Vienna November

Museums, cafes, and people watching are the lifeblood of Vienna and I've happily spent 5-7 days there more than once. If you want a mountain excursion (which may include snow), I'd look at a side trip toward Klagenfurt (haven't been myself) or smaller town in that direction. Daytrips from Vienna to Bratislava or along the Danube are also easy.

Innsbruck and Geneva are considered by many to be rather boring cities and will not, in themselves, add any outdoor/hiking element to your trip. Lake Como is very quiet in November and also takes too much travel time both ways. Hallstatt or another lakefront town in Austria's Salzkammergut would at least be closer. You would then fly home from Vienna again, or possibly Munich.

I agree that Geneva is not that exciting relative to other Swiss cities, Luzern being my favorite. Berner Oberland is amazing, but not so sure if it'd be that great in November. If you are needing to use the Geneva airport, you could stay in Lausanne or Montreaux which is still pretty close to the airport and much more interesting Lake Geneva cities. The only cavaet would be that if you are interested in physics, CERN, located very close to Geneva, is a pretty amazing place.

I too have spent weeks in Vienna without leaving the city. But, if you feel you need to I'd probably stop in Salzburg over Innsbruck in November. Or just split the trip between Vienna and Geneva. If you ski you could easily take an overnight into Slovakia provided there's snow and fly out of Vienna also. Nine days go by quickly.

Depending on your love of music and art, Vienna could easily occupy all of your time. Like others above, I've been happy in Vienna for weeks at a time with no ideas of going anywhere else, but I'm not an outdoors person.

Have a look at the offerings
https://www.viennaconcerts.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMItI3KitWk3QIVWIGzCh0isgJMEAAYASAAEgKVMvD_BwE

Hmm... Unlike others, I find the old town part of Geneva to be quite pleasant and certainly worth an afternoon and evening. My wife and I have been there several times for work and leisure and have always enjoyed it.

To respond to one of the poster's questions -- I've never tried it but my understanding is that a train trip, perhaps supplemented with a taxi if needed, would be cheaper and likely less stressful than renting a car in one country and dropping it off in another.

To answer your questions first:
1) Travel across borders in Europe is so easy you won’t even notice when you go from one country to another. 2) Renting a car is inadvisable if you intend to return the car in a different country than the one in which you rented it, as international drop off fees are prohibitively expensive. Go by train. FYI, the earlier you buy your ticket (easily done online), the cheaper, although you will have to pick a departure time and stick to it, as the tickets are valid only for the time selected.

About your itinerary, for a trip of this length, you will be spending too much time traveling and too little time enjoying yourself. Remember that you may be jet lagged on arrival day and that you can’t realy expect to do much touring on departure day. This leaves you only 7 days for four cities, which is insufficient for anything other than drive by tourism.

As others note, Vienna, often considered one of the most livable cities in the world, has a lot to offer. Have you read RS' Austria book? Many suggest 2 touring activities/day. How many do you have for Vienna? Have you mapped out a day-to-day schedule? You may find that you have 10 Vienna activities, leaving time for 1 other city. With a short trip, I favor only 2 stops. I would pick 2 places and stick with that.

Be aware that Nov. 1 is a public holiday in Austria and shops/banks/businesses will be closed.

Crossing borders by train or car is like driving over a state line in the US. There are no checkpoints.

Renting a car vs. taking the train depends on where you want to go. You do need an IDP to legally drive in Austria.

The outdoors in November will be rainy and cold in Austria so it is best to stick to cities and locations with indoor activities.

Hello meredithmeian. In this trip, I recommend travelling in Austria, only. At Murren in Switzerland (Berner Oberland region) the hotels are closed in November. I think being at Lake Como (in northern Italy) in November would not be enjoyable. The air is likely to be cold there in November.