Take a Vacation

[BigPiney]

Just got back from a 9 day family vacation to England. We were celebrating my son's college graduation ("What? A lot of people go to college for seven years..."), as well as my wife's 50th birthday.

We spent the first 4 days in London, with Covent Gardens being our home base. We loved the neighborhood, and it was super easy to access to all of the monuments either on foot or on the Underground. Could have spent a few more days there to see everything that we wanted without feeling rushed.

We then drove out to the southwest countryside and spent 4 days, with Bath as our home base to visit the Cotswold region. Absolutely loved Bath and the surrounding area. Tons to do and see in Bath itself, and the drive up to the Cotswolds was fantastic. The Instagram famous villages, like Bourton-on-the-water, were totally overrun with tourists, so while they were pretty, they weren't super enjoyable. But the smaller, lesser known villages were amazing. The countryside was a nice break from the hustle bustle of the city.

Our last night was in Oxford. We wanted to see the universities and the city center. Oxford was crazy busy. So many tour groups with, what I assume were high school students from all over the world. The campus was gorgeous, but it is largely closed off to visitors, so we weren't able to see much there. City center is fun, but also just crazy busy. Even on a Tuesday. Can't imagine what a weekend would have looked like. Oxford was a nice place to spend our last day, as it is an easy drive to Heathrow for an early flight.

Driving on the left side of the road is still mentally exhausting, but it was much easier than my first time last year in Barbados.

Overall, can't recommend England enough. Would love to go back and explore more of the island, including up north and into Scotland, some time.

That sounds like the trip I did with my family in 2020 right before Covid. It was awesome.

[bluegoose]

Just got back from a 9 day family vacation to England. We were celebrating my son's college graduation ("What? A lot of people go to college for seven years..."), as well as my wife's 50th birthday.

We spent the first 4 days in London, with Covent Gardens being our home base. We loved the neighborhood, and it was super easy to access to all of the monuments either on foot or on the Underground. Could have spent a few more days there to see everything that we wanted without feeling rushed.

We then drove out to the southwest countryside and spent 4 days, with Bath as our home base to visit the Cotswold region. Absolutely loved Bath and the surrounding area. Tons to do and see in Bath itself, and the drive up to the Cotswolds was fantastic. The Instagram famous villages, like Bourton-on-the-water, were totally overrun with tourists, so while they were pretty, they weren't super enjoyable. But the smaller, lesser known villages were amazing. The countryside was a nice break from the hustle bustle of the city.

Our last night was in Oxford. We wanted to see the universities and the city center. Oxford was crazy busy. So many tour groups with, what I assume were high school students from all over the world. The campus was gorgeous, but it is largely closed off to visitors, so we weren't able to see much there. City center is fun, but also just crazy busy. Even on a Tuesday. Can't imagine what a weekend would have looked like. Oxford was a nice place to spend our last day, as it is an easy drive to Heathrow for an early flight.

Driving on the left side of the road is still mentally exhausting, but it was much easier than my first time last year in Barbados.

Overall, can't recommend England enough. Would love to go back and explore more of the island, including up north and into Scotland, some time.

[BigPiney]

This feature would have saved me a lot of time when I was searching for award space at Hyatt properties in Paris a couple of years ago (that never materialized):

https://thepointsguy.com/news/hyatt-...ility-feature/

Marriot has that. It is really nice for finding a good deals and windows to travel.

[Pelado]

This feature would have saved me a lot of time when I was searching for award space at Hyatt properties in Paris a couple of years ago (that never materialized):

https://thepointsguy.com/news/hyatt-...ility-feature/

[Pelado]

For those of you willing to slum it on Southwest, they're running a special right now with up to 50% off base fares. Use promo code BIGDEAL for travel between 8/4/2025-12/17/2025. Deal ends on 7/10/2025.

I just rebooked a bunch of flights and saved a fair amount of points.

[Moliere]

I love lauterbrunnen but I think Zermatt is even better. In fact, I want to get back to Zermatt sometime to do more hiking and eating. I’ve got a ton of photos of just the Matterhorn as the views from our hotel balcony were perfect.

[PaloAltoCougar]

Thanks for all the suggestions so far. This is great to have solid ideas to look up. PAC, we have 8 days between when we arrive in Munich and when my wife leaves Milan. The trip is in late August. I was thinking we would go at least as far east a salzburg, but open to going over to Vienna. Your top 10 would be very appreciated. My wife would probably be more down to parasail than me!

JL I'm definitely pitching Vajont dam now but looks like its only about 2 hours from one of our project visits. So maybe all the nerds will go after my wife leaves.

Rather than provide a top ten, I'll recommend for now that you choose two or three areas from the following four: Salzburg, Val Gardena in the Dolomites, the Bernese Oberland, and/or Lake Como (on the way to Milan). You can use trains or rental car for any of these, although I wouldn't get one if you're going to Zermatt (more in a moment). Vienna's nice (I lived there for a year) but this time around I'd focus on the mountains.

