COLOGNE to Vienna in 14 days

My mom, Carolyn, and I (Steve) took our first Rick Steves tour in 2022 and loved it so much, we decided to take our 2nd tour in September, 2023. This time we brought her sister, Barbara along with us. We traveled from Cologne, all the way down the Rhine into Switzerland, across the Alps up into Munich, Salzburg and Hallstatt, then ended our trip in Vienna. For more info on this tour visit RICK STEVES.

We started off in the beautiful city of Cologne, Germany. Known for its history dating back to Roman times, this city was the edge of the Roman Empire. On one side of the river were the Romans, and on the other side were the Germanic Tribes. You can still find Roman roads, arches and baths around the city, and during our walking tour with the local guides they explained a lot about the history over the centuries. Of course, during WW2 much of the city was destroyed from Allied bombing and pretty much the only thing standing was the Cologne Cathedral. Of course I had to climb to the top of the Cathedral and get the aerial view of the city. Then we traveled down into the Black Forest for luge riding and eating the famous Black Forest cake, then spent the night in unique city of Baden-Baden where you can have the Roman bath experience, and then gamble the night away in the casinos. After Baden-Baden we spent 3 nights in my favorite place on earth, Murren, Switzerland which is only accessible by cable car. You won’t have view like this anywhere else on earth. After that we spent a couple nights in Munich, which has the most amazing night life and if you’re a history buff like myself you can visit a lot of WW2 sites such as the site of the Beer Hall Putsch. We stopped and visited Neuschwanstein Castle before heading to one of my favorite cities on earth, Salzburg, the home of the Sound of Music and Mozart, then we took our bus down into the Austrian Alps to one of the most beautiful lake towns of Hallstatt. Then ended our trip visiting Vienna, which had architecture that had you wondering how such things could even be built by humans. I hope you all will take this amazing tour once in your lives! Our tour guide was amazing, and our bus driver became part of our family by the end of the trip…