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Europe Travelers’ Guide

Author Deepak Kashyap

Europe Travelers’Guide


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Table of Contents

ABBREVAITONS ...................................................... .............................................................. .......................................... 3

DISCLAIMER .................................................. ........................................................... ....................................................... 3

PLACES INSIDE GERMANY................................................................ ............................................................. ............. 4

1.1 PLACES INSIDE STUTTGART.......................................................... ........................................................... ............. 4 11 . .11 . .11 T T V V T T OOW W E E R R ........................................................ ........................................................... ................................. 4 11 . .11 . . 2 2 K K I I L L L L E ESS B B E E R RGG M M E ESSSS E E ......................................................... ........................................................... ............. 4 11 . .11 . . 3 3 SSC C H H L LOOSSSS SSOO L L I I T T U U D D E E .......................................................... ........................................................... ............. 4 11 . .11 . . 4 4 L LU U D DW W I I GGSS B BU U R RGG C C A ASST T L L E E ................................................... ........................................................... ............. 4 11 . .11 . . 5 5 P POO R RSSC C H H E E M M U U SS E EU U M M ........................................................... ........................................................... ............. 6

1.2 PLACES INSIDE BADEN-WÜRTTEMBERG STATE......................................................... ........................................... 6 11 . . 2 2 . .11 T T I I T T I I SS E E E E ................................................... ........................................................... ........................................... 6 11 . . 2 2 . . 2 2 T T R R I I B B E E R RGG ........................................................... ........................................................... ................................. 7 11 . . 2 2 . . 3 3 E EU U R ROO P P A A P P A A R R K K ........................................................... ........................................................... ....................... 8

1.3 PLACES OUTSIDE BADEN-WÜRTTEMBERG STATE...................................................... ........................................... 9 11 . . 3 3 . .11 N N E EU U SSC C H H W W A A N N SST T E E I I N N ........................................................... ........................................................... ........... 10 11 . . 3 3 . . 2 2 M M U U N N I I C C H H .................................................. ........................................................... ......................................... 10 11 . . 3 3 . . 3 3 B BOO D D E E N N SS E E E E ( ( I I N N SS E E L L M M A A I I N N A AU U ) )..................................................... ........................................................... . 12 11 . . 3 3 . . 4 4 OO B B E E R RSST T D DOO R R F F .................................................. ........................................................... ............................... 13 11 . . 3 3 . . 5 5 N N U U E E R R E E N N B B E E R RGG ........................................................... ........................................................... ..................... 15 11 . . 3 3 . .6 6 B B E E R R L L I I N N .................................................... ........................................................... ......................................... 15

11 . . 3 3 . .7 7

H H A A M M B BU U R RGG ........................................................ ........................................................... ............................... 18

11 . . 3 3 . .88 W W OO L L F FSS B BU U R RGG.................................................... ........................................................... ............................... 18 11 . . 3 3 . . 9 9 K K OO E E L L N N -- D DU U E ESSSS E E L L D DOO R R F F..................................................... ........................................................... ........... 20 11 . . 3 3 . .1100 L L E E I I P P Z Z I I GG ........................................................ ........................................................... ............................... 20

2 PLACES OUTSIDE GERMANY................................................................ ........................................................ ... 21

2 2 . .11 . .11 SS A A L L Z Z B BU U R RGG ( ( A AU U SST T R R I I A A ) ) ....................................................... ........................................................... ........... 21 2 2 . .11 . . 2 2 P P A A R R I I SS ( ( F F R R A A N N C C E E ) ) ....................................................... ........................................................... ..................... 24 2 2 . .11 . . 3 3 A A M M SST T E E R R D D A A M M ( ( N N E ET T H H E E R R L L A A N N D DSS ) ) ........................................................... .................................................. 26 2 2 . .11 . . 4 4 SSW W I I T T Z Z E E R R L L A A N N D D .......................................................... ........................................................... ..................... 28 2 2 . .11 . . 5 5 SST T R R A ASS B BOOU U R RGG ( ( F F R R A A N N C C E E ) )................................................... ........................................................... ........... 31 2 2 . .11 . .6 6 SSC C H H A A F F F F H H A AU U SS E E N N ( ( SSW W I I T T Z Z E E R R L L A A N N D D ) ) .................................................... .................................................. 32 2 2 . .11 . .7 7 I I T T A A L LY Y ....................................................... ........................................................... ......................................... 33

2 2 . .11 . .88

V V E E N N I I C C E E( ( I I T T A A L LY Y ) )......................................................... ........................................................... ..................... 36

2 2 . .11 . . 9 9 SS P P A A I I N N ( ( B B A A R RC C E E L LOO N N A A ) ) .......................................................... ........................................................... ........... 38


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Abbrevaitons

BW – Baden Wuettermberg

SW – Schones Wochenende

DISCLAIMER

The details in this document are based on my personal experiences and true to my knowledge. Some detailsmight have changed, like the cost or the train/bus timings etc… I owe no responsibility to this. The reader caninstead mail me the changed details so that I can update them in the document.


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Places inside Germany

1.1 Places inside Stuttgart

11..11..11 TTVV TTOOWWEERR

No. of days ANY TIME WHEN YOU HAVE NO JOB.

Getting thereGet down at the RuhBank / Fernsehturm (TV tower) stop in the Tram 15 or any

other U-Bahn which goes there.

Costs involved3€ to go up the tower + any additional costs for eating and drinking at therestaurant at the top of the TV tower.

Hotel reservation NA

Description

It will be very cold on the top of the tower. You can get the marvelous view ofthe entire Stuttgart city from the top of the tower. The best time to go there is inthe evening (2 hours before getting dark); because you can see the city during

daylight and also the city by lights (if you stay there till it becomes dark).

Map --

Best time to visit Any Sunny evenings.

11..11..22 KKIILLLLEESSBBEERRGG MMEESSSSEE

No. of days ANY TIME WHEN YOU FEEL BORED.

Getting there Get down at the Killesberg Messe stop. ( Last stop for U7 )

Costs involved 1.5€ if you decide to have a ride in the Chinnari express (kids’ train)


Description You can go there any time you want. It is very big. If you have a ride in thechinnari expresss, you can see the entire park. Also there is small zoo, where


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you can see Lamas, pigs, etc…etc…etc…There is a big tower (Helical shaped),from where you can get a nice view of a part of the city. Recently they haveintroduced some fee to go up the tower. It doesn’t matter if you pay or not b’cosit is just like dropping into Tirupathi Hundi, from where you get no token or Ticket& there will be no one to check also).

Map --

Best time to visit Any Sunny evenings.

11..11..33 SSCCHHLLOOSSSS SSOOLLIITTUUDDEE

No. of days ½ DAY

Getting there In bus 90, get down at the Schloss solitude stop.

Costs involved NA


DescriptionIt is a small castle in Stuttgart. It is a nice place for ½ a days outing. You canprepare something to eat, go there and enjoy it in the beautiful weather. All thisis possible in only summer though.

Map --

Best time to visit Any sunny afternoon & evenings.

11..11..44 LLUUDDWWIIGGSSBBUURRGG CC A ASSTTLLEE

No. of days ½ DAY

Getting there

Costs involved NA

Hotel reservation


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NA

Description Nice castle. No 2 in Europe it seems. To be continued after my next visit …..

Map --

Best time to visit

11..11..55 PPOORRSSCCHHEE MMUUSSEEUUMM

No. of days NA

Getting there S6, 501,99

Costs involved NA


DescriptionGo in there any time, when you have no work. It takes a maximum of 1 hour. Noentry fee. Also you can get some good gifts back home (prices are prettyreasonable).

Map --

Best time to visit

Any day including Sunday.

Timings 9.00 to 16.00 on weekdays.

9.00 to 17.00 on weekends and holidays.

1.2 Places inside Baden-Würt temberg state

11..22..11 TTIITTIISSEEEE

No. of days 1 (BOATING + TREKKING)

Getting thereBW Ticket.


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Start from Stuttgart & get down at the Titisee Bahnhof. The lake is a 15 min walkfrom there. You can get more information at the Tourist information.

Costs involved

BW TicketBoating½ hour - 4€ / 2 persons, 4.5€ / 3 persons1 hour - 6€ / 2 persons, 6.5€ / 3 persons


Description

It is a lake in the black forest. During winter, the lake will be fully frozen. So itis an absolute waste to go there in winter. May be you can walk on the frozenlake or may be even skating is allowed.

In summer, the lake is beautiful. Boating is also allowed in the lake. Threetypes of boats are available – rowing, pedaling & motor boat. All cost the sameand left to your choice.

Also in summer, trekking is possible in the Schwarzwald (Black Forest).There are various trekking paths available for various distances. Choose themaccording to your interest and capabilities.

It is famous for cuckoo clocks. So if you want to buy one, this is the place.

P.S.: Don’t forget to eat the Black Forest cake in the Black Forest.!!!

Map --

Best time to visit During summer, when lake is not frozen.

