My Way Alpine Europe or Germany-Austria-Switzerland tour?

I have done the tour along with other tours and have done a lot of Europe several times on my own. I have been in the Berner Oberland 4 times and will go again. It is my favorite place on earth. In looking at your tour options I would first consider where they are going. My Way has 2 really pretty locations that GAS does not do. Mt Blanc and the Dolomites. But GAS does Vienna which is awesome. Next it looks like both tours are in the Berner Oberland for the same amount of time. The best things to see are the Schilthorn, the hike from Mannlichen down to Kleine Scheidegg and Trummelbach Falls. The Jungfrauhoch is great but expensive and takes one full day almost. The other 3 are a half a day each and there are other awesome hikes and bike rides that you would miss if you do the Jungfrauhoch train trip. The views from the Jungfrau are awesome but I think the views from the Shilthorn and Birg side are better if you are a photographer like me. For example.....going up to the Schilthorn via Gondola....stop at the Birg which is just below the Schilthorn. The photos of the Eiger, Monsch and Jungfrau are actually better there than the Schiltorn itself. But the views are 360 degrees from the Schilthorn so you can see more than just the 3 major mountains. After the Schilthorn take the Gondola down and get off at Murren and explore the town. Then get back on and stop at Gimmelwald and walk around there. Then you can get back on and go to the valley floor near Stechelberg and it is a short walk to Trummelbach. You can do all of that in one day on the tour or on My Way. The next day you can go up the other side to Mannlichen and hike down and have lunch in Kleine Scheidegg. You still have a half day to go back down to Lauterbrunnen and hike out of town in the valley and see the falls or other things...or go to Wengen. All of this you can do on the tour or on My Way. Having done both my preference is the tour because sometimes I want to let them do the work of organizing and the guides are with you, buy the tickets and give you lots of information about what you re seeing. The tour also gives you both afternoons to do what you want and the guide will give you really good instructions on how to get there and sometimes even go with you. The My Way guides also help you and give you really good instructions on how to get to places but it takes time to buy tickets on your own and figure out little things as you go. My Way guides don't usually go with you because everything you do is on your own. I made much better friends on the tours than My Way and usually more of the people on the tour want to go do the same things that you want to do with your free time and it is fun and less stressful to have others along for the ride. If you do My Way I would go 2 days early to Salzburg. It is worth more than the day and a half you will get on the tour. So much to see there. Then I would stay for at least one extra and maybe 2 at Mt. Blanc at the end. It is very pretty there. If you do the GAS I would stay for 2 extra days at the end in Vienna. MUCH to see and do there especially if you love classical music. I hope this helped and if you have other questions send me a PM.

If you want to hike, do the My Way Alpine. We hiked at every location, sometimes with others from the tour and sometimes on our own. The Tour Manager is available to help you select hiking trails and talk about local transportation. When appropriate, she did an orientation walk of the town when we arrived. Also, the My Way Tour is mainly in smaller towns, and places that I would find difficult to get to on my own. I think it's much easier to visit/get to Vienna on your own than it is the Dolomites, just from the standpoint of getting there. I'm sure you will enjoy either tour, but if you like being active outdoors, the My Way tour is ideal.

Thank you very much, Terry and Padams. Terry, I really appreciate your description of how to make the most of our time in the Berner Oberland. And Padams, you are so right--it is harder to get to the smaller towns on our own, so I think for that reason we're going to stick with the My Way tour. We plan to arrive a few days early and spend two nights in Hallstadt (which is included on the GAS tour but not My Way). Again, I really appreciate both of your replies.

Good call on Hallstatt. Very pretty and a fun place to relax and or do stuff to. Good restaurants also. Have fun.

My husband and I took the GAS tour in 2022. Loved! My husband had never been abroad. We both loved the guided parts and little extras from this tour. Our guide, Marion, was AMAZING, as were the individuals in some of the cities we toured. That being said, we are taking the My Way Alpine in 2024. We will be visiting similar places but feel more familiar with the area now. We loved the Alps and our focus is going to be hiking and sightseeing places we missed on the GAS tour. We like the idea of having lodging and transportation taken care of and only worrying about what to see and do that day. We were both 58 y/o on the GAS tour.

