Hiking/Trekking

Planning

Posted by pdittman on January 11th, 2025 in '25 - Europe

Ideas come in all shapes and sizes.

The idea for this trip came from our neighbor – Monika. Born in Berlin in the 40’s, she’d immigrated to the States in her teens, settling on Cape Cod. Her younger brother still resides in Europe (Amsterdam), she casually said one day, “Next time you go to Europe, I want to tag along”. Not that we go to Europe regularly, nor that she really wanted to travel with us. Instead, she was looking for help navigating current air travel.

It was enough. We had the idea – hey, how about a trip to Amsterdam, and since our 10th anniversary was nearing, and we hadn’t been to Paris – one of our favorite places – in years, we had the bookends for a european itinerary.

That was the easy part. Deciding which cities, how long to stay, how to travel – all of the minutia associated with travel – I might call it hard, but as well, it’s the fun part. Exploring locals, imagining future travel – trains, planes, automobiles. Yup, all of that.

Niether of us had spent any time in central Europe, so cities such as Prague and Budapest caught and held our attention. At the same time, through our hiking adventures, we’d heard both of Lake Bled in Slovenia and the Stubai Alps near Innsbruck Austria.

Putting all that together, we had the initierary: Amsterdam, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Lake Bled, Fulpmes (near Innsbruck), Munich, and Paris.

Because of the amount of travel, we needed to travel light. Lugging around large suitcases is difficult, even in the best of conditions. On/off trains, various apartments, and the Amsterdam-Prague flight, not wanting to check luggage, all conspired to keep limit ourselves to one carry-on suitcase and one backpack (a daypack, suitable for day hikes).

In all, it worked out exceedingly well – no hitches, no gotchas, no lost apartment keys nor damaged rental cars. Clocking our steps (and mileage) with our garmin watches – we were just shy of walking 300 miles over the 30-day adventure.

Read more about each of the locations: Amsterdam, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Lake Bled, Fulpmes, Munich, and Paris.

We’ve also included some tips and notes about the trip overall – you can read that here.

Aux revoir! Auf Wiedersehen!

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Amsterdam

It was our first stop – the opening act – of our multi-country adventure. We didn’t need to throw darts at a map to decide where to start – there was really never any decision about where to start. Our neighbor and good friend, Monika, wanted to visit her younger brother who lives in Amsterdam and had asked us to take her along when we next traveled to Europe. Of course we agreed. It was a direct, overnight flight, arriving

Prague

Prague was our first city in central Europe. We’d heard of its architecture, its old town, and its old world charm – beyond that, we hadn’t planned any significant activities in the city, nor had any significant expectations. No museum visits, no castle visits, nothing special – though we did book a private tour with a local guide from withlocals.com. As we’d come to learn, these short (3hr) private tours are money well spent – a great way to see

Budapest

We didn’t quite know what to expect as we visited Budapest. Many of the travel blogs write that it’s a city worth visiting – which is how it got on the list. After visiting, we’d definitely agree – it’s one worth visiting – exuding that “old-world” charm characteristic of some other European cities which didn’t see complete destruction and rebuilding from the conflicts of the early and mid 20th century. And as we experienced in the other areas we visited

Bled, Slovenia

After spending time in some of Central Europe’s cities, with their hustle/bustle, many food options, and tourist throngs, it was time for us to leave the cities and have some “outdoor” time – back to our sweet spot of trekking and a more relaxed experience. For this, we needed a car. While Eurail/train experience worked well for the inter-city travel, a car is a must when heading to trailheads. As typical, car rental companies charge extra for different pick-up/drop-off locations

Fulpmes, Austria

Having spent time in some of the major European cities, it was time to leave them behind and get back to nature – at least our nature of enjoying the outdoors through hiking. Ever since our first multi-day alpine adventure in the Jungfrau region of the Swiss Alps, the Alps have held a special meaning for us (kinda like our candy store!). Since that adventure, we’d sought to explore other and similar trekking adventures (such as the Pyrenees and the

Munich

Unlike the other cities we visited, Munich was really a convenience stop-over of a single night. We were booked on the 5:50am train from Munich to Paris, so it just made sense to stay near the station overnight, rise early and depart. We found a somewhat kitschy hotel about a block from the station – Cocoon Hauptbahnhoff. Decorated with ski resort & tyrolian themes, it was comfortable and convenient – just right for us. As we had done in Prague

Paris

It had been 8 years or so since we’d last been in Paris – it remains one of our favorite cities – eminently walkable, amazing architecture, grand food, art – pretty much all the joie de vivre. And it seemed only fitting that we should celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary in Paris. During the planning of this European adventure, we discovered Le Marais – situated in the 3rd and 4th arrondissements on the Right Bank of the Seine. According

Tips and Takeaways

Yes, it was an epic adventure – exhausting but in the end, it became everything we had hoped for when we first started planning, and then far exceeded our hopes! Having returned safely and without any snags in our journey, it seemed only fitting to share some key takeaways – those things that we learned and more deeply appreciated about the world we live in – as well as a few tips we found valuable and which helped make it