11..22..22 TTRRIIBBEERRGG

No. of days0.5 (YOU ALSO PLAN TO VISIT TITISEE ON THE SAME DAY. 2 HRSJOURNEY IN TRAIN)

Getting there

BW Ticket.

Start from Stuttgart & get down at the Triberg Bahnhof. From there take the 7270Bus to Marktplatz.

Costs involved

BW TicketEntry Ticket to waterfalls – 2€ / person

Entry ticket to Schwarzwald museum – 4.5€ / person (Discount is available ifyou are a group of 20 people)


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Also there is some kind of black forest guest pass, which will get discount. But Ihave no idea what is that.


Description

At a distance of 100m from the Marktplatz bus stop, we can see theentrance of the waterfalls. Just to the right there is a tourist information center.We have to walk up 600m in the waterfalls. There are various paths available fortrekking (rather walking). Get the map of these paths in Tourist info and choosethe path of your choice. There are a lot of squirrels in the forest. You can alsofeed peanuts for them.

The tourist information is also the Schwarzwald Museum. The museum is

about Black Forest culture, mines, dress, bla. bla bla…

There is also a wooden carved museum. In fact Black forests are famous forwooden carvings. You can also have a look at them, but I didn’t.

Being in the black forest region, it is also famous for cuckoo clocks & black forestcake. Don’t miss it here if you missed it in Titisee.

Map --

Best time to visit During summer, because during winter bridges will be closed.

11..22..33 EEUURROOPP A A PP A ARRKK

No. of days 1 DAY

Getting there

BW Ticket + Entry ticket at the park

Better buy a direct ticket from DB to europa park, which is inclusive of Europapark entry ticket too

Costs involvedEuropa Park Ticket – 28€ - 34€ / person. Depends on number of people and alsoavailability of any special offers.


Description This is an amusement theme park. The theme of this park is “Europe”. Theyhave divided the park into sections depending on countries. Once you enter thepark all the rides are free, I mean to say no separate entrance fee. The French


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section is too good. It is humanly impossible to cover the entire park in 1 singleday. So just go for the important ones. Here are the ones which we went for.

At the entrance you get the Map of the park. Get it plan your ridesaccordingly.

Schweiz Bobbahn – Okay- Dokay Kind. Good to start with. It is in Swisssection.

Silver Star – Don’t miss it!!!...This is highest drop in Europe it seems. Once youstart coming down from the top you will have a flying experience. Initially yourheart will be in your mouth, later you will enjoy it. There are two separate queuesfor 1st row and rest of the rows. First row experience will be really awesome, butit will take a little longer in the queue. It is in France section.

M********* Bl itz – Forgot the complete name. Kind of Okay- Dokay ride. This is inSwiss section.

Ice show – Ultimate. Timings are 11.00 12.00 15.00 and 17.00. It lasts for halfan hour. Don’t miss it at any cost. It is in Swiss section.

4D Show – Too good. There is a show every half an hour. The show lasts for10-15 minutes. But really the only one of its kind.

Russia – There is a Mir station kind of thing, forgot its name though. But this isalso a different experience. Don’t miss it.

Poseidon . Water splash ride. Good one, but have to stand in long queue forthis. This is in Greece section.

At lantic Water sp lash. This is a bigger water splash than Poseidon. Good one.It is in Portugal section.

Wildwasserbahn - Okay-Dokay kind of thing. Not a must go ride. It is in Austriansection.

Laser show – This is also good it seems. But we dint have the time for it.

Map --

Best time to visit

During summer, because during winter some rides will be closed. Also for itwill be open till 7.00pm in summer but will close at 5.00pm during winter.

TIP: Avoid going during school vacations because you will have to wait inloooong queues for hours for each ride.

1.3 Places outs ide Baden-Württemberg state


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11..33..11 NNEEUUSSCCHHWW A ANNSSTTEEIINN

No. of days 1

Getting there

SW Ticket.

Start from Stuttgart Get down at the Fuessen Bahnhof. From there take abus to the castle (It will be just outside the Bahnhof). SW ticket is not valid in thisbus. The bus stops at the foot of the hill. From there you have to walk up the hill,till the castle. We have to walk up the hill for about 30 mins to reach the castle. Also there is an option of Tongas. Walking is a better option as it is notstrenuous and also a nice experience through the mountains.

Cost

SW TicketEntry Ticket for (Neuschwanstein) castle – 9€ / person (discount for group of 15)Entry Ticket for (Old) castle – 8€ / personBus ticket – 1.1€ / person (or slightly more b’cos we were a group of 12)

Entry ticket to both castles together costs - 17€ / person.


Description

It is a castle on the hill. This was the castle of King Ludwig II. Nice castle butour Mysore palace is much more royal than that. You have to buy tickets forcastle near the bus stop and be at the castle at the correct time (Don’t worrythere will be around 1 hr time).

During Spring / summer, the bridge Marien-Bruecke will be open. You canget nice view of the castle from there. It is a 20 min walk from the castle.

While retuning, be sure to take the bus back to Fuessen Bahnof as the bustimings are adjusted according to the train timings or else you would have towalk the entire distance passing through "Romantische Strasse".

Map --

Best time to visit During summer, when there is no snow.

11..33..22 MMUUNNIICCHH

No. of days

1 (DACHAU, ALLIANZ ARENA)

1 (OLYMPIC , BMW MUSEUM)1 (DEUTSCHES MUSEUM)

Getting there


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SW Ticket.

Cost

Dachau - 3€ / person – guided tour. Al lianz Arena – 8€ / person – guided tour.Olympic Stadium:

Olympic hall - 2€ / person – unguided tourOlympic Tower - 4€ / person Aquarium(Sea life) – Don’t know how much!!!!

BMW Museum – 2€ / personDeutsches Museum – 8.5€ / person.

Free entrance on 1st Sunday of every month.


Description

Enquire at the Tourist information in Hbf. They will provide all necessary infoalong with the map.

Dachau: (1/2 day)

From Munich Hbf take the S-Bahn (S2) to Dachau bahnof. The journey isapproximately 20 mins. From there we have to take 724 / 726 bus and get downat KZ-Gedenkstaette stop. Concentration camp is right in front of the bus stop.

There are 2 tours are available - audio tour (various languages) & guidedtour (various languages). Its better to take the English guided tour. In this also

there are 2 types of tours available - 2.5 hours & 4.5 hours. I think 2.5 hr tour is

good enough. This guided tour costs 3 € / head. There are guided tours at 10am& 12 noon. There is also an English version movie is at 11am, 2pm & 3:30pm.Noticket for movie. Following combinations can be used for best time utilization.

1. English movie at 11pm. Then guided tour from 12 to 2.30pm.

2. 4.5 hr guided tour starting from 10am, followed by movie at 2.30pm.

3. Guided tour from 12 to 2pm (2.5 hr tour cut short to 2hr), followed by 2pmmovie. This happened in our case.

Al lianz Arena: (2 hours)

Go to Marienplatz. From there take U6 to Froettmaning. From there you cansee the Allianz Arena. You are let inside the Arena only if you take the guidedtour. It costs 8€ / person and lasts for a duration of 1 hour. So plan correctly fortime and go there. There won’t be any guided tour if there is any match going on.We did not take the guided tour, as it was not available and may it is too costlyalso. But everything is left to the visitors’ discretion.

Olympic Stadium: (1/2 day)

Take a U3 from Marienplatz and get down at olympiazentrum (last stop) Be

careful not to take the U1 which goes to olympiaeinkaufzentrum. There is no feeanywhere to walk inside the park. It’s a very big place and you can easily spendaround ½ day there. But if you want to enter the main stadium, there is an entryfee of 2€ / person. There is also a guided tour inside the Olympic hall, but there


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is only 1 tour for a day and it is at 11.00a.m. I guess, but not sure. Also if youwant to go up the Olympia tower, it costs additional 4€ / person. There is also anaquarium. It also has some entry fee. But I do not know how much is that.

BMW Museum: (1 hour):

This is also in the Olympic stadium itself. Entry fee costs 2€ / person. Groupticket costs 1.5€ / person. We were a group of 8. It is an average sized museum.

Deutsches Museum(1 day):

Take any S-bahn and get down at Isartor station. There are sign boards whichtake you to the Museum.

Well this is a biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig museum. There are a lot of things in things in

museum humanly impossible to cover it in atleast 3 days. But also we do notunderstand everything. So better visit the sections only which you understand.You name anything on earth, they have it in their museum – Physics, Chemistry,Mathematics, Aeronautics, Vehicle Engineering, Marine engineering, Mining,Metallurgy, Astronomy, Astronautics, Telecommunications, Microelectronics,Computers, Tunnel Engineeing, etc…

As soon as you enter you get the museum map. So select the sections, whichyou want to visit and move accordingly. But do not miss the lightning show at11.00am in Electrical section. Pack sufficiently as per your appetite, becauseinside the museum everything is costly. Don’t worry you can also come out of themuseum and buy something to eat and go in again. But before coming out, youneed to get a seal on your hand.

