Ultimate alps and Dolomites experience
Scheduled for Sept 5th this year. Would appreciate any hints if you have taken this tour recently. Restaurants, shopping, xtra tours. Traveling with Tauck for many years so familiar with protocol. Looking for options that you might not see on their schedule
Also if anyone has been there recently, would appreciate knowing if Covid is going around.
0
Comments
I'm taking this trip Next year. After your trip, please come back and post your hints and experiences. Thanks.
bella c,
I have not taken this specific tour but have spent time in Munich and, to a lesser extent, in Lucerne. If you are adding pre/post tour days in either city, following are some ideas of things to do:
Munich -
There are many outstanding museums, especially those focusing on the Nazis. It is actually mandatory that German schoolchildren be taught about what happened in an attempt to prevent such horrors from ever occurring again. Although not focused on the Nazis, the Jewish Museum chronicles Jewish life. If not offered on your tour, I highly recommend Dachau Concentration Camp.
On a much lighter note, Viktualienmarkt offers an amazing array of bread, cheese, sausages, fruits, vegetables and much more. It is a great place to stroll, browse and people watch.
Lucerne -
If not a part of your tour, I highly recommend the Lion Monument which commemorates the slaughter of Swiss guards who were protecting Tuileries Palace in France where King Louis XVI was hiding after fleeing Versailles during the revolution. The monument is one of the most powerful I have ever experienced.
The Markthalle (I have a penchant for farmers' markets) is located within the train station.
Lucerne is a great and easy city for strolling. Sometimes the best experiences, in my opinion, are the unscripted ones.
COVID -
I read recently that the Center for Disease Control (CDC) now classifies it as endemic. It's not going away; we just need to adjust and be vigilant as with any respiratory disease.
Have a great tour and please report back.
We did this tour in Oct 22 (when it was part of the Passion Play) and it goes down as one of our favorite Tauck Tours since 2003.
I don't recall a lot of free time. It is pretty packed with very good activities and coach time. We LOVED the Salt Mine near Salzburg. There is a lot of Motor Coach time, but the scenery and stops along the way are fantastic. We did extend on each end and in Munich, it was the beginning of Oktoberfest so there was a lot going on around Marienplatz as far as parades, etc. It was not our first time in Munich -- we have been to Dachau Concentration Camp before - but if you've never been, I do think it is very worthwhile. We have a great guide if you need one.
We also extended in Lucerne which is one of our favorite European towns -- it is stunning and very walkable. Sorry I don't have more tips for you - as I said, we didn't have much free time, but you will love this trip.
Seems we did have some down time in Salzburg - we have been there a few times before. There is a concert in the cathedral at noon daily which is excellent. And taking the Funicular up to the Fortress gives you amazing views of Salzburg.
In earlier discussions about this trip, you guys convinced me to spend an extra day in Lucerne at the end of the trip, so I booked it for this trip, next Fall
My daughter is currently in Switzerland on a business trip and spent the weekend in Lucerne. We were talking about the accommodations (Burgenstock resort) and she looked it up and said it's pretty isolated outside the city. I'm wondering if it would be better to switch to a hotel in the city center, or does the Burgenstock offer transportation across the lake to the city? And if I do switch hotels, would Tauck still provide transport to the Zurich airport?
Your thoughts appreciated. Thanks.
The Burgenstock is a wonderful hotel and has a funicular down to the lake and does provide transportation via boat into Lucerne = we loved doing this. Whether you prefer a hotel in the heart of Lucerne is entirely up to you - but we had no issue taking the boat into town late morning after breakfast, spending the entire day there and returning to the hotel for dinner at one of the hotel's fabulous restaurants.
Thanks, terrilynn. I'll stay put.