Side note: My sister and I went on the 7 day Paris tour this summer. Our tour was so informative and fun. We plan to use Rick's tour again in 2025 for Ireland.

Thanks, Terry, for your additional advice on Hallstatt. And joea5boys, that's great to know that you are doing My Way Alpine after the GAS tour! Which departure are you on? We signed up for the Alpine tour that starts June 26th. Like you, we're really looking forward to hiking as well as sightseeing. I could totally see us doing GAS in the future, though!

Hello, I did the MW tour this past July. I have not done a regular tour so don't have first-hand knowledge. However, I just took a peek at the itinerary for the GAS tour. Similar itinerary but more museums.....and most notably to me, at least 3 days of "strenuous walking" . That would be a 'no' for me. With MW at least we could choose a less strenuous path. And I liked that we could choose our activity and not necessarily have to do a museum or hike that was chosen for us. We also did 2 nights in Hallstatt. Bring cash for that!!

Thanks very much lamb616 for your feedback. The freedom to choose what we do all day is definitely part of the appeal for us as well; I'm good with visiting maybe 1 museum or castle per day, but would otherwise like to be outside and explore a place. And thanks for the advice re: Hallstatt--we will definitely stock up on euros before setting out.

Greetings, I am so excited for next year's My Way Alpine- the reviews here, thank you, helped affirm the hiking opportunities and less time in cities, museums, etc.
I know there's a way to search within topics for further opinions and advice, weather and etc from prior travelers. But I cannot figure it out! This thread might not be the best option for asking, but maybe someone else can also benefit if I receive a response.

We are taking the MW Alps tour next September! Can't wait. We took the 14 day Best of Europe in 2018 and were due to take this one in 2020. Happy to finally plan for this. I feel like I've been planning it forever ;). Friends of ours are on the tour now-their pictures are really lovely and they are having so much fun that they're thinking of repeating.

I am booked for the My Way Alpine tour September 16, 2024. Very excited about it because I love to walk and hike and I think this is the perfect way to go for me. My first tour was a RS Portugal last October and I enjoyed that but there was almost 0 free time. Thanks for all the information about time before in Salzburg and time after in France. Very helpful.

I just returned from the Sept GAS tour and really enjoyed it. Several tour members in our group had completed My Way tours in the past. I asked what the differences were? The main comment they shared was if you like to do your ""own planning" then My Way tours are for you. This couple loved spending the year planning out what they would do each day, the activities, and where they would eat. They both loved the process of planning out the trip in advance. They also mentioned that you travel on the same 30 seat bus and stay in the same hotels, but the guide does not give country/city overviews on the bus as in the regular RS trips. The guide will meet in the breakfast room in the morning to give suggestions, but that is about it on getting help. All excursions, tours, ect need to be planned by you. The regular RS tours plan out many of the days tours, guides, museums, and activities. When we were in Murren, the guide walked with us on the 4 mile hike in the hills. When we were in Munich, Salzburg, Vienna, Cologne, we had interesting local guides giving the tours. As regular tour members, all we did was show up at the appointed time and activities and meals were taken care of. I am a traveler that loves my vacation to be relatively stress free. I want RS to make the decisions for me and then I show up on Day 1 to enjoy the experiences. Several tour members on my tour would skip out and do their own thing if they didn't want to take the morning tour or eat with the group, You do have flexibility with the regular RS tours, but ask yourself and your husband- do you love the planning and figuring details out on your own? or do you want to show up and let RS do most of the heavy lifting. Both will create a wonderful trip!