There is an Indian restaurant near the Deutsches museum. So you can have

your food there also. Better have your food in the evening as the museum closesat 5.00pm. It is open from 9.00 am – 5.00pm.

BierFest

This begins on 3rd

weekend of September and continues till Reunification Day(October 3

rd). Try to go on the Opening or closing day. It will be fun. Don’t take

any girls. The beer fest reaches its zenith only in the evenings. So make sureyou will be there by that time around 6 in the evening.

Map --

Best time to visit Any time when you have not planned for weekend trips.

11..33..33 BBOODDEENNSSEEEE ((IINNSSEELL MM A AIINN A AUU))

No. of days 1

Getting there SW Ticket.


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Start from Stuttgart hauptbahnhof & get down at the Freidrichschafen Bahnhof.Just when you come outside the Bahnhof you can see the lake Bodensee. Walkto the end of the lake, till you see some ships. There is a DB station, where youcan get tickets for Insel Mainau.

This is one of the possible ways. However you also go to lake Bodensee byKonstanz and others. I do not know that route.

It is also possible to take a ticket directly from Insel Mainau from any of the DBstations. I did not know this when I went there. May be you can try that.

CostSW TicketCruise ticket from Friedrichschafen to Mainau Island - 27€ / person. However

group ticket costs less (around 23€ / person)


Description

The journey from Freidrichschafen to Mainau is around 1.5 hrs through thebeautiful lake of Bodensee.

Totally around 5 hours of time is needed to see the island. So start as earlyas possible in the morning and return from the island as late as possible. Try toget the 10.05 cruise to Mainau in the morning. However the last return trip is at16.15. There is a beautiful butterfly & orchid garden in the island. Plan properlyso that you don’t have to run around in hurry in the end.

Map --

Best time to visitMake sure that you go there during spring time so that you can see all the

flowers (especially Tulips).

11..33..44 OOBBEERRSSTTDDOORRFF

No. of days

KLEINWALSERTAL - 1 DAYFREIBERGSEE – 1 DAYBREITACHKLAMM – ½ DAYSOLLERECKBAHN – ½ DAY

Getting there

SW Ticket.

Start from Stuttgart hauptbahnhof & get down at the Oberstdorf bahnhof

Breitachklamm: From Oberstdof Bus station, take the bus which directly goesto Breitachklamm. It’s a 10 minutes journey.


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Cost

SW Ticket

Breitachklamm – 2.5€ + Bus ticket to & from Obertsdorf Bus Bahnhof

Sollereckbahn - 12€ for skiing gear for whole day + Bus ticket to & fromObertsdorf Bus Bahnhof


Description

This is called the “Trekkers Paradise”. There are lots of trekking paths in and

around Oberstdorf. Nebelhorn, Fellhorn, etc.. You can get all the info about itTourist info. Actually one of the famous treks includes a trek to a village calledKleinwalsertal. This is located in a land common to both Austria & Germany. Wecan walk across countries!!!

Kleinwalsertal : To go to Kleinwalsertal, you have to go to a place calledSollereckbahn. It takes 30 mins by walk and 3 minutes by bus. From there youcan go by a cable car to the top. From there it is 4 hours of trekking toKleinwalsertal, I guess.

Freibergsee: This is a lake. It is only possible to go here by trekking. Thetrek to this lake takes around 1.5 hours…It is a nice lake. You can also swim andboat in this lake. Not a big lake though. In summer, the environment will be like a

beach.

Breitachklamm: Breitachklamm is a gorge between 2 mountains. It is nice just after winter, when the ice would have just started melting. It is absolutelyamazing. The entire walk takes around 2- 2 ½ hours. After this walk, we comeacross a junction of roads – 1 leading to Kleinwalsertal and the other leading toSollereckbahn. I don’t know how much time it takes from there to Kleinwalsertal.We took the other route, to SollereckBahn, and a Bus from there to OberstdorfBahnhof.

Sollereckbahn: We can go for skiing here during winter. Skiing for beginners.You can rent the skiing gear there itself. It is for a whole day and there are lots ofshops available for renting the equipment If you think you are better than

beginner, then you can go up in cable car, ski from more steeper peaks. But becareful, as chances of injuries are more as you go higher up. You have to buy aseparate ticket for cable car.

Map --

Best time to visitThis is an evergreen place to visit. By evergreen I do not meant that it is greenall round the year but only that it has something different to offer in every seasonto the tourists.


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11..33..55 NNUUEERREENNBBEERRGG

No. of days 1

Getting there

SW Ticket.

Start from Stuttgart hauptbahnhof & get down at the Nuerenberg Bahnhof. Takethe tram 5 (in direction of Tiergarten – German word for Zoo). Get down at thelast stop.

CostSW Ticket7.5€ - Zoo (Tiergarten) entry fee4.5 € - Dolphin show entry fee (Delphinarium)


Description

The only thing to watch out here is the Dolphin & Seal show. It is inside theTiergarten. So we will have to buy tickets for both. The dolphin & seal show lastsfor 30 minutes. The show timings are 11.30am, 2.30pm and 4.00pm. Zoo isnormal like any other zoo, not so big either. Wilhelma is better than theNuerenberg Zoo.

Map --

Best time to visitWhen Dolphin show is available (check the availability on the net, as they

say that it is available only during summer)

11..33..66 BBEERRLLIINN

No. of days 2 DAYS

Getting thereFlight is cheaper, if booked earlier

Or else ICE is the best option.

Cost


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ICE ticket costs around 100 euros.1 Day 3 Zone (ABC) Pass - 15€ (up to 5 persons)Berliner Dome - 5€ / person. 3€ / person if we are group of 20

Free for studentsPotsdam – Cycling 10€ / person

Hotel reservation

Berlin International Youth Hostel Address: Kluckstrasse 3 ,Berlin 10785, GermanyTelephone: 49-30-25799808Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.hostelbookers.com/hostels/germany/berlin/4340/

They charged extra 3.1€ / person as membership fee. You can also try and find

other hostels.

Description

Getting around Berlin – Take a 3 Zone pass for 1 Day. Two Zone costs 14.80€and 3 Zone costs 15€. So a 3 Zone pass is better. You can take bus 100 totravel around Berlin. It takes you to all important Tourist attractions. Get a citymap of Berlin in tourist info which will help you a lot.

Start from the Hbf. Get down at the Reichtag stop.

Reichtag – This is the German Parliament. There is a dome and we are allowedto walk up the dome. There will be long queue in waiting to enter inside theparliament. The last entry inside the Parliament is at 10p.m. in the night. In the

night we can get a beautiful view of the city by lights. No entry fee to go up thetop. They allow us only in the dome and not anywhere else. We can walk in thespiral-way to the top of the dome and admire Berlin`s beauty while walking. Thisparliament has an open terrace!!!! This is the upper house of the Parliament.There is also a UnterTag (Lower house) nearby.

Branderburger Tor – This is situated just beside the Parliament. It a must seeby the day and also in the lights. This used to be the gate between East Berlinand West Berlin.

Victory Column – This can be seen from the Tor. But do not walk down tillthere. You will be wasting a lot of time. Take Bus 100 from Reichtag and getdown at the Victory Column stop. It is a 69-meter tall Victory Column

(Siegessäule) with gilded figure at the top (commonly known as 'Golden Else')which was sculptured by Friedrich Drake to commemorate Prussian victoriesover France and Austria.

Russian, British, American Botschaft – From there take the bus back to theTor. Get down at the Unter Den Linden stop. Walk down the street till theFriedrichstrasse. You can find all these embassies.

Gendarmen Markt – While walking down the Friedrichstrasse, we can see aConcert House in one of the side roads. This is the Gendarmen Markt. It is abeautiful square with nice old buildings. Good for photo session!!

Checkpoint Charlie – If you continue your walk further down the

Friedrichstrasse, you reach the Checkpoint Charlie. This was one of thecheckpoints between East & West Berlin. You can also get a seal on yourpassport or on a VISA which he issues. If you really want to! It totally costsaround 10€.


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Berlin Wall – This is around 500m from the Checkpoint Charlie. There are onlyremains of the wall preserved, some 200m in length. Also there is guided audiotour available here.

Berliner Dome – This is a big church. Good one. Entrance costs 5€ / person.However for students it is free. You can climb up the dome (267 steps) and get apanoramic view of the city.

Jewish Synagogue – This is the worship place of Jews. Open on all daysbetween 10am – 8pm except on Saturdays. Last entry is at 7.30pm. Go there byS-bahn and get down at the OragienStarsse (I don’t remember the nameexactly). It is just outside the S-Bahn station. Anyway we missed to see it onboth days. So you plan accordingly.

