Travel Alone to Austria, Switzerland, Northern Italy?

Jim,

You might get a few good ideas on places to see by reading the Itinerary planning section in Europe Through The Back Door. Watching Rick's videos is also a good source of information. With a time frame of only 10 days, three cities is probably a good limit.

If you've more-or-less decided on Zurich, Prague and Vienna you can start researching flights. As usual, open-jaw flights would be the most efficient option. You might check with a Travel Agent as well as the online sites to see what's available.

One question though - won't your Wife and her Mother object to you going to Europe without them?

Cheers!

Hi Jim, It's good to see you planning another trip. The link below hopefully will get you started on itinerary planning

http://www.ricksteves.com/graffiti/helpline/index.cfm/rurl/topic/28278/bhelp-with-itinerary-planning--travel-timesb.html

You're a long time forum participant here, so I realize you may have seen that link before and may already be using the planning tools that are at that link.

Some travelers feel Venice is not the best destination for solo travelers (romantic = for couples, blah blah blah); other travelers wouldn't hesitate to go to Venice solo--a matter of personal preference. If I recall correctly, some time ago you posted about solo travel and there was a discussion of that issue, so I'll leave it at that.

And you've already seen Rick's DVD's, so you probably already know Switzerland and Venice will be expensive, Switzerland in every way and Venice at least with respect to hotels.

Jim,

It's difficult for me to make suggestions on places for you to visit, as I don't know your interests, what type of sights you enjoy seeing, etc.

I think you've made a good choice with Austria, Switzerland and Northern Italy, as there are lots of possibilities. For those three countries, I'd fly into Munich (tour Austria, perhaps Salzburg & Hallstatt), then Northern Italy (perhaps Lago di Como, Stresa, Verona?), and then Switzerland (Gimmelwald / Lauterbrunnen Valley). Return home from the nearest large airport in Switzerland.

I'm close to the same age and also travel solo for the most part (except of course for the RS Tours, which I really enjoy). YES, decisions are unanimous when travelling solo!

My last two month "mega trip" was in Sept./Oct. so that's a nice time of year to travel (on that occasion Germany, Italy, Switzerland and France). My trips since then have only been a month, since that's all the time I can get off work at the moment (retirement coming soon though!).

With only 10 days for the trip, probably best to use fast trains whenever possible, to minimize travel times between cities. You might find it helpful to download the free PDF Rail Guide from this website (click the "Railpass" tab at the top), as it would be a good planning resource.

Cheers!

Ken

Those cities I listed are places that my wife and her mother went five years ago, plus my wife can't is working on a PhD which combined with work responsibilities will keep her from traveling until 2011. Actually the Italy trip was a gift to them for her graduation, but Katrina pushed it back again and we went anyway. She had no problem with me going back to Italy alone, so this was a no brainer because she'd been already there. I'm not restricting myself at all on this one. I have the "Back Door" book and the entire set of his DVDs and will take your advice and do some more research. If you have any alternative location suggestions I would love to hear them. Lastly, I've been told that when you're traveling alone all decisions are unanimous. Never done this before and it sounds exciting. Thanks.

Hi Jim,

You could keep it sort of easy travel and just visit northern Italy. Fly into Milan and train to Verona for a couple of nights and visit smaller Italian cities along the way. End up with a few days in Venice and fly home from there.

OR

Consider Berlin with few days in Prague.

Jim-

Planner, financier, pack mule and security guard-HAHA. I'm going to remember that one... :)