Planning a multi-country trip may seem daunting, but the ease of access that Europe provides makes it totally doable! My husband, Corey, and I spent two wonderful weeks exploring Europe to celebrate our first wedding anniversary in October. It was an incredible trip, and I’m so excited to share some of our adventures with you! We spent 14 days exploring Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Germany (Bavaria specifically), and Austria. One requirement we had for our grand Europe trip was that we wanted to spend our anniversary somewhere with a gorgeous autumn. We certainly weren’t let down, especially as we strolled through southern Germany along the trail to Neuschwanstein Castle, the autumn colors provided the perfect yellow and orange backdrop to the stunning fairytale castle. Here’s a quick breakdown of our itinerary:

This trip was such a blast, but also exhausting and a bit stressful. There was no shortage of adrenaline-inducing moments between mad airport dashes and short train connections. Sometimes we arrived to a station without having a platform number, then had to find a timetable and get to the next platform in a matter of 2-4 minutes with all of our luggage in tow. I spent one notable Saturday morning standing in between train cars on our way to Interlaken with a bike handle in my shoulder blade. I didn’t make the connection when booking that a Saturday morning train would be a madhouse of travelers and locals looking to get out of the city for the weekend. That said, I’m happy to report that we didn’t miss a single train during this trip across Europe. Also, I may convert to a backpack traveler after this (or at least ditch the purse).

Switzerland

We began our journey in Zurich, a perfect landing place to start the rest of our travels. Zurich is easily reached internationally, and a great hub to branch out to other European cities. As you would expect, there is no limit to the chocolate and upscale shopping options. However, the charm of Old Town, the serenity of standing on one of the many bridges crossing the Limmat River taking in the distant alps, and cozying up in tiny coffee shop sampling hot chocolate – that’s what really stuck with me about Zurich.

Interlaken was a dream, and the perfect balance to the time we spent in cities. When we travel, I try to incorporate a balance of nature and cities. Some of the most stunning mountain and lakeside views awaited us. I was constantly in awe of the striking beauty of the alps looming over the perfectly clear turquoise waters of Lake Thun and Lake Brienz, the early morning haze dissipating to reveal the picturesque Swiss town.

My proudest moment of the trip came upon completing the via ferrata in Murren, Switzerland. I’ll go into the specifics of this adventure in more detail in a separate post, but it is a 2.2 km hike involving tight wire crossings over gorges, a Nepalese bridge, and crossing the face of a cliff essentially on oversized staples cemented into the face of the mountain. Nothing like 2,000 ft. of thin air below your feet to give you an adrenaline rush and the beauty of the mountains to take your breath away! I’m also pleased to report that it actually wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be (especially since you’re hooked to a steel cable in a harness the entire time), and I didn’t freak out once.

Salzburg

We also took a day trip to Salzburg, Austria towards the end of our trip. It’s an easy train ride from Munich, where we were based for several days, to the main train station. Our day began with a walking tour of Old Town, followed by a stop at the Hellbrunn Palace, where parts of The Sound of Music were filmed. I had a grand idea to see this off-the-beaten path little castle not far from Hellbrunn Palace. After jumping on another bus and walking a ways, we came to find out that it sits on private property and is not accessible to the public. You can catch just the slightest glimpse of it from the gates, but certainly not enough to get a photo. Luckily, my husband laughed it off with me as we made our way back into downtown Salzburg.

Germany

We spent several days exploring Munich, and it was the perfect kind of city experience for us due to the blend of new and old in the city. Historic buildings abound with their gorgeous neo-gothic architecture, but there is still plenty of modernity to the city with great places to eat, a fantastic public transportation system, and plenty of beer gardens (of course).

Munich turned out to be the perfect base of operations for us for Southern Germany, and we had easy access to everything we were looking to do. We took a day trip down to Neuschwanstein Castle – yes, the Disney princess castle. I was worried that it would be one of those tourist attractions that’s overhyped and overrated, but I’m so glad to report that I was wrong. Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau (the castle build by Ludwig II’s father prior to Neuschwanstein) were both magnificent to explore. The architecture was stunning, the history compelling, and the beauty of the landscape that it was all set against rivaled that of the castles themselves.

While travel is fun and exciting, I also firmly believe in seeing important cultural and historical sites on our trips. I see travel as one of the best learning opportunities there are – about the world, other cultures, history, and yourself. That’s why when we were in Munich, visiting the Dachau Concentration Camp was an absolute must for me. We spent five hours walking the grounds, going through the museum, and walking with the ghosts of those who weren’t able to pass back through those iron gates. It’s something I honestly will never forget.

Planning A Europe Trip?

Are you planning your own trip to Europe? Here’s a few tricks that I learned during our trip that may help you out:

1. Be sure to account for travel time between locations. It may seem like a great idea to travel to several cities over a few days, but don’t forget to account for driving, train, or airport and flight time. To maximize your time, try to do your traveling first thing in the morning or later in the evening. Longer time between two locations? Get an overnight train – that takes care of your transportation and lodging for the night.
2. Plan transportation ahead. I waited until the last minute to finalize our train transportation between cities. By the time I was looking into the EuroRail Pass, it was too late to get one, since it has to be mailed to you. In the future, I’ll be looking into our transportation options sooner to maximize our savings.
3. Don’t be afraid to splurge on some aspect of your trip – you can make it up elsewhere. Before we left, everyone kept telling us how expensive Switzerland is. While that’s true, we offset the higher lodging and transportation costs by saving on our food costs during that portion of our trip. Instead of eating at restaurants, we grabbed dinner from Coop, the local grocery store. I’m a strong believer in a good charcuterie plate for dinner!
4. Be flexible! While I like to have our trips generally planned out, I find that it’s so important to be flexible. If you’re too rigid, it will be easier to become flustered or stressed if plans don’t go as you expected. We originally planned to spend our last day in Switzerland in the gorgeous town of Grindelwald. As we were approaching our last day though, we were both exhausted from being constantly on the go. Our transportation expenses were also adding up, so we decided to spend the day finding some hidden gems in Interlaken. Corey was a rockstar and found two castle ruins to explore, and we ended up having them almost to ourselves. Day well spent.

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