Alpine My Way Tour

I am not doing Alpine My Way next spring - well not as far as I know :-). However, I have taken this tour and intend to repeat it. Things on my list: walk the Lauterbrunnen Valley floor and imagine I am in Tolkien's Middle Earth. I would visit more of the Wengen side above the Lauterbrunnen Valley because I really have not and there seem to be so many opportunities to explore - see Rick's Monday Night adventure where he speaks about his own vacation in the area. I would revisit the pub with patio in Gimmelwald - for a few hours - best view, nice beverages and food, close to cable car if you need or want it.

Walk between Fuessen and Schwangau - or if it is during a super crowded time, there are apparently rarely visited vistas close to town from which one can view Neuschwanstein (been there twice and not doing that particular trek again). In Schwangau itself, there is a great restaurant by the lake with outdoor patio. I might revisit that for taking a break. Oh, on the way to Fuessen, we did stop for those who wanted to go up the Zugspitze. Most did. It is where I overcame my fear of cable cars.

When my group went, we did not stay in Kastelruth or similar. We stayed in Bolzano, so I would prioritize the surrounding Alpe di Suisi - June, that's a good time for wild flowers? Lucky you, if so. I would drink at least one Hugo Spritz. If it rains, I would go shopping in Bolzano and visit Oetsi, which I also have not done.

Chamonix: I would definitely go up the Aiguille du Midi again. And maybe stop on the way back halfway down (by cable car, not hiking) for a coffee and the views. One thing I do not want to do is take the cable car over to Italy. Nope. Too small. I could see me hyperventilating if it got stuck. I would like to explore more around Chamonix than Mt. Blanc, so I would be reading up on possibilities. My group had a great hotel where people river-rafted by. It was great fun to watch. We had a little party on the lawn and cheered the rafters on.

Perhaps because of the amount of choice on how to spend time, this felt very much like a vacation. We had a group that bonded and often came together on its own for meals. Oh, some tour members did go for long, long hikes.

I went a few years back and the itinerary has improved. My tour was in the first half of June. The tours just before and just after had great weather, mine was plagued by rain and clouds. It was still good. Just be prepared mentally to go with the flow. I got a lot of insight, tips and recommendations from the RS scrapbooks of previous years.

Debbie - thank you for taking the time to write and in the detail that you did! Sounds like a wonderful time and your pace sounds good as well. And I really didn't know anything about Chamonix, so excellent ideas.
Chani - excellent idea about Scrapbooks - I hadn't looked at that.