Austria & Italy

Get a RS Italy Guide Book.

Charlie, Hahahahhahahahaha...Mahalo bro for giving me a laugh.
Heidi, 2 weeks can be easily spent in either country...where do you want to visit and why?

Yep have the Italy book. Have been to Venice and Florence. Meeting my daughter in Italy after she spends some time in southern Italy. Am thinking of cinque terre area, possibly Venice again, Dolomites/lake area, Innsbruck, maybe Vienna. Like scenery as opposed to shopping.

Heidi, Two weeks isn't a long time, so you likely won't be able to get to all the places you listed. Does that time frame include your two flight days? I'd suggest making a list of the places you want to see, listed in the order of priority. Choose the top four or five and work out an Itinerary based on that. Using open-jaw flights would be the most efficient method. You could perhaps fly inbound to Munich and outbound from Florence or Milan. It may be possible to find a flight to Innsbruck, but you'll likely have to change planes in Frankfurt or other large hub airport. If you're planning to spend a couple of nights in the Cinque Terre, I'd recommend pre-booking accommodations. Monterosso is the largest of the five towns, and has the grestest number of hotels, restaurants, shops, etc. (as well as the nicest beach), so you could start looking there. Happy travels!

Early April is not a good time for the Dolomites. Many of the hotels close right after Easter for a little break. Most lifts will close too. It is too late for skiing and too early for hiking. But you could stop in Bolzano and maybe Castelrotto on your way to Austria. Lago di Garda can be really nice in April, and is not crowded at that time. We spent three nights in Malcescine in April and really enjoyed it. You can ride the cable car up Monte Baldo and see the Dolomites from there. Two places I would recommend on your way from Cinque Terre to Venice would be Orvieto and Ravenna. We were there a few days ago and wish we had allotted more time for each one, especially Ravenna.

If you look on the German rail line there is a tour bus from venice to the town of villagh , then the train to salsburg Austria . A beautiful trip through the alps , then you can rent a car in salsburg if you want to.
enjoy

Just worth re-emphasizing two common themes: April is the worst month of the year for the Alps, and the Dolomites are only one small subrange of the much more extensive Italian Alps. If you're headed to Austria during this month, I suggest you concentrate on the cities. As Lola mentioned, the mountains are too wet to hike or ski during this period.

I'm thinking we'll change and do Venice, over to Cinque Terre and then on up through southern France, ending in Paris. Seems like a better choice at that time of year. Thoughts?

Heidi, Your new plan sounds better for that time of year, but there's still a "wild card". Venice and Paris should both be nice at that time of year, as there are lots of "indoor options" to choose from if it's raining. The Cinque Terre will just be opening for the season at the beginning of April and it should be pleasant if the weather is good, and not too crowded. However, if the weather is miserable your visit there won't be very enjoyable as there are no "indoor options" there. Also, not all of the No. 2 trails may be open. In the same situation, I'd probably go for it and take a chance on the C.T. as it's reasonably convenient to continue on from there to Paris (I'd recommend using an EasyJet flight from Pisa to Paris ORY - departs 16:20 and arrives at 18:00 - you can use the OrlyVal train and RER B for the trip into Paris from the airport). Cheers!

Take a look at Untours... and then spend one week in two places, one week in a city in Italy and another at a place in Switzerland...