My husband and I are planning a trip in May. We plan to fly into Munic. We would like to visit Salzburg, Kings Castles, Lake Como, Cinque Terre, Florence (wine country) . Our daughter will be studying in Florence and we plan to fly home with her out of Pisa on May 23. She already has her flight. Our thoughts are to be in Europe 16-18 days. We are somewhat flexible with the number of days. I wanted to go to Interlaken also, but I am thinking that might be best for a different trip. What are your thoughts with this plan? Is there anything along our path that we should visit? Anything else in Austria? Should we stay somewhere in Dolomits? We aren't interested in Rome for this trip. We are thinking about 2-3 nights in each location. We like natural beauty, food, wine, hiking. Don't want too many big cities and museums. I am thinking that we will travel by train and buses, but wondering about renting a car in Floence to visit wine country and staying somewhere quaint in wine country. Not sure where or how far apart vineyards are located. Thoughts?
Thank you in advance for your advice!
Posted by
Myrtle Beach, USA
12313 posts
Thoughts, not in particular order:
A rental car is a good idea once you get outside of Florence into Tuscany. There are bus and limited train options but you will be better served with a rental and traveling at your own pace. I missed the wineries in the area because I had kids in tow and it wasn't our priority.
Florence is worth several days for the churches and museums. If you're avoiding museums, you might not want to spend much time there at all. I find it to be one of the least tourist friendly - in terms of local attitude, cost/quality of lodging, and cost/quality of food - cities in Europe (probably because they have such a constant stream of tourists to see their museums).
Pisa is another place that has essentially one sight worth seeing, the Field of Miracles (which includes the leaning tower). It's great but doesn't really even merit an overnight stay. I normally suggest people spend a few hours there on their way to or from Cinque Terra.
The Dolomites seem like a best fit for a trip that includes Venice. You can come down the Brenner Pass then take the highway that runs east through the heart of the Dolomites. At the far end you're close to Venice. This is also a place to have a rental car. I'm not aware of good public transportation. Maybe it's there and I just wasn't looking for it because I was driving?
I think the castles are best seen from Munich. I suggest renting a car from Munich, staying a night in Fussen (we stayed in Reutte but wouldn't recommend it in hind sight). Arrive at the castles more than 30 minutes before opening and get in line to get tickets. By beating the crowds you can limit your wait time and be done with your visit well before lunch. Then spend the day driving at an easy pace back to Munich. Take the bus to the top with spare time before your Neuschwanstein visit. Walk further up the hill to the Marienbrucke. I'd heard they are doing repairs on the bridge but not sure when that will be done. The view from the bridge of the castle is spectacular - this is the photo you most often see of the castle.
After the castle, I'd stop at Andechs monastery/brewery on the way back to Munich.
I love Salzburg. It's a beautiful small city with a great compact old center to explore - churches, gardens, cemetary, caves and castle at the top of the hill - lots to see and all within an easy walk. Musical performances are nearly constant, even the street musicians are talented. One of my favorite views on the planet is from one of the walking bridges that cross the Salz river. At night the old center is lit up and it's perfect. Have at least one meal at the Augustiner brewery, walking distance from any central lodging.
If you're driving from Austria into Italy, you can make a short stop at Hall im Tirol (near Innsbruck). There are some nice sights around the old center. It's not worth an overnight but a good place to break up an otherwise long drive.
For Cinque Terra, you will catch a local train from La Spezia. This is not the time to have a car because it will be parked there while you're in CT (and many cars are prowled around the train station). If you rent, check your options for turning the car in before CT. Afterward, you should be able to train to Pisa to catch your flight. We stayed in Vernazza, which I felt was the most quaint of the towns. CT is for relaxing. The only real activity is a hiking trail along the coast, or perhaps a boat ride, to neighboring towns.
Posted by
Knoxville, TN, USA
7209 posts
Do reserve your tickets at Neuschwanstein ahead of time at the their official website and avoid waiting.
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
15996 posts
First of all you must be aware that when you rent a car, if you rent a car in a country (e.g. Germany) and return the car in a different country (e.g. Italy) there are huge 'rental drop off fees' to pay which run in the hundreds of Euro, therefore it's a good idea, if you rent a car, to pick it up and return it in the same country. In most cases there will be 'zero' drop off fees if you pick up and return the car in the same country, even if it's a different rental office within the same country.
If you fly to MUC, I would rent a car in MUC and visit the Bavarian Castles (e.g. Neuschwanstein Castle). Salzburg is also reasonably close to MUC. You could opt to return the car in MUC (after visiting the castles) and then proceed by train to Salzburg, or you could use the rental car to drive to Salzburg. A car in Salzburg is not needed, but you might like to drive around the beautiful mountains nearby. The important thing is that you should return the car in Germany, and not drive to Italy with it, unless you are willing to pay top $$ for the drop off fee.
Once you are back in MUC, It would be a good idea to go to the Italian Dolomites, which are close. In that case I would take the train from Munich to Bolzano (Italy) and rent another car in Italy for the rest of my trip (you would return the car in Italy before flying home).
With a rental car, you can visit wherever you want. Obviously with 16-18 days you can't do everything you mentioned. By the time you are in Italy, I'm sure you have already spent at least 4 or 5 nights in Germany/Austria.
The Dolomites are worth at least 2 nights (Ortisei in the Val Gardena is a good place). Then these are the options:
Lake Garda: 2 nights? (Lake Garda is better than Lake Como as it's along the way from the Dolomites to Tuscany, otherwise it's a detour).
Cinque Terre: 2 nights
Tuscany: whatever you have left.
With a car you should stay outside of Florence, and maybe visit Florence on a day trip. Florence is a must if you are in Tuscany, especially considering your daughter is studying there.
Regarding the comment above that Florence has low quality/high price food, low quality/high price lodging and local people with attitude, that is totally subjective generalization based on the personal experience of someone who has probably visited Florence just one time or two in their lifetime. Just because a person has had a bad experience with a restaurant or with a hotel doesn't mean that all restaurants or all hotels are bad. Actually Florence has some of the best food in Europe, and more great restaurants than Gainesville. One should also not judge an entire population based on an unpleasant encounter with someone who had an attitude. The first time I visited Los Angeles as an Italian tourist coming from Italy I was ripped off by a scammer, should I suggest to people not to visit L.A. because all locals in L.A. are scammers?