Best of Germany, Swiss, and Austria- Anything you wished you added on?

Do I need to book gondola rides up Swiss Alps ahead a time for hikes? Thank you for your traveler's advice.

The weather is a factor to consider. There are days when the views are great, and there are days when things are socked in with fog, clouds, rain, and such, and the views are non existent. Rather than risk an expensive trip in what might be bad weather, I would not prepurchase a non refundable excursion. I'd rather take a chance on there not being space available that run the risk of spending a lot of money and not having anything to see for it. But that's just me; others will have different views (no pun intended) depending on their risk / reward tolerance.

When we did the RS GAS tour, our guide purchased our train tickets from Lauterbrunnen up to Wengen and the gondola up to Mannlichen to hike to Kleine Scheidegg and then take the train back down to Lauterbrunnen. This was an optional activity, so we paid her to purchase them for us, but the whole group opted to do it. We had clear blue skies!

In Salzburg, we went to a small music concert- just purchased the tickets when we were there. If there’s a music festival while you’re there, definitely go on-line and purchase a ticket, if that’s of interest. There’s several Sound of Music sites you can walk & see. I would recommend checking the activities on the Salzburg Card which we purchased on a subsequent trip - not that you need to buy the card, but it will give you ideas. Everything we did during both trips there wouldn’t have needed reservations ahead of time.

At Lake Hallstatt, you don’t need to reserve anything. There’s a lot to do in Vienna, if you’re able to stay an extra day or two.

From Salzburg, take the bus out to Berchtesgaden and the lake, and ride the lake boat to Salut. It's incredibly beautiful and peaceful, but no reason to book anything in advance.
If you do the salt mine tour, that does need to be booked in advance, whether in Salzburg or Hallstatt .
Safe travels!

My wife and I did the GAS tour last June. Andrea W was our guide(she was great!). For your question about the gondola ride-Andrea gave us a 3-day 'Rick Steves' pass that covers your trips from the valley floor lift at Stechelberg up to Murren(with a stop in Gimmelwald). All other lifts were pay outside and go. It wasn't worth purchasing a 3 day pass to cover other lifts for us. As for reservations-I highly recommend visiting Schonbrunn palace in Vienna. Reserve a tour online and save some time for a stroll through the gardens out back. Our tour started in Trier, not Cologne, but, our travels took us there in 2019. If you aren't afraid of heights, get a reservation for a rooftop tour of Cologne Cathedral. Some random notes about the tour...We wished we had more than 4-5 hours in the evening in Baden Baden. If you want to visit the Casino, you'll need to bring a jacket and tie. We opted for having dinner and taking a nice stroll along the river park. One final recommendation if you haven't purchased tickets yet. If you are able to spend a day or two before the tour starts, you should consider flying into Munich. We just didn't get enough time in that wonderful city. I hope you have a great trip! We had so much fun and some surprise gems we discovered along the way. Enjoy!

Andrea W was my guide as well when I did the GAS tour in 2019. She was awesome! I really wish I had gone to the salt mine up in Hallstatt when we were there. No need to book in advance for that. In Munich, several of our tour members went to Dachau. They simply went to the tourist office and booked their tour there. I would suggest spending at least an extra 2 nights in Vienna at the end of the tour. We did and still didn’t have time to see everything we wanted. Definitely book a ticket to Schonbrunn Palace. If I recall, you’ll have a free afternoon to do that but it’s worth staying an extra night so you can spend a lot of time there. The grounds are huge and there’s so much to see. If you really have time, go to Prague or Budapest for a few nights after the tour and then fly home from there. We went to Budapest and we really enjoyed it. Anyway, enjoy the GAS tour, you will love it!

One more thing, when we were in Murren, our guide gave us the option to pay for the gondola ride up to Schilthorn. They actually have a camera set up at Schilthorn so you can track the weather conditions. Andrea kept us updated and moved our activities around so we can go there on a clear day. I think we paid €50 for that go day ride and everyone from our group went. Otherwise, you get a 3 day pass to use the gondola to go up and down the valley floor in Stechelberg to Murren. It actually says Rick Steves pass on the ticket! I think Murren was everyone’s favorite stop on the tour.

Hi, I'm also doing the GAS in one month (beginning of June). Have you considered going in Baden Baden to the mineral baths? I was recommended to do it in Vienna also.

We took this tour in September and loved it. We arrived a few days early, stayed in St. Goar and took the local KD boat tour up the Rhine before heading to the starting city (Trier). We enjoyed a concert at Mirabel palace in Salzburg. Our guide lined up tickets the day before we arrived in Salzburg. After our tour ended, we took the train to Rothenburg and spent 2 nights there. We loved this little city. It’s so charming.

We did this tour a few years ago (great tour). I wished we would have pre-purchased a Sound of Music tour from Salzburg. The hotel was able to find last minute concert tickets for us but all the tours were booked.

Depending on your likes and interests, there are so many wonderful venues along this itinerary which aren't part of tour and typically require reservations in advance. We enjoyed a concert dinner at St Peters Stiftskeller while in Salzburg; it's not often you get to dine where Charlemagne did in the year 803. Following the tour we took a couple days in Vienna to see Schönbrunn Palace and take in a performance at Staatsoper. Both highly recommended and better managed to secure ahead of time. But there are many experiences in Vienna not requiring advance planning: Prater for a spin on riesenrad, having a 'picnic' in the heuriger, slowing down in a cafe with something sweet, walking thru Naschmarkt, spending a Sunday Morning at Kunsthistorisches Museum (or Belvedere, or Albertina). Your free time in Mürren doesn't require advance tickets. You're there for Nature. If the weather is good you can purchase lift/bahn/bus fare to get wherever you want to go (the tour guide will provide lift tickets btwn Lauterbrunnen and Mürren for the length of your stay, and likely will organize a group trip up to Schilthorn, weather permitting). On our free day we visited Wengen, and took the lift up to Mannlichen for hike to Kleine Scheidegg. You can purchase such a custom, multi-format ticket (to include lifts and trains, roundtrip) in one swoop at the original point of departure, and don't need to buy ahead of time. Nor would you want to, as Weather will be the deciding factor as to how best use your time in Berner Oberland.