Honeymoon Itinerary

You've picked some wonderful places! It doesn't look like you are spending much time in Munich. Since you are there, it is well worth spending some time to see some of the interesting sites. Some people do not enjoy Neuschwanstein. If you've done your research and would like to do it, I would recommend doing Hohenschwangau (basically across the street) as well, and do it first since it was actually lived in and the tour will give you history and context you won't get at Neuschwanstein. If you'd like to do a palace within Munich and skip your day trip, take a look at Nymphenburg Palace. It was the summer residence of the royal family. The Residenz (royal palace in the old town) is immense and the tour is interesting but you need to pace yourself. You might consider just one night in Frankfurt and give yourself more time in Munich. I would recommend not staying in Colmar, but staying in one of the beautiful half timbered wine villages. We stayed in Eguisheim and it was like a fairy tale. We also stayed a night in Colmar, enjoyed ourselves, but one night is enough. It is quite busy and a larger city. I would recommend a car in Alsace. We took the train to Colmar and picked up the car in Colmar.

Hi,
I would skip day 15 in Frankfurt and add it to Munich, and I would skip Milan and add a day to Lucerne to have time for a mountain day trip.

Otherwise, while it is a fast paced trip, it is a feasible loop that provides a good sample of four countries.

From Salzburg to Varenna there is a way to take in the very scenic Bernina railway, rather than going via Milan. Train to Landeck-Zams, bus to Scuol, train towards St Moritz (or another station in the area), Bernina Express to Tirano, then finally (phew!) train to Varenna. Yes, it is complicated, it takes about 7-8 hours, but there's great scenery.

Congratulations on figuring out a way to see several different countries without covering too many miles or dealing with an itinerary reminiscent of The Amazing Race.

The Bernina Express is an interesting idea if you're willing to spend some extra time on trains in order to take in one of the world's most scenic routes. The Seat61 website details how to buy tickets on the cheap. That entire website is a gold mine of train information.

I purchased the Bernina Express with advice from Seat 61. It is indeed much less expensive than thru Sbb. BUT, it took me 3 months to finally get the tickets. It was likely a fluke, and I would do it again, but a bit differently. Here's what happened:

I set up an account with DB (Deutsche Bahn) It was complete with city, state, country and zip. I really would have been in trouble had I not set up the account because it was within the account that I could find my train travel detail. I logged into DB to purchase the tickets, I did a lot of manipulating to get the times I needed (I got great help from Green Bay, Sam on this forum) When I tried to buy my tickets, the purchase kept failing. It clearly did not like my address. I kept trying different things and finally the purchase went thru. The tickets were supposed to come via mail (has to come by mail because the actual travel per the ticket crosses too many borders) in 10 days. After 3 weeks, I started to try to contact DB. I also let Seat 61 know that there were some glitches in the process and DB's service or lack there of. I do not have phone service for Europe. I contacted DB by email and they were extremely slow to respond if at all. They said the tickets were "real" tickets and they could not be reprinted. I found a U.S. based number for DB. While they were helpful and could read some of the notes of my communications and DB's response they only can assist with tickets purchased over the phone not online. One of the communications with DB indicated that customer didn't have a zip code on the order (probably because the purchase process was surly, their system should have caught that there was no zip and there is a zip in my account) and IF the tickets were returned to DB in Germany they would resend with zip. They also said that if I arrive to Europe and still do not have the tickets I should repurchase and send documentation to DB for a refund. EXCEPT, the method to get the tickets involves travel starting in Germany though my travel was starting in Zurich--legal and similar to airfare "hidden city" which is pretty much not legal) So I was never going to actually be in Germany for my trip. After 2 months, I decided to purchase a new set of tickets and dispute the charge with my VISA. After a few days when VISA said I'd get my money back, I called the U.S. number again to purchase the tickets. I told them I wanted to purchase the same ticket. They checked the notes and a new note had been added that the tickets were resent. I don't know if they got my tickets back or they just resent them. I did get the tickets 9 days later. I think part of the difficulty is they use a German address format (they are based in Germany so I don't really fault them for that) which leaves off the state, and the format puts the zip code in an odd place in relative to where USPS is used to seeing it. So without a zip code and the fact that the city associated with my zip code is St. Paul when I actually live in a suburb, the tickets really weren't going to get to me. All the U.S. postal service had to go on was St. Paul and a street address. Plus DB send the tickets 1st class mail so nothing can be tracked also, USPS told me if "they" sent mail back "return to sender" it likely gets caught up in U.S. customs because an incomplete address is suspicious.

OK, sorry, but wanted to give the complete background. So, IMO, should people choose this method, which is quite a savings and I would do again, I would suggest setting up a DB account, tinkering with the ticket on the DB website and then ordering the actual ticket via the U.S. based DB phone number. That way there is a live person to talk to to make sure the address is accurate and so there is a live person to resolve any difficulties. I also would suggest purchasing the tickets 3 months in advance. Also, it seemed that if the tickets were purchased over the phone, a traveler could also purchase the seat reservation at the same time.

