Tour Scrapbook – Best of Munich, Salzburg & Vienna in 8 Days Tour
“To me, understanding people and their lives is what travel is about, no matter where you go.”
― From Travel as a Political Act, by Rick Steves
Why this is our 3rd Rick Steves Tour
Fun & Easy & Safe: Rick Steves small groups make it easy to get to know the other folks on the tour. Raj, my assigned buddy and I still keep in touch somewhat regularly with texts. Where else would a 35-year-old woman originally from India, now living in Canada and a grandma living in Colorado USA even meet?!
Rick Steves tours get moving early avoiding crowds and heat. We don’t wait in lines wasting our precious vacation time. We have buddies to make sure everyone is accounted for. We are mostly a gathering of educated, adventurous, open to the unexpected people.
Our Guide & Itinerary: Rick Steves tours are a great combination of a well-planned schedule with a good blend of free time. Between Rick’s books, podcasts, videos, newsletters and our informative guide we have many choices on how to spend our unscheduled time – including resting back at our hotel. The same goes for the meals. It’s entertaining to eat with folks on the tour and not have to plan dinner on our own and it’s a good change to be just the two of us.
Iris, our guide, regularly drew our attention to landmarks in order for us to find our way back more easily. Iris was very kind and open to questions.
Hotels & Being Active: Rick Steves hotels range from the cute and quirky to the fancy and elegant and it’s all fun! Attention to detail is a given. From laugh-out-loud faces drawn on the hardboiled breakfast eggs wearing knitted caps, to so many choices and then having a waitress ask is there something else she can get you – this is a memorial vacation!
We live in Colorado. We walk our dogs in the mountains every day. We appreciate and enjoy getting to eat and drink our way across Europe knowing we will walk it off every day!
We are on the beautiful lake at Hallstatt, a village on Lake Hallstatt’s western shore in Austria’s mountainous Salzkammergut region
Travel with us on this journey to Germany and Austria. Check out the itinerary, the roadmap of this outstanding tour. Our wonderful guide made this tour exceptional. Then see the places we visited, taste the great food, look in the shops, and experience a bit of purpose on this journey. In the middle of cooking school – being in the famous Sound of Music movie locations – historic walks, fascinating museums, important churches – taste bud dancing meals , drinks and desserts – we breathe possibly some of the freshest air on the planet as we float along on the sparkling alpine lake in the fairytale looking village of Hallstatt Austria. Swans grace the water as do the reflections of multicolored fall foliage. We both catch our breath from the fun busyness of our trip and lose it in the loveliness of the moment.
- Welcome to Bavaria – An introduction to Munich’s pedestrian-friendly historic core.
- Marvelous Munich – Munich’s Old Town, weaving together the history and traditions of Munich and Bavaria.
- Splendid Salzburg – Beautiful walks and everything Mozart.
- SOM – Everything Sound of Music
- Melk Abbey – The Benedictine abbey above the town of Melk.
- The Danube – Take a ride on this historic river.
- Lovely Lakes and Hallstatt – Mountains and a gorgeous lake.
- Historic Vienna – St. Stephen’s Cathedral, shops and more.
- Vienna – The Third Man Museum, a fascinating look at the city’s post-WWII history and the great Albertina museum.
- Food and Fellowship – Over the top meals everywhere.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrowmindedness.”
– Mark Twain
“Experiences like this one can be any trip’s most treasured souvenir. When we return home, we can put what we’ve learned – our newly acquired broader perspective – to work as citizens of a great nation confronted with unprecedented challenges. And when we do that, we make travel a political act.”
– From Travel as a Political Act, by Rick Steves