Austria - Heart of Europe 10 Day

Pls contact us to tailor make your holidays

DAFINS, AUSTRIA

Upon arrival, you will be met by our representative and private driver and will be transferred to Dafins.

No plan for activities for this day because of jet lag and long haul flight. We could arrange a local mountain tour, taking you up to 1500 m in a 4WD-vehicle if you wish, & the weather is good.
If the weather is not agreeable we can also visit the nearby town of Feldkirch with the old castle and museum

WESTERN PROVINCE AUSTRIA

Check out the area: Town of Rankweil with the 1400 year old church, Lunch in the village of Viktorsberg, high above the valley of the river Rhine, Austrian specialities, Town of Lindau (Germany) in the afternoon, eventually boat ride with Public boat on Lake Constance (B on map) from Germany back into Austria. Total of 60 km, local driving

Evening: Austrian wines at the Old Court, best restaurant in Western Austria. (covering Lower Austria and Vienna region) and 4-course romantic menu (international cuisine with local elements).

WESTERN PROVINCE AUSTRIA

After breakfast take off to the valley of Montafon, short stopover in the village of Gaschurn (typical Austrian skiing resort). Going up to Europes highest dam by cable car and tunnel bus, strolling around the lake at 2000 m above sealevel surrounded by mountains of 3500 m. Lunch in restaurant by the dam, local food.

After lunch drive through typical Western Austrian villages, meaning not on the highway but on local roads to the city of Dornbirn (C on map), strolling through the pedestrian area and visiting the spectacular museum of European nature. Total of 150 km driving

Dinner within the residence with local specialities.

DAFINS

Leisure day at Dafins
Discover mountain meadows with unique flowers and plants, walk along wild mountain rivers or bike for hours in deep green forests.

SWITZERLAND

First pass through Liechtenstein, one of the smallest countries in Europe and walk the ugliest quarter mile with banks and souvenir shops right and left. It’s so ugly that it’s almost sensational.
Normal shops will be closed, but not the souvenir shops in Liechtenstein.

Then see Europes highest still populated village. This drive will take about 2 hours and we’ll stop over at Via Mala, an impressing canyon which the Romans had to pass 2000 years ago. Walking through this canyon (half an hour) is already quite impressing but imagining that the Romans, 2000 years ago, passed through here with oxen carts and horse drawn waggons seems simply impossible. Jufa (D on map) is a small mountain village at almost 2500 meters above sea level and being there it seems like time has stopped 300 years ago. We’ll be having a late lunch with wine tasting in a famous vine area of Switzerland. Total driving time about 4 hours, 250 km.

Light dinner within the residence.

GERMANY

See the Crazy King's Castle (E on map) at Bavaria, then return on the Cheese road, where you taste typical alpine cheese and local Apple wine (cider) made from pears. It’s funny the local name “Moscht” suggests that this wine is made from apples, but it’s not or only part of it.

Drive to Neuschwanstein will take about 90 minutes and the ride back including the cheese road will be about 3 hours, all in all about 200 km.

Dinner in a local restaurant or a light meal within the residence depending on how filling the cheese tasting will be..

ITALY

Today you’d have a really scenic drive across some high mountain passes, where we can see how the Swiss army is still prepared for worldwar No. III. You would not believe how they fortified their mountains with tunnels and fortresses. They even caved out huge mountain areas where they could host more than 1 million people in caverns for months.
Then we come through St. Maurice, one of the most famous skiing places in this world, where we have coffee and cake and then come down from the high mountains to the real southern area of Lake Como (F on map), where you’ll have dinner (also wine tasting) and stay in Grand Hotel Tremezzo for the night
(The travelling time will be about 7 hours but the actual driving time with quite a few stops will be only 4 hours) 

ITALY

You’ll be taking the boat on Lake Como into the city of Como for shopping and then drive back (3 hours) to Dafins. You’ll be having a light lunch in Como and in the evening you’ll have dinner on a Swiss Castle close to the residence with some more wine and we’ll be home around midnight.

SWITZERLAND

A relaxing day to have 1 hr scenic drive to Switzerland & take the cable car to Santis, der berg (G on map).

A late, typical Swiss lunch up on this mountain and then stroll through the lovely and typical village of Appenzell, with a short stop in the old part of the city of St. Gallen, before we return home for the farewell night at the Old Court, before we return home for the farewell night at the Old Court. Farewell night at the Old Court at 6.00 pm and be back at the residence around 2130.

DAFINS - HKG

At the appropriate time, transfer to airport for your onward flight.