Kaiser Wilhelm memorial Church – Located at the very heart of former WestBerlin - at Breitscheidplatz, built in neo-romanesque style is one of the Berlin'smost famous and interesting landmarks. After severe bombing by allied forces in1943 only west tower of the church remained almost untouched - only partiallybroken. Together with octagonal church erected later alongside the tower, free-standing hexagonal bell tower and Memorial Hall with photos, documents as wellas original mosaic ornaments and relieves preserved from before the bombingreminds about the consequences and victims of war

Alexander Platz – It is definitely the most popular square and the busiest traffichub of former East Berlin. Almost totally destroyed during the II World Warregained its present appearance thanks to several redevelopments retaining

however its socialistic character. Apart from the well-known orientation point -Fernsehturm (368 metres - 2nd tallest structure in Europe) there is also theWorld Time Clock which shows the time around the globe and Telecafe whichturns on its own axis every hour.

Tiergarten - called "Green Lungs of Berlin" or "Green Oasis" used to serve theupper nobility's hunting pleasure but now it is ideal place for having a walk, lyingin the meadows, making barbecues or just having relax surrounded by beautifulnature. During the summer time visitors can enjoy delicious cafe while listeningat the same time to the live classic music concerts. In south-western part of thepark, direct next to the big lake, there is a Biergarten (beer garden) and a boat-rental office (particularly recommendable is a one-hour rowing-boat's tour). It isfamous for Pandas.

Zoological Garden - near Zoologischer Tiergarten Bahnhof is the oldest and thebiggest place of such kind in Germany with approximately 1424 different arts ofanimals. Adjacent, there is also a well-known Aquarium which attracts visitorsfrom all over the world. All guests coming can admire characteristic mainentrance in the form of the gate with two elephant-like supporting columns.Brilliant place for the whole family!

Charlottenburg Schloss – Take a M45 from Hbf and it stops right in front of theSchloss. Nothing different when compared to other castles. Not a must visitplace though. You can skip it.

Olympic Stadium – Last entry is at 6.30pm. So be there by at least 5pm to seeit. We missed it. So don’t know how it is from inside.


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Potsdam – It’s a city outside Potsdam. But comes within the Zone C. So noneed to take separate ticket to go there. The best way to see the city is by cycle.Take a bicycle for rent. It costs 10€ / cycle for a day. You also get the map ofcycling path. The total cycling path is 18kms. It is impossible to cover the entirething in a single day. So cover as much as possible. Mainly go round the ParkSans Souci and do not miss the Castle Sans Souci.

Map --

Best time to visit Anytime. Preferably during summer. During re-unification day (October 3) but itwill be too crowded.

11..33..77 HH A AMMBBUURRGG

No. of days 2 DAYS

Getting thereICE is the fastest and efficient way of getting there. I had German Rail Pass. Sohad no problems.

Cost

Hotel reservation

Description

Map --

Best time to visit

11..33..88 WWOOLLFFSSBBUURRGG

No. of days


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1 DAY

Getting thereICE is the fastest and efficient way of getting there. I had German Rail Pass. Sohad no problems.

Cost Entrance Ticket - 15€


Description

Once you get down from the train at Wolfsburg Bahnhof, you see the VW

factory and ‘Autostadt’ just beside the Bahnhof. Just follow the signs fromBahnhof leading all the way to Autostadt, just across the bridge.

We need a complete day to see the Autostadt in a relaxed manner. It is alsopossible to complete in half day but will be kind of hasty way of doing it. The 15€includes a VW plant visit, museum visit and also a test drive (SicherheitsTraining).

The VW plant visit is only on Weekdays. Ask for the timings for plant visit(Guided tour in English) while purchasing the ticket itself, so that you can planbetter.

Also for the test drive, you have to book in advance through telephone. Thetelephone number can be obtained from the reception.

Get a map of the Autostadt at the reception and stat your journey for the day.Following are the places you get to see

ZeitRaum (Time Room) – where you get to see the cars in chronological order,from their time of invention till date.

VW – There is a globe shaped theater where they show movie about VW valuesand stuff. Not so interesting

Bentley

Bugatti

Skoda – The movie they show here is quite boring and useless. Not worthwatching.

Audi

Seat

Lambhorgini – The laser show is quite good.

Auto Turme – Two towers where the cars are stacked one upon other. Absolutely amazing to watch. Even more interesting is the way they remove thecars from the tower. Just wait and watch it.

Map --

It is open on all days of the year including Sundays and holidays. It only


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Best time to visit closes from 24th of December to 1

st of January.

Timings : 9:30 – 18:30

11..33..99 KKOOEELLNN--DDUUEESSSSEELLDDOORRFF

No. of days 1 DAY

Getting there

Cost

Hotel reservation

Description

Map --

Best time to visit

11..33..1100 LLEEIIPPZZIIGG

No. of days 1 DAY

Getting there

Cost

Hotel reservation

Description

Map --


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Best time to visit

2 Places outs ide Germany

22..11..11 SS A ALLZZBBUURRGG (( A AUUSSTTRRII A A))

No. of days 2 (SOUND OF MUSIC, ICE CAVES, SALT MINES, MIRABELL GARDENS)1 – KOENIGSEE, EAGLES NEST

Getting there

SW Ticket.

Start from Stuttgart early morning by the first train & get down at theSalzburg bahnhof.

Cost

SW TicketSound of Music Tour - 30€ / personSalt MinesEntry to Salt Mines + local transportation – 21.20€Ice CavesBus to Ice Caves – 4.8€Entry to Ice Caves+ Cable car - 15€Eagles Nest – 2.4€ / person – Berchetsgaden Hbf -> Dokumentation

14.5€ - (Dokumentation -> Eagles Nest) + Elevator to the top


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Hotel reservation

Book as early as possible. We stayed in guest house called Haus Linder. It islocated in Hallwang, amidst beautiful scenic location, just outside Salzburg. Itcost 20€ / person / night (breakfast incl.). Connectivity is bit of a problem butlocation is absolutely stupendous. The landlady is also a very kind and generousperson. Initially we told her that we would check in by 13.00 but could not do sobecause of our tight schedule. So when we told her about this, she agreed andleft the key at the door. We reached the guest house in night (9.00pm), found thekey at the door with a message. Also in morning, we checked out at 5.30 a.m.leaving the key back at the door. Neither we saw her nor she saw us, but theroom was booked and everything went on smoothly.

Name: Haus Lindner

Phone: +43 (0)662 45 66 81

Fax: +43 (0)662 45 66 81

Email: [email protected]

Address: Panoramaweg 5, A-5300 Hallwang, Austria.

Description

We took the 5.48 train from Stuttgart to Salzburg. It reaches Salzburg by 11.45.Then we took the sound of music tour from 2 pm to 6 pm. Next day, we startedvery early in the morning. We took the train at 7.18 to Werfen. So we were ableto reach the ice caves by 9.15. The first tour starts at 9.30 in the morning. Thelast tour is at 15.45. On the way back we visited salt mines. This also saves timebecause Hellein is in between Salzburg Hbf and Werfen.

Sound of Music Tour:

The costliest biscuit I ever had in my life!!! It is a 4 hour tour in a bus.The tickets can be booked at the tourist information in the railway station. Theyshow the locations where the movie ‘Sound of Music’ was shot. May be you canenjoy the tour better if you can have seen the movie earlier. But I hadn’t seen themovie and slept almost half of the tour. The bus takes around and shows somebeautiful locations but doesn’t stop anywhere. It stops at the Lake & Mountainsdistrict. That is good!! But overall the tour is not worth 30€. There are two toursavailable – Panorama & Wallenweg. We took the Wallenweg tour. The timingsfor sound of music tour is 9.30 to 1.30 and 2.00 to 6.00.

Ice Caves (Eisriesenwelt ):

This is a must see for everyone once in their lifetime. The caves areopen from May to October. The best time to go is when the caves have justopened because later ice starts melting more and you cannot see the icesculptures. There are no words to describe these. Even pictures are not aseffective as there is very less light inside the caves.

How to reach there?

Take a train to Werfen. Get the tickets for this at main station. Outside thestation there is a bus stand, where you can get bus to go up the mountain. Thetickets for this bus have to be taken in the bus itself. I think it is a private bus and

is somewhat like out tempo traveler. The bus will stop at a point. From there wehave to walk some 20 minutes up the mountain to reach the cable car. On theway you get beautiful sceneries. You have to buy ticket for cable car. This is also


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the entrance ticket to ice caves. The cable car takes us up the hill for just 3 -4minutes. From there it is again a walk till the ice caves. This takes around 30min.

Inside the ice caves, there is a guided tour. It is for 75 minutes. We haveto climb up 700 steps and of course have to climb them down. Take gloves(mandatory) and woolen cap (optional if you can’t bear cold) to ice cavesbecause it will be very cold inside. Totally you need around 5 hours for this trip.

Salt Mines (Salz Erlebnis):

This is the Europe’s oldest salt mines. It really an awesome experience.May be one day we can even do KGF like that and earn lots!!! 66% of it lies inGermany and rest in Austria. They explain you about the various techniquesused to extract salt, the leaching chamber. It is really good. The guided tour lasts

for 70 minutes.

