Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just finishing up our trip in Romania - started in Bucharest, drove up through Transfagarasan road (bears!), then hit Sibiu, sighisoara, viscru, Brasov, Sinaia (peles castle), and back in Bucharest. It’s way more gorgeous than I expected, and easier to travel than I expected. We rented a car. Hotels were no more than $100 per night.

OP. I was just looking up all these places and they look beautiful - what are the must see/do in each of these places you mentioned? How many days total would we need? Did you stay only in Romania or you combined it with something else?

How safe is Romania and do people speak English or is google translate our friend? Is it easy to drive there and follow the traffic rules? Is public transport good if you do not wish to drive or the only other way is to book guided day trips?

Look up TripAdvisor forums - you have to drive here, but the roads are nice, well marked, we have a phone plan that works overseas so used google maps, people speak a little English so it hasn’t been a problem. I would say a week would be great. You could easily stay a few days in Brasov to extend the trip. Maybe two nights in sighisoara. We stayed here after the Transfagarasan drive - https://www.booking.com/hotel/ro/linistea-muntilor.html

Go to Austria - it is much cheaper than Switzerland with similar scenery and lots of hiking. Zell am see, mayrhofen, Salzburg

Anonymous wrote:I don't think it's worth going if you can't afford it.

My parents spent a month camping in the south of France for their 25th anniversary. All sorts of experiences are enriching. You sound like you have a narrow view of the world. 🗺️

Anonymous wrote:Just finishing up our trip in Romania - started in Bucharest, drove up through Transfagarasan road (bears!), then hit Sibiu, sighisoara, viscru, Brasov, Sinaia (peles castle), and back in Bucharest. It’s way more gorgeous than I expected, and easier to travel than I expected. We rented a car. Hotels were no more than $100 per night.

OP. I was just looking up all these places and they look beautiful - what are the must see/do in each of these places you mentioned? How many days total would we need? Did you stay only in Romania or you combined it with something else?

How safe is Romania and do people speak English or is google translate our friend? Is it easy to drive there and follow the traffic rules? Is public transport good if you do not wish to drive or the only other way is to book guided day trips?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was just in Colmar and while it was nice I wouldn’t describe the prices as reasonable. Also, keep in mind you need a hotel with air conditioning. It’s not standard, but it’s miserable without it.

OP here. I'm interested in your itinerary - did you need a car? How easy is it to travel in France without a car? What were the room rates like when you went? I didn't think to look into whether the hotel had air conditioning. Good reminder, thank you.

We took trains between Strasbourg and Colmar and hired a guide to drive us to for the wineries and towns, but in retrospect I think we’d have been better off with a car, as Colmar is touristy and the smaller towns are lovely. Our hotel was v nice and modern, but it was just two of us, so only one room. I paid with points so not sure about the rate. Probably under $300/night, but you’d need two rooms.

It was unimaginably hot while we were there and no restaurants or shops had a/c. If you go, research restaurants in advance because some of the meals we had at casual places were $$ and not good. It was hard to commit to fine dining in the heat though. Had a great time despite it all but would base in a smaller town if we go back.

Also, how old are your kids? The crowd seemed to skew older (retired people). Not sure if my teens would have found enough to interest them.

Early teens.

I do have 75k points on my new card I can use. Never done it before so it will be a learning curve. Which hotel was it if you don't mind sharing - I want to check with the portals.

My husband does not want us driving in a foreign country so we will have to take public transport only. My original thought was fly into Zurich, take the train to Strasbourg or Colmar and then back track to Switzerland. Since I already did the research, it was just about finding reasonably priced accommodations for Switzerland but now I have to start over again. If we had just booked the hotels 3 months ago we would have been good and within our budget.

Here is what we wanted to do and had to choose from:

Luzern - Titlis or Pilatus
Jungfrau if weather is good, Schilthorn/Grindelwald First, Wengen Mannlichen trail with the playgrounds for the kids, Lauterbrunnen valley hike
Oeschinense lake, Lake Brienze or Thun cruise
Zermatt + Matterhorn cog wheel train for the views
Golden pass express to Montreaux
Zurich Lindt chocolate factory or Gruyere cheese factory

OP here. Thank you all for the recommendations. I will look into the places mentioned.