Thanks very much kartalcott for your thoughtful reply. I think you point out a key distinction between the more guided tours like GAS and the My Way tours. Personally, I love reading in advance about all the sightseeing options--even though our tour doesn't start until June of 2024, I've already got a bunch of Rick Steves books checked out from the library and am reading about sights. What I don't like worrying about is the logistics of transportation, which is why the idea of a tour rather than independent travel is so appealing. I'm hoping that the My Way guides will help advise us on what forms of transportation to take to different sights, but I admit that it's also nice to think about just showing up, as you say, and having others do the arranging. Thanks again for sharing your perspective, and glad to hear that you enjoyed your GAS tour so much.

We do both the RS tours and traveling on our own. The GAS was our first RS tour and still one of the best after 11. I think what has been beneficial about the tours has been learning how to tour a country effectively and the shared knowledge from the guides. For example, I probably would still be standing on the subway platform in Paris if our guide hadn’t been there to encourage us to worm our way in….

Thanks Margie--great point!

On our MW tour, our guide came around to each party on the bus to go over the party's plans, give suggestions, directions, etc. for the next destination. She was very helpful when we were undecided about our plans or unsure how to get to where we wanted to go. Gave us specific bus or train #s to take, etc. When we arrived in each city, she took the group on an orientation walk - usually about 30-40 minutes or so. We had her cell # and room # in case we needed to contact her throughout the day.

The My Way Alpine is fantastic - took it in Sept 2019 and it was marvelous. I was 58 when I did it and had a wonderful time
hiking with fellow bus buddies. I love the My Way Tours and have no desire to take a guided one; I like to do my own planning and enjoy the freedom. Good luck.

Thanks lamb616 and Sarah C for sharing your perspectives. This has been a wonderfully informative thread for us as we plan. I think we plan to stick with the My Way Alpine tour, at least for now, but I could also see us coming back in the future and doing GAS. We are spending a lot of time learning German on Duolingo and I suspect we'll want to put it to use more often than just for a couple of weeks next summer.

dianska1 Our My Way Alpine starts June 24 - July 5.

Sorry to miss you, joea5boys, but have a great time!

Thanks again to everybody for your advice. We have actually just switched from the My Way Alpine tour to the GAS tour for a reason I hadn't anticipated: my aunt and uncle will be joining us, and they strongly preferred the GAS tour. We're very excited that they can join us and were happy to switch tours.

Hey Dianska1. That will be fun with your relatives joining you for the GAS. After reading all of the posts that you inspire folks to write I have decided to go and do the My Way Alpine.....lol. After doing a bunch of research there is a WHOLE lot of fun hiking to do that I have not yet done. Please come back next year and give us a report of your experience on the GAS. Have fun and good luck.

Thank you, Terry! I'm delighted to hear that you're going to take the My Way Alpine, and I look forward to reading your tour report too. Your advice on both tours, and in particular on hiking in the Berner Oberland has been extremely helpful. Wishing you a wonderful tour experience!

I am doing the My Way tour with a friend and we end in Chamonix on September 27, 2024. After that we are traveling to Riquewihr, France where we check into a rental October 1. Any suggestions on what to do in those four days between Chamonix and Riquewihr? Thanks so much.

You’ll be going right by Lake Geneva so stay a few days there either in Vevey, Lausanne or Montreux and visit Chillion Castle and the wineries & vineyards and Gruyeres (cheese and chocolate tours), plus there are several good hiking trails and possibly flowers blooming that time of year. Should be several train options from Chamonix up that way and then on to Bern, Basal and Colmar.

Or, spend the time in Annecy, a beautiful city known as “the Venice of the Alps!” We stayed in Annecy after our time in Chamonix, and would return. It is beautiful, walkable, with great restaurants and cafes, and the lake is spectacular. We enjoyed a 1.5 hour cruise of the lake, even with only minimal understanding of the French narration. We took a bus from Chamonix to Annecy, and it was about a one hour journey. The train route was much longer, fyi.

It was easy to get to Paris on a high speed train from there…I’m sure your connections would be easy, too, to get to your next destination.

Laurie😊