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Suggestions/Info for Trip to Europe

My girlfriend and I are travelling to Europe and arrive in early August this summer. We want to know if this looks like a reasonable itinerary for the various areas to have a great experience and hoping for ideas/info/tips.


We are from Montana and things we love are hiking/nature, good food(no fish though - severe allergy) and beer(pilsner)/wine(girlfriend in wine sales and excited to try regional varieties), old towns/buildings and the environment/feel of beautiful settings, love art and music as well. Things we do not like are too many crowds, hectic areas, and tourist traps. Typically we are looking for more lowkey relaxing vibes interspersed with some of the cannot miss if you are there attractions, plus beautiful off the beaten path hikes and areas. We would love to hear any suggestions for amending time for an area, any tips/info for the areas, places 100% cannot miss within these areas, good off the beaten path gems, or anything else you can think of. We are thinking of renting a car to have more control of where we go, when we go, and we don't like being too crowded in public transportation.

  • 6 Nights Munich (maybe day trip to Salzburg or Prague(overnight in prague)?)...fyi we are staying on the outskirts of the city in Bogenhausen and car travel should not be a problem into and out of here.

  • 3 Nights Bad Tölz (maybe Tegernsee or Mittenwald day trips? Gotta be some good hikes?)

  • 3 Nights Val Gardena, Italy (Hike/Mtn Bike less crowded insanely beautiful areas?)

  • 3 Nights Engadin, Switzerland (Hike/Mtn Bike less crowded insanely beautiful areas?)

  • 2 Nights undecided (either extending Engadin or stay unknown area(Appenzell? or Austria?) on way back to Munich airport)

Thankyou for looking over this and offering some insights

Posted by
7731 posts

Prague is too far and you say you don't like crowded with touristy places so forget that especially in August.

The best scenery hiking and hidden gems are in Switzerland and the Dolomites (Val Gardena area).
I wouldn't do the Engadin area with a car when the trains run on time and stop where there are no cars specifically the Albula Railway.
Munich is kind of touristy also that time of year for 6 nights.

Posted by
1363 posts

Focus on Munich, the towns you’ve listed in Bavaria, Salzburg 🇦🇹 and surrounding areas ( Kammer, Gmunden and Traunstein on the Traunsee, Gosau, Dachstein Glacier and Hoher Dachstein) for your trip. Add Berchtesgaden National Park outside of Salzburg just over the border in 🇩🇪 Germany. That is within a realistic orbit and more than enough for your 17 days.
Have a great Trip!

Posted by
839 posts

Hiking/Nature, not too many people or touristy....

Munich and Salzburg will be very crowded. Mittenwald, Garmish-Partenkirchen (Partnachlamm is great), Berchtesgaden are all great.

Some places to consider in your planning.

https://www.gapa-tourismus.de/en

https://www.berchtesgaden.de/home

Swiss National Park in SE Switzerland:

https://www.nationalpark.ch/en/

The Dolomite Mountains are mostly in the Province of South Tirol:

https://www.suedtirol.info/en

If you avoid Prague and do an overnight trip to Salzburg and Berchtesgaden you can cut Munich to fewer nights and still enjoy beer and music. Then do a Munich to Garmish-Partenkirchen to Innsbruck, to the Brenner Pass to Bolzano (Dolomites to the east through Ortisei and Val Gardena; SNP to the west through Meran) trip with a day directly back to Munich from Bolzano.

Gillian Price has great hiking guides for the Dolomites:

https://www.gillianprice.eu/guidebooks.html

Have fun!

Posted by
6590 posts

"old towns/buildings and the environment/feel of beautiful settings... Things we do not like are too many crowds... lowkey relaxing vibes... beautiful off the beaten path hikes and areas."

Then why spend 6 nights in suburban Bogenhausen? Numerous options that are much closer to what you describe aren't that hard to find.

The Altmühl River Valley is one:
https://www.dw.com/en/discovering-the-altm%C3%BChl-valley/a-1776689

Pappenheim, Weißenburg, and Eichstätt are there. So is a popular bike path.

https://pappenheim.de/fileadmin/fvv/pdf/Stadtbroschuere_Pappenheim_2019.pdf

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g1051776-Activities-Weissenburg_in_Bayern_Middle_Franconia_Franconia_Bavaria.html

https://www.frankentourismus.com/cities/eichstaett/

https://en.kelheim.de/wege/altmuehltal-radweg-166/

Posted by
2 posts

Wonderful suggestions - thankyou everyone!
We will be attending a polterabend in Munich preceding a wedding in Bad Tölz so we have some mandatory stay, we found a very nice spot in Bogenhausen near the Isar because it looked far enough and quiet enough from the busier parts of the city that we can bike/walk through the Englischer Gardens to check out some of the city and then get back out, hopefully finding some biergartens along the way. Also we should be able to drive in and out from this location fairly easily...at least that is how we imagined it. I love the suggestions for some of the towns around Salzburg, as well as towns near Munich and I wish we could stay at those areas for longer than day trips. We will most likely try to make 1-2 day trips out of Munich to some of the areas you guys mentioned.


While In Bad Tölz we should be able to head to Mittenwald or Garmisch-Partenkirchen (love the suggestion for Partnachlamm) or both for a day trip - I think our day trips would look like: wake up early - travel - find a 1-2 nice areas/activities to checkout in the given location - nice food/drink head back to sleep in the eve.


We were able to book a nice place with a great deal in Engadin so I guess we are set on going there through Merano, hopefuly some stops along the way (passing by SNP on the way), im not sure if it would be worth it or not to take a longer route and do the Stelvio Pass... It does start to feel like we dont have enough time to do everything we want though - we would love to spend more time near Merano for example, or even visit Como - and if it was fully up to me I would probably spend half the trip in Austria as @Kenko mentioned and not do all this extra traveling.

Posted by
366 posts

I’d say shorten Munich to 3-4 days

Consider flying open jaws if you’re going to go way down to Italy

Insanely beautiful, lots of hiking and biking options but not crowded, access to nearby Salzburg…. Sounds like Ramsau or other little towns near Berchtesgaden/Konigsee.

Posted by
437 posts

Have you considered the Harz? Great hiking and biking, stunning little towns--might be right for you.

Also, the Black Forest has you in Baden-Württemberg, which is known for its wine.