Slovenia is beautiful from what I’ve seen

Anonymous wrote:Just finishing up our trip in Romania - started in Bucharest, drove up through Transfagarasan road (bears!), then hit Sibiu, sighisoara, viscru, Brasov, Sinaia (peles castle), and back in Bucharest. It’s way more gorgeous than I expected, and easier to travel than I expected. We rented a car. Hotels were no more than $100 per night.

Romania is a truly underrated place. Transylvania is so beautiful.

Try Slovenia?

If you’re thinking Alps, check Austria and Germany and Dolomites. You’ll find somewhere with lower prices. Check Garmisch! I’m seeing much lower prices and it’s a good base. Stay in Salzburg for a few days. Maybe add a few days in Switzerland. Yes, probably Wengen is priced out at this point but might find something elsewhere.

Fly into Athens. Rent a car and drive to a hotel on the mainland. Or fly to Crete. There are several hotels within your price range.

Fly into Rome and go to Umbria. Something like this. https://relaisolmo.com/en/charming-relais-guest-house/

Fly into Lisbon. There are several hotels that fit your budget in Portugal. It's super easy to drive in Portugal and you could do Lisbon and Porto with a stop inbetween.

We just went to Spain and the hotels in smaller cities were really cheap. We looked at Burgos which has cathedral, walled cities, anthropology museum etc— would be fun I think. There are probably other places like that but definitely look in the north given the heat.
I might also look at places like York. Basically the second or third cities not the main attractions. But airfare will I suspect kill you so look at that first.

Just finishing up our trip in Romania - started in Bucharest, drove up through Transfagarasan road (bears!), then hit Sibiu, sighisoara, viscru, Brasov, Sinaia (peles castle), and back in Bucharest. It’s way more gorgeous than I expected, and easier to travel than I expected. We rented a car. Hotels were no more than $100 per night.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was just in Colmar and while it was nice I wouldn’t describe the prices as reasonable. Also, keep in mind you need a hotel with air conditioning. It’s not standard, but it’s miserable without it.

OP here. I'm interested in your itinerary - did you need a car? How easy is it to travel in France without a car? What were the room rates like when you went? I didn't think to look into whether the hotel had air conditioning. Good reminder, thank you.

We took trains between Strasbourg and Colmar and hired a guide to drive us to for the wineries and towns, but in retrospect I think we’d have been better off with a car, as Colmar is touristy and the smaller towns are lovely. Our hotel was v nice and modern, but it was just two of us, so only one room. I paid with points so not sure about the rate. Probably under $300/night, but you’d need two rooms.

It was unimaginably hot while we were there and no restaurants or shops had a/c. If you go, research restaurants in advance because some of the meals we had at casual places were $$ and not good. It was hard to commit to fine dining in the heat though. Had a great time despite it all but would base in a smaller town if we go back.

Also, how old are your kids? The crowd seemed to skew older (retired people). Not sure if my teens would have found enough to interest them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was just in Colmar and while it was nice I wouldn’t describe the prices as reasonable. Also, keep in mind you need a hotel with air conditioning. It’s not standard, but it’s miserable without it.

OP here. I'm interested in your itinerary - did you need a car? How easy is it to travel in France without a car? What were the room rates like when you went? I didn't think to look into whether the hotel had air conditioning. Good reminder, thank you.

We took trains between Strasbourg and Colmar and hired a guide to drive us to for the wineries and towns, but in retrospect I think we’d have been better off with a car, as Colmar is touristy and the smaller towns are lovely. Our hotel was v nice and modern, but it was just two of us, so only one room. I paid with points so not sure about the rate. Probably under $300/night, but you’d need two rooms.

It was unimaginably hot while we were there and no restaurants or shops had a/c. If you go, research restaurants in advance because some of the meals we had at casual places were $$ and not good. It was hard to commit to fine dining in the heat though. Had a great time despite it all but would base in a smaller town if we go back.