Germany and Switzerland
submitted by - Chad Donicht, client of Bursch Travel Austin
Munich - We had a great time in Germany and would definitely go back again.
Our trip landed during Europe's National Soccer championships which Munich's team was playing in the championship game so there was a lot of extra things going on in town which was fun.
The Dachau tour was great and it was very helpful to have a guide that
could answer questions. It was very easy to find the tour site and
company was very good.
The Hofbrauhaus and Olympic Grounds at night tour was fun but it was a
weird combination of activities. We went to the Hofbrauhaus for a
German buffet which was great. Then we went to a tower by the Olympic
grounds where you went up in an elevator to get a good view of the city
and the Olympic grounds at night. The bad part was that the Olympic
grounds weren't lit up so you couldn't see much. And then at the end of
the night we went to a night club which was fun but to me these 3 events
should not be packaged together. If we did it again I would go to the
Hofbrauhaus for dinner and go to the Olympic grounds during the day so
you could look around a little more and take your time.
The castle tours were also fun. It was a long drive to get there but
the driver did a great job of pointing out different sites along the
way. I would recommend this and it was a great way to see the Bavaria
country side.
In Munich we found the Englisher Garden which was probably our favorite
place. They had umpa bands, a bunch of food vendors, a beer garden,
lots of walking trails, and beautiful landscape.
We also visited a technology museum that the Fromers book recommended
which was fun.
The hotel(Courtyard City Center Munich) location was great and I would highly recommend that hotel!!!!
The breakfast was great and the hotel staff was very helpful.
The flights were good but very long. Next time we are definitely going
to look at exit rows or first class so I can have more leg room.
Switzerland - We had a good time in Switzerland and saw everything we wanted to. The mountains were a must see for everyone because they are even more beautiful than the pictures but we probably could have gotten away with only staying there 2 or maybe 3 nights.
The swisspass was great!!! We just got on the trains/bus/boats whenever
we wanted. The 4 days you planned for this was perfect.
Mount Palatis was very nice but the day we went was a little foggy so we
couldn't see as many mountain ranges as you could on a clear day.
Overall though the trip up and down the mountain was great and we took a
boat back around to Luzern which was great.
The trip to Zirmatt was really fun. We got to see the Matterhorn
Mountains and it was pretty clear that day so it was a beautiful view.
There was also a train we saw called the Glacier Express which was a 7.5
hour train ride with dinner through the Matterhorn Mountains. I think
that would have also been a lot of fun with great views.
We also stopped in Bern to see the sites which was nice. They have bear
pits in the middle of town which was pretty cool.
The last stop in Zurich was rainy so we went and saw the sites but it
would have been nicer if the weather cooperated. Also it was a SundayD
so all the shopping in town was closed.
The Holiday Inn in Zurich was very nice and I would recommend that.
They offered free shuttles to downtown and the airport.
The Hotel we had in Luzern (Waldstaetterhof) was very close to the rail station (Right
across the street) The only thing we didn't like was that they didn't
have air conditioning so we had our window open and it was pretty loud
because we were right next to the rail station.
The only down side to Switzerland was that everything is ridiculously
expensive!!! Every American we saw said the same thing:
A 10 minute cab ride to our hotel was $70
A value meal at McDonalds was $14
A pint of beer was $10
Almost every lunch we had was about $80
So to sum it up this was the best trip we have ever had!!!! We saw so many new and different things in such a short amount of time it was amazing!!!