couples with interests ranging from casual hiking to arduous hikes, as well as city walks to include "must see/do".
We plan to go in Sept/Oct 2017... so we need to start making reservations! We plan to stay in a couple different central locations and hike/sightsee from them. We want to be as efficient with our time traveling from place to place as possible, using locations that can be connected via trains/buses; although we will probably have a rental car. Are we crazy?? All help will be appreciated. TIA
Posted by
Atlanta, Georgia
451 posts
No, i don't think you are crazy, but I am envious! I would start out hiking in Switzerland because the trails may close early due to the snow and mountain huts and restaurants will close for the season. I don't know when they close, others can help answer that question. Are you planning on hiking hut to hut in Switzerland? There is a book on hiking hut to hut but the name and author escapes me. It has been mentioned in the Switzerland forum. I would head to the Lauterbrunnen Valley, North face trail above Murren and Mannlich to Kleinne Scheidegg are my two favorites for the scenery. But they are easy enough for a 7 year old so you may want to add some distance onto these and hike back down to Lauterbrunnen. You would be close enough to go over to Grindlewald and do some day hikes there. You could hike up to Mannlich from there and walk back down to Lauterbrunnen or catch the train in Kleinne Scheidegg or Wengen. Trails are very well marked. You can get to the Lauterbrunnen Valley by train from Interlaken Ost. Murren is reached from Lauterbrunnen by Cable car and either a short walk or train, or longer walk then cable car. Wengen is reached by train only. If you stay here, I recommend an apartment and self cater as restaurants can be expensive in Murren and Wengen.
Posted by
Seattle, WA
16330 posts
Nothing crazy about this idea. We have done five two-week hiking trips in Europe, including Swiss, Bavarian, and French Alps, plus the Dolomites in Italy. All were with a group of 5-9 people and all traveling by train. (We have also visited the Dolomites for a one-week time with a car). We have not made it to Austria yet, but I am looking at the Zillertal area for a future trip.
With 30 days, you could easily do four bases for hiking, with some cities as well. Some cities that would make sense for proximity to the Alps are Munich, Luzern, Salzburg, Vienna, and Montreux (I am sure people can suggest others). Pick three cities (one to fly into, one to fly out of, and one in the middle of the trip) and spend the rest of your time in the mountains.
Switzerland is high on everyone's list for scenery, but it is the most expensive, so you might want to spend time in Austria, Germany (Garmisch-Partenkirchen offers a variety of hikes) and/or France (Chamonix is easily accessible from Switzerland and actually has been included on the Swiss Pass, although I did not check on the current coverage).