My husband and I are just starting to plan for our six-week holiday mainly in Germany, Switzerland, Austria arriving late September in Frankfurt. I will have many questions and this is only the first. By the way, the TA forum was invaluable in planning our 2005 trip to Britain/France/ Italy which was our first time in Europe.
We had no trouble driving throughout the countries we visited in 2005 but have not ruled out train travel. We are thinking of travelling to
Heidelberg - 2 nights
Lucerne - 3 nights
Grindelwald(or Brienz or Wengen) - 4 nights
Lugano - 1 night
Verona - 1 night
Venice (which we missed in 2005) - 2 nights
Salzburg - 4 nights
Vienna - 3 nights
Munich - 4 nights
Nuremberg - 3 nights
Prague - 3 nights
Dresden - 2 nights (or somewhere else in Erzgebirge region)
Berlin - 5 nights
Cologne - 2 nights
Frankfurt - 1 night and then fly home.
Comments on itinerary would be greatly appreciated. We enjoy some visits to museums/art galleries/churches, walking around the old cities, visiting quaint and historical places, driving in the countryside, eating local foods. Not interested in pubs/nightclubs/upmarket hotels/restaurants .
I was thinking that we would go straight to Heidelberg on the shuttle for the first few days and then travel to Switzerland to spend a week there before the closures that apparently occur in October with cablecars, etc. We still haven%26#39;t quite decided whether to take trains, hire or lease a car or a combination of both. I am leaning towards the peugeot leasing with a pickup at Zurich airport. With earlybird discounts we can get 10 free days plus 50 percent discount on pickup/dropoff outside of Frrance.
But how should we get to Zurich airport? The other alternative is to pick up a car immediately from Frankfurt, but I am not sure that we want to fight the traffic on our first day after the long haul from Australia.
Sorry this is so long.
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Zürich airport has its own railway station.
DB timetable
http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/e
From: FRA airport
To: Heidelberg
To: Zuerich airport
Rental cars: often you must not take this car into the Czech Republic. With more upscale cars also Italy maybe off-limit.
Assuming that you plan some day trips to nearby sights/towns your itinerary is good.
Salzburg: Berchtesgadener Land
Munich: Neuschwanstein Castle
Nuremberg: Rothenburg and/or Bamberg
Berlin: Potsdam
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Thank you for responding abalada. We have refined the itinerary after looking at some of the long distances between places. Will definitely add your suggestions to list of things to do/places to visit during our stay.
We will probably use peugeot leasing again and from the website it seems you can drive their cars in Czech Republic. We think we will go to Strasbourg from Heidelberg to pick the car up as this will save over 200AUD. Now we have to find out how to get there from Heidelberg.
Are there any car leasing arrangements in Germany like in France?
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%26gt; Now we have to find out how to get there from Heidelberg.
Use the DB timetable link in my first answer.
%26gt; Are there any car leasing arrangements in Germany like in France?
No. This is only attractive for the manufacturers due French tax rules.
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I hope you can answer this, too, abalada (or anyone who may read this). We just found out we need a visa for Czech Republic and think we might leave out Prague and spend more time travelling Munich area, especially day trips. But it seems that accommodation prices are double or more during the days we would be there just after Oktoberfest. Is there are picturesque or recommended places outside the city where we could base ourselves for trips to the city and day trips from Munich? It is difficult blindly searching internet when you do not know the areas at all. We would prefer self-contained accommodation rather than a hotel so that we do not have to eat out all the time.
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If you want to be within the limits of Munichs public transport system think about Herrsching or Starnberg (both at lakes halfway between the city and the mountains and with commuter trains into the city). Somewhat further out think about Lenggries or Bad Tölz (connected to Munich by a small railway %26#39;Bayerische Oberlandbahn%26#39; BOB), but also close to Munich by car. Also Kochel or Benediktbeuern or Murnau are pretty places with a good connection by car to Munich. You should be able to find self-catering accomodation in all of these places, esp. the ones near the mountains should have a good selection of %26#39;Ferienwohnungen%26#39;/ holiday appartments, and the area south of Munich towards the alps is fabulous.
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Hi TarraTourist,
I%26#39;m also from Brisbane and planning to go to Italy, Germany and Czech Republic in Feb/Mar 07. I didn%26#39;t think I needed a visa for Czech as it is in the Schengen area. Where did you get this information from?
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The Czech Republic is NOT in the Schengen area! At least not yet.
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I sent an email to the Czech Embassy in Australia they replied immediately. Australians no longer need a visa to travel short term in Czech Republic. My travel book must be out of date. This ruling changed in April 2004.
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Well that%26#39;s a relief - Prague here we come.
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