How to reach there?

Get down at the Hallein station. From there take the bus to Duerrnberg andget down at the salt mines stop. It is hardly a 5 minute walk from there.

Mirabell Gardens:

It is a famous garden in heart of the city located in Mirabell platz. Nice for aphoto session!!.

Koenigsee: This is visible form the Eagles Nest.

Eagles’ Nest: Ask in the tourist info before going whether Eagle’s nest is openor not. Reaching to Eagles Nest is nothing short of an adventure.

You have to go to Berchetsgaden Hbf. You can go directly to here fromGermany. No need to go to Salzburg and then return back from Salzburg asEagles Nest is in Germany. From there we have to take a bus to Dokumentation.SW Ticket is not valid in this and we will have to buy a separate ticket for this.We can buy tickets for both onward and return journey while going itself. It costs2.4€ / person. At Dokumentation we have to again buy tickets. This is for bothbus (another bus) to go up to the eagles Nest and also elevator to Eagles Nest.It costs 14.5€ / person. Once you reach the top by bus, you have to book yourreturn journey timings and go in the elevator to the top. The bus connectivity andfrequency are utterly horrible. So better get an itenary of the bus timings at the

tourist info if available.

Map --

Best time to visit

Ice caves: Just when the caves have opened.

Koenigsee:

Eagles’ Nest: During summer. In winter it will be closed.


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22..11..22 PP A ARRIISS ((FFRR A ANNCCEE))

No. of days

2 days – Paris city3 days – Paris city ( if you decide to see the city leisurely)1 day – Versailles1 day - Disneyland

Getting there

You can go by Eurolines. If you plan sufficiently early, then may be by flight also.Better keep Ikarus as the last option as he leaves there in the afternoon and halfday will be wasted.

To travel inside Paris, have a Metro map of Paris, also a zone map. It is morethan enough. It is impossible to manage without these.

Cost

Bus Ticket – 57€ to 92€, depending on the time you book the ticket. Arch de Triomphe – 5€ ( age 26 )Opera House - 7€Eiffel Tower - 11€, discount for group of 20.Boat Ride - 9€ - 12€, depending on the type of boat you take.Versailles Palace – 4.5€ (C) + 8€ (B2) + 7€ (Palace Garden) + 5€ (forgot!!!)

-- 1Day pass 20€. Entry to all places in museum.Notre Dame – 7.5€ (to go up the tower) + 3€(Cathedral treasury)Louvre museum – 8.5€

3 Zone (1, 2, 3) 1 day pass(Paris Visite) - 8€4 Zone (1, 2, 3, 4) 1 day pass (Paris Visite) - 9€

Actually there is museum pass available for 30€ for 3 days. All museums will befree on buying this. But be careful; don’t decide to buy this until you decide tovisit many museums in Paris. This is not valid for Opera House.

Hotel reservationReserve any hotel or hostel in city center so that transportation will be easy.Even if you book it a little away from center, then also its not such a big problemas the metro connectivity is too good.

Description

Grand Arch de La Defense: This is an arch (actually a rectangle built inmemory of some soldiers, I really don’t know who). I was amazed to know that itis an office building n people work inside that. In the night it is good to see it bythe light. Also the sky scrapers around it.

To reach here you have to get down at the La Defense stop.

Arch de Triomphe: This looks somewhat similar to India Gate. This wasconstructed by Napolean as a sign of victory and as a tribute to those who diedin war. 12 roads meet at this point and it is an amazing view. To have thismarvelous view, we have to climb up the tower by paying the entrance fee.

To reach here you have to get down at the Champs Elysees Clemenceaustop.

Champs Elysees: One of the 12 roads joining at the Arch de Triomphe is theChamps Elysees. You can have a walk down this street and it is beautiful(especially during the night). There are many museums in this street – Renault,


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Peuguot, Daimler Chrysler and Toyota. All are free entrance.

Opera House: Well you don’t get a chance to see the opera because the ticketsare always sold out and may be costly too. But you can have a glimpse of theopera house. It is nothing short of any royal palace-nice decorations, grandchandeliers that too with artistic work of French. If you remember the one youhad seen in Dil Chahta Hai. It is like that itself, but not as big as that.

You have to get down at the Opera stop. The building will be named as‘Musique Academy’.

Eiffel Tower : 1 of the 7 wonders. Well it’s altogether a different experience to beon top of it. You can get the view of the entire (most of the ) city Paris from thetop of it. Go to top of Eiffel tower at the twilight hour, so that you can see the cityby light and by night. There are 4 pillars – East, West, North & South. There are

ticket counters at each of the pillars. They give tickets to go the 1

st

floor, 2

nd

floor& to the top floor. If many people are there on the top, they stop issuing ticketsfor some time. So be careful while purchasing the tickets and make sure youtake it to the top floor. You can climb till 1

st or 2

nd floor, but have to take a lift

compulsorily from there, or you can also take the elevator directly from theground floor.

You can get down at the Bir Hakeim stop or Champ de Mars Tour Eiffelstop.

Boat Ride: The best way to see Paris by lights. Just beside the Eiffel tower thereare many counters for boat rides. You can get a ticket in any 1 of them. It will befor 1 hour n the River Seine. Take the boat ride in the night, when the city if full inlights. It is awesome experience. Don’t afford to miss this.

Moulin Rouge: This is a famous famous club. If you are really interested youcan go inside this by paying 100 euros entrance fee!!! You can have a walkdown this street from Blanche till Pigalle. This is called Amsterdam of Paris. Itwill be in full color after night 8.

You have to get down at the Blanche stop.

Sacre Coeur : This is one the famous churches in Paris. It is famous because ofits architecture.

You have to get down at the Anvers stop for this. From there you can climbup the small hill. Even there is a cable car to go up there.

Notra Dame: This is another famous church. This is the place where Napolean

crowned himself as the king. You can also go up the church tower. But I don’tthink it is really worth after you have been on top of Eiffel Tower.

You have to get down at the St. Michel or St. Michel Notra Dame stop.

Louvre Muséum: Well this one of the things not to be missed in Paris.Previously it was a palace. Now it is converted to a museum. It has 2 wings.Each wing is 700m (almost 3/4

th of a km) and each wing has 4 floors, so totally

(1.5 * 4 ) 6 km. If we have to see everything in the museum, then we have towalk for 16km inside the palace!!!!! That’s humanly impossible in 3 days also. Soonly look at at the important places in the museum – Mona Lisa, Coronation ofNapolean, Napolean Apartments, Greek idols, Italian paintings (hall with endlessnumber of paintings) in order of their preference. There is also audio guideavailable and if you take it there is a description for each painting - God help the

person who listens to the description of all these paintings!!!!! Do not spend morethan 4 hours here or else you will get bored and tired and you will not to goanywhere the whole day. Everyday some or the other room of this museum willbe closed for maintenance. It is a holiday on Tuesdays.


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You have to get down at the Palais Royal Musee de Louvre stop.

Invalides: There is Napolean Fort kind of thing here. After looking at everythingin Paris, this appears nothing great. But you can go here if you are left with time.It closes at 6.15 in the evening. You can also see the French Parliament. But Ido not know whether they will let you in.

You have to get down at the Invalides stop.

Versailles: Huuuuuuuuuuuge is the smallest word I can use to describe this.There are different sections here A,B,C,M & royal gardens. We have to buy aticket for each of it. If you buy a 1 day pass you can visit all places in the palace.Well everything is royal and grand here. Even the smallest of the things isdecorated, artistic n work done with lot of patience There are lot of paintings ofroyal persons n their families. If you are interested in paintings it’s a 2nd heaven

for you. The roofs are entirely painted, the corners every inch is decorated withart. There will be a show in the Palace gardens from 3.30 to 5.00. Mondays thepalace is closed. On first Sunday of every month there is no discount and nogroup tickets available.

However we bought tickets only for B (same as A) & C. We had a look atkings chamber, kings private apartment, queens chamber, durbar hall There wasstill lot more to explore but this itself took around 6 hrs for us…..We got tired bleft the place……in the end (not to say ) we got bored by beauty of thepalace…….because we had so much overdose of it.

To reach here you have to take RER C (named VICK or VERO) fromChamp de Mars Tour Eiffel and get down at the Chateau de Versailles (RiveGauche) stop.

Tip: Nobody knows English in Paris. So know some basic words like

Jour = DaySortie = Exit Autres = Other

Map --

Best time to visitEnd of Summer, when it gets dark by around 8pm in the evening, but not in

winter.

22..11..33 A AMMSSTTEERRDD A AMM((NNEETTHHEERRLL A ANNDDSS))

No. of days2 days – Amsterdam (with Keukonhof – Tulip gardens)½ day Rotterdam – World’s biggest harbor½ day Madurodam

Getting there Car will be cheap but around 6-7 hours drive. CNL (City Night Line) is the best.