Thanks everybody for your suggestions! Really appreciate it.

1) The Bernina Express does seem viable but a tad complicated to get there from Salzburg. How does the Gotthard Panorama Express compare to Bernina Express? Is it worth going out of our way to see both?

2) We are thinking of staying at Hotel Des Alpes in Lucerne - any thoughts? We will be there in the middle of June and we know there is no AC but we are thinking that early in the season the weather shouldn’t be too hot.

Getting to Varenna from Salzburg is a bit complicated anyway, so the added complexity of going via St Moritz and the Bernina pass is low. The SBB (Swiss railways) journey planner gives all the details. Current timetable shows an extra bus connection, but this is temporary (engineering works on the rail route from Scuol).
And yes, Bernina Railway is much higher than Gotthard railway, the scenery is even better in my opinion.

I had a very nice stay at the Hotel des Alpes in Luzern. I was there in September 2014 and didn't need AC; I can't comment on weather in June 2020. However, friends of mine were in the Alps (the trail from Maennlichen to Kleine Scheidegg) in June 2019, and it hit 90 degrees F; one of them got heat exhaustion! So, with current climate trends, it's definitely not out of the realm of possibility that you will want AC in Luzern.

I had a very nice stay at the Hotel des Alpes in Luzern in October 2017. I remember seeing a fan in the closet. I think a June stay depends on your tolerance of heat. I did fine staying in places in Slovenia without A/C with highs in the mid-80's this August, but boy was it grand when I hit hotel #3, and it had air conditioning. I would also consider your situation... honeymoon. I think I would be aiming closer to "perfect" than to "tolerable" in that situation, so I would probably look for a place with a/c.

You have a very sensible plan which has a few stops. Most of us who travel to Europe find that spending 3-4 nights in a place (which you sensibly have planned) makes for a more satisfying trip. Every great city has a lot of stuff to do.

Enjoy your honeymoon. My wife and I love to travel to Europe, and have been to some places you are going. Salzburg in particular is a nice town. There are several things I would not miss: the Mozart birth house (esp if you are a fan of classical music), the Augustiner Braustubl (local beer hall), and just walking around. We stayed in the Juma Hostel, which is casual and inexpensive, with many families staying there. Don't be put off by the term "hostel", which often suggests a dorm filled with people carrying backpacks. There is that, but most hostels in Europe also have private rooms which are not expensive. My wife and I are of the camp of "spend as little as possible for rooms, and put the money into good dinners". If that is your view as well, hostels can offer a good value for a modest cost.

Since you have plenty of time, I would consider getting places to stay before you leave. Makes you trip much easier.

We appreciate the continued advice! Definitely a lot of great suggestions here.

We were planning on taking the Gotthard Panorama Express on a Monday to get to Lucerne, and upon further research I now realize this isn’t possible as the Panorama train is closed for maintenance on Mondays. Also, some additional reading is having us reconsider Lucerne in favor of Lauterbrunnen. Can anyone speak to pros/cons of Lauterbrunnen vs. Lucerne? It looks Lauterbrunnen would still be an easy train ride to our niece stop (Colmar, about 3 hours).

As far as hotels go, we are staying in Le Colombier Suites in Colmar, the royal Victoria in Varenna, 1 night in hotel sacher Salzburg / 2 nights in Schloss Fuschl just outside Salzburg.

Looking for hotel suggestions in Munich and Frankfurt.

In Munich, I really liked Hotel Uhland. It's an elegant refurbished mansion in a more residential area with a lovely included breakfast

"Can anyone speak to pros/cons of Lauterbrunnen vs. Lucerne? "

Apples and oranges.

Luzern is a nice small city, with an attractive center and some nice attractions (museums, boats on the lake, access to Mt Rigi, Pilatus, and Titlis). Lauterbrunnen is a small village, whose attraction is its proximity to both sides of the Lauterbrunnen Valley. The only "attraction" in town itself is actually just at the edge, the Talmuseum. Other than that, you'll just use Lauterbrunnen to sleep, change clothes, eat, and catch transit to other places.

The point of going to Lauterbrunnen is to take advantage of the astounding variety of hikes, walks, and rides in the Alps. There's the Schilthornbahn, Allmendhubel, Jungfraujoch, Maennlichen to Kleine Scheidegg walk, valley floor walk with detour to the Trummelbach Falls etc, etc, - the list is endless, and they only vary in degrees of wonderful.

I was very glad I went to both. But if you have to choose, I'd pick Lauterbrunnen. And as long as you've gone that far, look into staying in Muerren, actually up in the mountains, rather than the valley floor as Lauterbrunnen is.