Switzerland/Austria - suggestions?

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by Language

It makes me so jealous to think that there's literally thousands of little towns all over Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France, etc. that are incredibly beautiful. Don't think I'd ever get bored travelling around Europe.

I keep telling myself that I need to explore more of the world outside of Europe, but I always have such a great time, it's hard to not go back over and over. Ive been to Italy two years in a row, and honestly wouldn't hesitate to go back for a third this year. I'd go back for the mozzarella alone.

[Morozee]

My wife and I were in Switzerland about a month ago. Stayed in Bern and did day trips out of there almost everyday. Gruyere/Broc was a fun day. Train ride is beautiful, although I could say that about all the places we visited there! So in Gruyere you can check out La Maison du Gruyere. In the morning you can watch them make the cheese, take a little tour, etc. They give you samples. Kinda neat.

Then walk up the hill to Chateau Gruyere. Cool castle, which oddly enough is home to the HR Giger museum and cafe. He was the conceptual artist that worked on the Aliens movies. Adults only here, it is cool if you are a fan. Of course the castle and views are great also.

Then it's another short train ride to Broc to visit the Cailler chocolate factory. There's a hilarious walk through diorama about the factory's history and at the end, they have all their chocolate laid out to sample. All you can eat, which isn't that much on an empty stomach! Delicious. Don't buy any chocolate in the gift shop, it's all available at the Coop (grocery store chain), for a little cheaper.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by Morozee

Don't buy any chocolate in the gift shop, it's all available at the Coop (grocery store chain), for a little cheaper.

Swiss people who shop at Coop are racist.

It's usually because they are avoiding Migros:

[st3ncil]

I would say Zermatt or St. Moritz is the most expensive place that you can find in Switzerland.

When you wanna eat cheap, don't eat up in the mountains, it costs always a lot more expect when you buy it in Coop/Migros. They have an agreement that the price is always the same.

When you wanna know something feel free to ask.

[Table 5]

Just in case anyone is thinking of renting a car in Western Europe and dropping it off in Eastern Europe.

Picking up in Zurich and dropping it off in Vienna 9 days later = $1,000
Picking up in Zurich and dropping it off in Budapest (an extra 250kms away) 9 days later = $11,000

That's right... there's a 10k surcharge. I called them up to make sure it wasn't a typo. It wasn't. That's almost the price of buying the VW Polo itself!

Needless to say....we're dropping it off in Vienna.

[OffsideSpecialist]

Sorry to kind of hijack the thread, but I'll be taking a train one day from Munich to Vienna. I plan to go south to Innsbruck, then from Innsbruck to Salzburg and Salzburg to Vienna. I'll be spending just a couple hours in Innsbruck and Salzburg. I'd also like to see a couple of the smaller Austrian towns in the way. Does anyone have any suggestions for Innsbruck, Salzburg or elsewhere? I'm loving the Halstatt suggestion, but it doesn't look like it's easily accessible by train so that will probably have to wait for a later trip.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Table 5

I keep telling myself that I need to explore more of the world outside of Europe, but I always have such a great time, it's hard to not go back over and over. Ive been to Italy two years in a row, and honestly wouldn't hesitate to go back for a third this year. I'd go back for the mozzarella alone.

I do the same thing sort of. I keep going back to the same places. I think I need to get over my fear of being disappointed and see something else.

[oilfanforever]

If you get out towards Geneva, I would suggest driving further into the Alps. You can see some amazing small towns Switzerland, Italy and France all in a day or two.