Cost


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85€ - CNL TicketMadame Tussaud – 15€ (between 10.30am to 12 noon & 12noon to 5pm).

- 17.5€ (12noon to 3pm)Heineken Experience - 10€ Anne Frank House - 5€Country Side Tour - 27€ (4.5 hrs) / 37€ (6.5 hrs)Gassan Diamond Factory - 0€Sex Museum – 3€Canal Ride - 9€Rotterdam – Train ticket – 22.5€

Harbor Ride – 8.75€Kuekenhof (Tulip Gardens) - 20€, I guess. Not sure thoughStripcard - 6€ / 10€ / 20€, depending on your requirement.

Hotel reservationWe were staying in hostel called Shelter City Youth Hostel located right in theheart of the infamous Red Light District.

Description

Get the tickets for Madame Tussaud, Anne Frank House, Canal Ride andCountry Side Tour in the tourist info itself. Otherwise you will have to wait in longqueues for museum tickets. Also they are cheap in the tourist info. Tourist info isrepresented by 3 ‘V’s – 2 on the top and 1 in the bottom.

Madame Tussaud – This is the famous wax museum. Biggest is in London. Thisis a small one. It is worth visiting there. Don’t miss it. This will need around 2hours of time to see it completely.

Heineken Experience – This is not just a beer factory. Previously it was a beerbrewery. Now it is turned into an amusement center (may be you can call that).But it is really a must visit place. They give free beer (0.75l). There is a DJ roomwhere you can become the DJ. The best part is, there is a place where you candance with background music. The video will be shot and will be sent to you thrumail. In the end you get a free gift also.

Anne Frank House – This is the place where Anne Frank hid herself from theNazis for 2 years. I did not visit this place. So not much idea about it. It seemsthat you need around 1.5 hours of time to see it.

RLD – This is a must visit place for the boys. Only for the boys. You can find iteverywhere in Amsterdam. It starts at 8pm in the night. Please do not go for the

Live sex shows or peep shows. They are costly and a big waste!

Country Side Tour – You can book the tickets for this in the tourist info. Thereare 2 tours available for 4.5 hour duration and another for 6.5 hours duration.They show the following places.Volendam – Fishermans VillageZaans Schans – Wind mills. To go on top of the windmills we need to payaround 2€ I guessCheese FactoryBoat Ride thru the canal

Even though not the greatest of tours, you have to go for this because thecountry side of Holland is beautiful. Also we can see the famous “Holland Hasa

(Cow)”.

Sex Museum – This is located right in main street of Holland outside the


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Centraal station. It takes around ½ hour to see this. Again boys only..:-)

Canal Ride – Please do not go for this ride. It is absolutely a biiiiig waste. Still ifyou want to go, then go for the ride after it is dark.

Gassan Diamond Factory – This is Europe’s biggest diamond producingcenter. Do not go there unless you plan to buy any diamonds. If go there withouta plan of buying diamonds, then it will be like any other showroom in Chickpet orelsewhere. You get diamonds here at a very reasonable price.

Rotterdam – The biggest harbor in the world is located here. They take a ride inthe cruise called “Spido” tour. They take us a ride around the harbor. This tourstarts every 45 min and lasts for 1.25 hrs. The tours are at 1.30pm, 2.15pm,3pm, 3.45pm, 5pm….But we missed it by a whisker because we were at the

harbor at exactly 3.45pm and later on we did not have time.

Kuekenhof (Tulip Gardens) – This will be open only for 1 month in the wholeyear – Mid April to Mid May. It costs around 40€ to visit this place. The details ofgetting there can be obtained from tourist info, as I did not go there.

Madurodam – This is called Mini Amsterdam. The whole city of Amsterdam ismodeled in miniature here it seems. I dint go to this place , as I visited the actual Amsterdam.

Tips:1. You can find lot of Indian Restaurants in Amsterdam. But be careful

some are costly.

2. For public transport (Trams), instead of tickets you can buy somethingcalled Stripcard. You can get details of this in Tourist info. Alternatelyyou can also buy a 24 hour pass or 48 hour pass. But I think strip cardshould be fine or at the max 1 day pass (6.3€, I guess)

Map --

Best time to visit Mid April to Mid May, as Tulip gardens will be open.

22..11..44 SSWWIITTZZEERRLL A ANNDD

No. of days3,4,5,6 depends on your convenience. We had been there for 3 days and I amwriting the guide according to that.

Getting thereHiring a car is the best option according to me. Even the train connectivity inSwiss is good it seems. If you decide to go by train, then go for a Swiss Pass. It

works out damn cheap.

CostJungFrauJoch – 175CHF ( But 150CHF if you take the train from Grindelwald)


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Titlis – 79CHF (From Engelberg to Mount Titlis)

Swiss Road Pass - 27€ i.e. if you go by a car and your car does not have thatsticker. (Try to get car with Swiss Road pass sticker…it is valid for 1 year)

Trummelbach Falls – 11CHF

Swiss Pass (If you go by train) – 270€ for 2 persons for 4 days.

Hotel reservation

We were staying in International Youth Hostel, Boenigen. The hostel was goodenough with guest kitchen.

There is another hostel called Valley Hostel in Lauterbrunnen. Try for that. Itis located amidst a beautiful valley it seems. Here are the contact details.Valley HostelMartha + Alfred AbegglenCh-3822 LauterbrunnenPhone:International 0041 33 855 20 08Phone:National 033 855 20 08Mail: [email protected](Tariff ranges from 20-28CHF per night, includes no Breakfast)

Description

JungFrauJoch – This is the highest point in Europe where the man has

reached. From the top of this we see the JungFrau peak. “JungFrau” in Germanmeans “Virgin Lady”. The reason why they have given this name may be that noman has ever reached there.

There are two ways to reach JungFrauJoch. You have to take a train fromInterlaken Ost. One train goes via Grindelwald and another goes viaLauterbrunnen. If you take the train from Grindelwald or Lauterbrunnen, it costsa bit less and you can afford to do this only if you have a car. Both the trainsmeet at Kleine Scheidegg. From here we have to change trains and take thetrain to JungFrauJoch. If you have a Swiss pass, then you can try both the ways – one while going up and another while coming down. The track via which thetrain goes by is the steepest rack in the world.

On the way to JungFrauJoch, you find another two peaks – Monch (Monk)and Eigerwand (Eagle Face). The imaginations of these shapes are left to the

observers’ discretion as I did not feel so.On JungFrauJoch, you find a lot of tourist attractions. There is an Ice

Palace, Sphinx Observatory (here they prove some Einstein’s theory), Plateauwhere we can play with snow, Lot of Winter sports, Bollywood Restaurant –where you can enjoy nice Indian food – but it will always be heavily crowded andwe dint get a chance to eat in here…. Don’t worry there are even otherrestaurants there where you can have your food. Except for food there is noentry fee to anywhere. They are all included with the train ticket.

To summarise this is a “must visit” place. It is once in a lifetimeexperience.

If you choose to go by the First train in the morning, 6.35 train, you evenget a handsome discount of 50% or so. It is called ‘Good Morning Ticket’. But thedisadvantage is that we have to be back down by 11.45 train (not sure about the

timings). Also if you reach the top early in the morning, there will be lot of mist nclouds and you cannot enjoy the nature out there. I think it is totally not worth it.

The timings of this train is available in all hostels, hotels. It takes 2 – 2.5hours for one way journey.


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Trummelbach Falls – This is truly an engineering marvel. The falls is inside amountain and they have laid steps and platforms by drilling the rocky mountainsthroughout. Truly amazing. Even the falls is beautiful between those rocks. Thewater falls with such pressure, Oh my God!!! Hats off to the persons who made itaccessible to us. But be careful the entry to the falls closes at 5.00p.m.(Offseason) and 6.00pm (June - August). So make sure that you reach there atleast by 4.15pm. It takes around 1 hour to see the falls completely. While goingup you can go by the lift and while coming back you can use the stairs whereyou get lot of different points to see the falls.

Interlaken – This is a city in Switzerland. Most of the tourists stay here. It islocated between two lakes – Breinzersee and Thunersee. Hence the name“Inter-laken”. Both of them are beautiful lakes. Breinzersee is the bigger one. If

you have a Swiss pass, then you can take “Golden Panorama” Tour. It goes bythe lake and you get a beautiful panoramic view. Also you can get a boat ride inThunersee. I think it is for 3 hours. This is also free if you have a Swiss Pass. Ifyou have a car, then you don’t have to take the Golden Panorama tour. You candrive by the side of the lake. It goes parallel to the train track and you essentiallyget the same view. Advantage with the car is that you can stop anywhere youwant and have a nice photo session and more importantly enjoy the nature aslong as you want.

Mount Titlis – This is another snow capped mountain, which has snow all roundthe year. To reach we have to go to a village called Engelberg (Angel hill). Thisis a village; around 2 hours drive from Interlaken. From here we have to takecable car to reach to Mt.Titlis. Totally we have to change 4 cable cars before we

reach Titlis. The total journey from Engelberg to Titlis is 45min long. 1

st

two arepretty normal – regulation cable cars. 3rd

one is called a ‘Rotair’. The platform ofthe cable car rotates while it s moving. But it rotates very very slowly. So don’texpect too much fun from it. After the 3

rd car, we reach the top of Mt.Titlis. Here

we get beautiful view of alps and it is simply amazing. There are no words todescribe it. From here we have to take a 4

th cable car to reach the place where

we get to play winter sports. This cable car is really amazing, in fact it is a cablechair and you will be in air with your legs suspending and a glacier 100 feetbelow you. That experience is really awesome. Then you reach the place whereyou get to play winter games. You can play as long as you want and as manytimes as you want. There are no extra fees for anything. All are included in theticket. We never came to know how we spent 3 hours on the top of Titlis. On thetop we even met some people from Bangalore. They gave us some home made

food to eat. It was really nice to meet people form our country there. In fact youeven find some boards in Hindi here. Indian people so common here.

There is also an Indian gaadi down in Engelberg, where you get goodsamosas for 5 CHF. Don’t miss it!!

Luzern – This is a city in Luzern, where you find a lake like elsewhere in Swiss.The only place to visit here is the Lion Monument. You can get the info for thisfrom tourist info. On the way to Lion Monument, you can walk through thewooden bridge, which is also quite famous here. Don’t waste too much of timeover here.

Zurich – This is just another European city, nothing much to visit here. May beyou can have a glance at the Zurich Stock Exchange.

Bern – Capital of Switzerland – We did not go to this place due to lack of time.I think there is nothing much to see there.


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Geneva – If you happen to go here, then don’t miss the Red Cross Society andthe world famous Swiss Bank. It is around 4 hours drive from Interlaken. So wedint go here also.

Schiltron – First we have to go by a small chain pulled train (the path is verysteep) to Murren. Two trains move in opposite direction. They cross exactly athalf. Crossing is really an example of good technology precision. Then we gothrough a train. This route has great views. You see great mountain views inpanoramic views. This is really really good. Then we have to change to a cablecar which finally takes to Hotel. It is the longest cable car journey in the world.

Hotel Schiltron is a rotating hotel on top of a mountain. You have gotterrace when you enter in. You can get great views of very long distantmountains. You can see virtually France, Italy and Germany (Black forestregions). Inside the hotel, it has 2 circular bases. One rotates slowly where we sit

and have something. The other portion is standstill. It takes around 1hr to comeone round. You can plan for it.In this hotel, there was a James Bond movie shot, "On her majesty's secret

service - 1968". There is a theatre where u can watch selected scenes of thatmovie.

The best part of this place is the walking (or trekking) that can be done fromthe hotel place. U can walk on steep mountain side. In few places, u have ropesand in some other, there is nothing. It is really good to walk there and verychallenging.

Pilatus – Another peak where you find Indian restaurant on the top. I dint gothere so not much info.

Map --

Best time to visitJune, July…Before June it will still be cold and after July it starts raining. June issimply the best!!

22..11..55 SSTTRR A ASSBBOOUURRGG ((FFRR A ANNCCEE))

No. of days 1 day

Getting thereTake a train from Stuttgart Hbf to Kehl (Border of Germany and France). Get aticket 4€ ticket from Kehl to Strasbourg and back. Caution BW ticket is not validall the way to Strasbourg even though it is border sharing with Germany.

Cost

BW Ticket - 5€Ticket – Kehl Strasbourg - 4€One Day pass – Actually there are various tickets

Trio – For 2/3 people, 1 day validity – 4.5€24 hours Ticket – For 1 person – 3.5€

So choose the best one you need.


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Hotel reservationNA

Description

Well well, this is just another European city. This is border sharing with BW state.But this is in France. The things to see here are

Cathedral, European Parliament, Council Of Europe, Book Market, Flea Market,Petite France

You can get info & map visit these places in the tourist info. Only for theEuropean Parliament and Council of Europe you have to take a tram to Wacken.

All the other places are within the city center and within walking distance fromeach other. Please do not take the cruise ride. It is highly boring and big wasteof time. Also a waste of 7.5€.

Map --

Best time to visit Any time when you have no work.

22..11..66 SSCCHH A AFFFFHH A AUUSSEENN ((SSWWIITTZZEERRLL A ANNDD))

No. of days 1 day

Getting there

There are 2 or 3 routes get here. The best one is go to Singen and then to take a

train from there to Schaffhausen.

CostBW Ticket - 5€Boat Ticket – 4.5€

Hotel reservationNA

Description

There is a beautiful waterfall of the Rhein river here. Worth for a one dayvisit. After you get down form the Schaffhausen Hbf, you will have to walk somedistance before you reach the tourist info. There you get the city map and alsothe route of how to get to the waterfalls. You can either go by bus to the falls orgo by walk. By walk it is 3kms. But walking is a better option according to me.


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You go by the side of the river all the way to the falls. Also you get to go throughsome forest, wine-yard, city of Schaffhausen. Totally it’s a good experience. After walking for about 1.5 kms you come across a bridge. There are 2 wayswhich lead to the falls from there – one to the left and another to the right. Betteroption is you take one route while going and another while coming back, so thatyou get to see both of them.

Once you reach the falls, there are boat rides available which take you nearthe falls. There are four options. But according to me take the 4.5€ boat ride,which stops at the rock near the falls. Other boat rides just go near the rock butdon’t let you get down there. After all it is worth going on top of the rock there.The duration of the boat ride is mentioned as 20 mins. But don’t worry once theboat ride lets you down at the rock there is no one counting the time. Be thereas long as you wish.

Even though this place is Switzerland, they accept both Euros and CHF as

currencies. So don’t waste your money by exchanging it in travel exchange. Ifyou want to get some CHF coins for your numismatic inventory you can get themby buying a chocolate and asking for change in EUR.

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Best time to visit Anytime in summer and autumn, between May and October.

22..11..77 IITT A ALLYY

No. of days

Rome – 1 or 1½ DayFlorence – ½ DayPisa – ½ DayMilan – 1 Day

Getting there

The route which we took was

Stuttgart -> Milan by flightMilan -> Rome by train (overnight journey)Rome -> Florence by trainFlorence -> Pisa by TrainPisa -> Stuttgart by flight

Cost

Flight are cheaper if booked earlier (1-2 months in advance)

Malpensa Shuttle: Malpensa -> Milan : 5€/ personMilan24 Hours Pass : 4€/ person

Milan -> Rome Train: 25€/ person

Vatican Dome : 7€/ person or 5€/ personSistine Chappel Entrance: 12€/ person. Discount available for students.


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Colosseum Entrance - 12€/ person

Rome -> Florence Train: 15€/ person (in Regionale)~24€/ person (in IC Plus)

Florence -> Pisa Train: ~5€/ personPisa Tower Entrance - 15€/ person

Hotel reservation

We booked the following hotels

Rome: Anakin Stargate HotelVia Palestro 88,

00185 Rome

Very Near to Roma Termini (Main Station), 10 minutes walk from there.

Florence:Hotel VenetoVia Santa Reparata ,33Florence

Walk able from Florence SMN station, 15 minutes walk from there.

Tirrenia:Villa Wanda

Hotel Pensione

Description

Milan: It is called the ‘Fashion Capital of the World’. All the world famousdesigner brands hail from here viz. Armani, Gucci, etc..If you reach Milan by air,then you will be landing in Malpensa airport. From there you will have to take aMalpensa shuttle to Milan. It costs 5€/ person. The journey from Malpense toMilan is about 1 hour. You can take a 24Hour Pass to go around Milan. It costs3€ / person. Then take a Metro (Red Line) to Duomo. (Duomo means Cathedralin Italian). It is awesome and also the square it is located in. Just beside Duomothere is closed street called Vittorio Emanuelle II which leads us to anothersquare where stands our great Leonardo Da Vinci. This street is famous forshopping.

Also in Milan is situated the famous “The Last Supper” Painting. It is on thewalls of an old school. But we have to take prior appointment to visit that andalso the entrance fee is 14€ / person. And they allow us to go inside only inbatches of 6 people. You can find more information about this on the internet.

Also there is FTV Lounge in Milan. If you can’t afford to go inside, at least youcan go and see it from the outside. But I have no details about it.

Rome: We took the ‘Regionale’ train from Milan to Roma Tiburtina. There areeven other trains – IC PLUS, ES*. But they are costly also reach Rome inmidnight. So it is better to sleep in train than on platform. From Roma Tiburtinawe have to go to Roma Termini. This is main station of Rome. You can take a24Hour ticket from Tiburtina itself and reach Rome Termini by Metro. It costs 4€ /person. With this ticket you can take travel in all the public transport in Rome.

The first public transport in Rome starts at 5.30a.m.In Rome Termini, you can find the tourist info on platform 23 (not

completely sure though). There you collect a map of Rome and start your day.


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Vatican City: Start your day from the Vatican. The metro details can also befound in the Tourist map. There will be long queue in the Vatican, as long as 2hours long. So make sure you reach there by at least 8.00 in the morning. Firstvisit the St. Peter’s Basilica. Achtung!! There is dress code; short dresses arenot allowed. There are 3 things to look out in the Basilica.

1. Vatican Dome – It costs 7€ / person. You can go up the dome ofVatican and get an aerial view of the city. Half the way you can go byelevator, but will have to climb up the final 300 odd steps. Also there isticket for 5€. This cuts out the elevator option. You will have to climb upall the way.

2. Tomb of Previous Popes – Here you can find tombs of previous popesnot all though.

3. Basilica – This is the cathedral. Here you can find St. Peters tomb. It issurrounded by 99 candles, always illuminated.

Then make you way towards the Sistine Chappel, only if you are interested.You can see lots of Michelangelo’s work on the walls and on the roof. This is theplace where the pope is elected. Also in that room the can find the famouspainting – The Judgment Day. This will be the end of Vatican and this is whatVatican has to offer.

Then step out to explore the historical Rome. You can proceed in thefollowing orderstart form theSt. CastelPantheonTrevi FountainSpanish Steps

Vittorio Emanuaelle IIColosseumOld RomePyramid

Florence: There are lot of churches and fountains in Florence. But one thing notbe missed in Florence is the Duomo. It is a marvelous structure, entirely madeup of White and Green Marble. There is also a street market in Florence on theway to Duomo. This is a shopping paradise for the ladies. But all shops close at7.00pm in Florence. Apart from these, there is a palace, synagogue and castle.Visiting these places is left to the tourists’ discretion.

Pisa: The only place worth visiting in Pisa is the Pisa tower. Beside it you canalso find a Duomo and some other Dome. Good enough to glance from theoutside. From the Pisa station, you can walk to Pisa tower – a walk of around 2kms. You can think about this option, if you have time, as you get a better feel ofthe city. The entrance fee to Pisa Tower is 15€ / person and they let in only 15persons at a time. Also for entrance we will have to buy the tickets at least 1.5hours in advance. So check this out and plan according to your journey. It takes40 minutes to go up the tower and come down.

NOTE: Please make sure that you are in the airport at least 1.5 hours before theflights departure time. Or else you will have to miss the flight like we did and goto Tirrenia to spend 1 more day.

Tirrenia: This is a city by the side of the beach. It is relatively cleaner whencompared to other Italian cities/towns and it much reminded me of Goaespecially Panajim. There will be not much people in the beach but the beachesare clean and good, so you can spend a lot of time over here.


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TIPS: Some helpful Italian words

Entrata – EntrnaceUscita – ExitBigilietti – TicketsOre – Hour / TimePiazza – SquareVia – RoadSan – SaintChow – Hi / ByeDirretto – Direction / StraightGrazie – Thank You

Map --

Best time to visit Anytime during April – September. But in peak summer (June, July, August) itwill be very very hot – around 35-40 C.

22..11..88 VVEENNIICCEE((IITT A ALLYY))

No. of days Venice – 1 Day

Getting thereIkarus the only available means of transportation by Land.May be you can check out the possibility by air

Cost

Ikarus tickets costs 55€ - 66€ depending on season. You can book the ticket in

Ikarus by sending a e-mail to the following id [email protected] or directly in the website @

http://www.ikarus-reisen.de/index.asp?p=96&Sprache=en

Hotel reservationNot required if you go by Ikarus

Description

1. The bus starts from Vaihingen bus stop (take S1 from Stuttgart Hbf and getdown at the 6th stop) at 8:45 PM on Friday(s)

2.The ideal time that you would reach Venice (the stop is called "Tronchetto") is6:30 or 7:00 AM on Saturday morning.


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3.Carry toothpaste,brush,soap and get freshened at the WC (easilyidentifiable)at Tronchetto by paying 1€ (carry exact change with you).

*As you know all your travel in Venice will be only through water boats.

4. Take a one day ticket at the ticket counter (which is just a road cross fromWC).It costs around 12€ and is valid for 24 hrs for all water boat travels.

5.Take the first water boat "DM" (diretto Murano) at 8:10 AM from Tronchettoand you will reach "Murano Colonna" stop at around 8:45 AM.Murano is famous for Glass factories and you have lot of them which offer "freevisits”. You can see how a glass showpiece (article) is made and can do someshopping. The factories open around 9:00AM and it will take 5-10 minutes walkfrom Murano stop. Spend 1-2 hours here.

6. Next journey is towards "Burano" where in you have the famous lays factories.For the same take LN (Laguna Nord) boat from 'Murano Faro' (it is next stop ofMurano Colonna and is walk able).The frequency of boats are quite good. Ittakes about 1/2 an hour to reach there.

Attractions: Colorful masks, lace (embroidery) factories /shops, identical housesof different colors, church. Spend around 1-2 hours here. (Pizza's here cost 2€per piece)

7. Our next journey is towards the famous St.Marco Square. For the same takeboat (big one like cruise) to St.Marco square. The boat leaves every 1 hour fromBurano to St.Marco square and it is at every 0.30 .ie. 12.30, 1.30, 2.30…

[This is the place which you see in CNN during news interval/weather reportsometimes.](Ice creams would cost 2€ per 2 scoops, 2.5 for 3, 3 for 4)

8. Here you can take the famous Gondola Ride through the narrow canals ofVenice. (Gondole - the traditional boats of Venice.. They are usually for couples.But are also available for a group of 6. The oarsman sings traditional Italianfolksongs throughout, and take you through the narrow lanes of Venice) But theyare expensive and costs 80€ for 6 persons. Also not every oarsman sings ItalianFolk Songs.

9. Next take a boat from St. Marks square to Lido. (Every 10 minutes there is aboat to Lido). The beach is approx 20 minutes walk from the port. Can spend

about an hour here.

10. Take boat back to St. Marks Square.

11. Take the water boat no 82 or any boat that goes to Tronchetto at around6:45 PM so that you reach back at 7:15 PM. Every 10 minutes there is a boat toTronchetto from St.Marco. The bus starts back at 8:00PM and you should bethere by 7:45 near the bus.[you have 1/2 an hour to have dinner here]

12. The ideal time that you would reach Stuttgart is around 6:30 - 7:00 AM onSunday morning.

Our departure details... (You need to check n verify this...)Departure:Time: 20.45 hrs.Place: Busbahnhof, Vaihingen


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Platform 3, near the waiting shelter. (On the opposite side, you see HotelMercure)

Map --

Best time to visit Anytime from April to September

22..11..99 SSPP A AIINN((BB A ARRCCEELLOONN A A))

No. of days 3 Days

Getting there

Flight is the best means of transport.If you take the Ryanair flight, then you reach Costa Brava airport, Girona. Fromthere are buses to Barcelona, aligned with the flight timings. One way journeycosts 12€. If you buy both to and fro ticket together, it will cost 21€

Cost

Air ticket - Depends on how early you book.Girona Barcelona = 12€ one way

21€ (to and fro) if you purchase together.Sagrada Familia - 8€Under sea aquarium - 15€Tibidabo Bus - 3€Tibidabo lift - 2€

Hotel reservation

We had booked the following hostel. It was very clean with all the facilities. Thebest of the youth hostels I have been so far. Alberguinn Youth Hostelc/ Melcior de Palau, 70-74 entlo

Barcelona

Description

For the following take the Green Line (L3)

Aquarium – This is an under sea aquarium, not deep inside the sea but just bythe shore. But it is good, a really refreshing experience. It is not too big andtakes around 1 hour to see it completely. If you have purchased BarcelonaTourist Ticket, for the open bus rise, then you have a huge discount here.

IMAX Theater – There is also an IMAX theater beside the aquarium, but I don’tknow either the timings or the price of it.

La Rambla –

For the following take the Yellow Line (L4)


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Beach – Get down at the Barceloneta stop, turn right on leaving the metro andcross the main roads, continue walking straight for about 10 mins. Barceloneta isthe first of the Barcelona Spain beaches and can therefore get quite busy duringthe summer months. Also you can walk down or walk upto Drassanes from here.They are quite near by.

For the following take the Blue Line (L5)For the following take the Purple Line (L2)

Gothic Quarter –

La Pederera –

Sagrada Familia – The master piece by the master architect Antonio Gaudi

A Giant Temple designed by the master architect Antonio Gaudi. This buildinghas been under construction since 1882 and they've still got another 30 to 80years (depending on funding and resources) to go before it will be finished.Some people love the Sagrada Familia and some people hate it but whateveryou think I guarantee it will cause a reaction one way or the other.

Tibidabo –F.C.Barcelona -Olympic Stadium -The Magic Fountain of Montjuic -

Map --

Best time to visitEven during winter (in Germany), its fine because it’s the Mediterranean coastand it will be warm.

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