Salzburg. My sentimental favorite. You can spend at least 2-3 days here doing the following. A walking tour within the old city--just walking around, is a lot of fun with beautiful photo ops. You can take a Sound of Music tour (wish I were there to provide it, as I got to know all of the sites very well). A tour or drive out to the Salzkammergut (Lake District) and Hallstaat (unquestionably one of most beautiful villages on the planet) and the nearby salt mine (more interesting than you might expect, would be a great day. Or go west to Berchtesgaden, Konigsee, the Jennerbahn (chair lift to some fun hiking areas) and Hitler's Eagle's Nest. Lots to see and do. Be aware that Salzburg Music Festival is held every August. Hence, lots of tourists but also lots of superb musical and theatrical productions.

Val Gardena. The western side of the Dolomites (Cortina in the east) that we loved. Lost of gondolas and other lifts that will take you to spectacular views and fun hiking (and parasailing!). My wife's photos from this area look so good you'd think she spent hours editing, but she didn't. So many great views. A couple of days here would a lot of fun.

Bernese Oberland. Stops here could include Luzern, Zermatt, Grindelwald, and Muerren (a presonal fave), all with a lot of great views, hiking, etc. Luzern is more cosmopolitan than the others, and Zermatt (Matterhorn) can be overrun with tourists, but you can't go wrong with any of these. Our hotel balcony view in Muerren was breathtaking, with three peaks, including Eiger, in plain view. From there we took a gondola up to Piz Gloria (Bond's On Her Majesty's Secret Service) where one can see forever (or at least as far as peaks like Mont Blanc).

Como. Just an hour's drive north of Milan, one can stay in Bellagio (the town, not the hotel) and take a ferry to several charming villages that surround the lake. Say hi to George Clooney.

Anyway, pick a couple of areas (or others) and I may be able to provide some additional tips. Don't worry about making the absolutely best choices. There are so great things you won't go wrong, and you also won't come close to seeing everything. But it will whet your appetite for more visits later.

[Omaha 680]

Thanks for all the suggestions so far. This is great to have solid ideas to look up. PAC, we have 8 days between when we arrive in Munich and when my wife leaves Milan. The trip is in late August. I was thinking we would go at least as far east a salzburg, but open to going over to Vienna. Your top 10 would be very appreciated. My wife would probably be more down to parasail than me!

JL I'm definitely pitching Vajont dam now but looks like its only about 2 hours from one of our project visits. So maybe all the nerds will go after my wife leaves.

[Bo Diddley]

How many days do you plan to be there? Austria was my mission and I know Salzburg and that area pretty well. And we've had recent trips to the Italian Alps/Dolomites, Bsvaria, Rothenburg (truly great), and Switzerland. I can give you a top ten list but it'll be halpful to know how much time you have. If you want a truly memorable couples experience, you could go parasailing together over Neuschwanstein or the Dolomites. We've done both and absolutely loved it, although it's obviously not for the timid of heart. I can recommend a number of less daring but still great activities after you report when you're going and how much free time you'll have. Sneak preview--here's a picture of the missus on our hotel balcony in Zermatt (not Anaheim!):

Ha! I just asked Mrs. Diddley if she would be interested and I got a hard no! That sounds like a blast. Now I'm trying to figure out how I can work that in and come up with something she would do by herself in a foreign country. Ok, not likely.

Love the picture. We had a trip to Switzerland booked in late 2020 or 2021 before we had to cancel because of some drama in the family. When we pull the trigger I'll be sure to hit you up for some tips.

[PaloAltoCougar]

Going to the Italian Alps to see a couple project examples. It falls over our 20th anniversary so we decided to go out together a little early and then my wife will head home when the boring stuff starts. Flying in to Munich and considering southern Germany, Austria, and/or Switzerland. Flying out of Milan.

Suggestions (cities, sites, food, etc) are welcome and appreciated. We are kind of winging this one.

Edit: we will probably do Dachau on the day we arrive so hopefully that will be the most somber part of the trip.

How many days do you plan to be there? Austria was my mission and I know Salzburg and that area pretty well. And we've had recent trips to the Italian Alps/Dolomites, Bsvaria, Rothenburg (truly great), and Switzerland. I can give you a top ten list but it'll be halpful to know how much time you have. If you want a truly memorable couples experience, you could go parasailing together over Neuschwanstein or the Dolomites. We've done both and absolutely loved it, although it's obviously not for the timid of heart. I can recommend a number of less daring but still great activities after you report when you're going and how much free time you'll have. Sneak preview--here's a picture of the missus on our hotel balcony in Zermatt (not Anaheim!): IMG_3199.jpeg

[Jeff Lebowski]

Going to the Italian Alps to see a couple project examples. It falls over our 20th anniversary so we decided to go out together a little early and then my wife will head home when the boring stuff starts. Flying in to Munich and considering southern Germany, Austria, and/or Switzerland. Flying out of Milan.

Suggestions (cities, sites, food, etc) are welcome and appreciated. We are kind of winging this one.

Edit: we will probably do Dachau on the day we arrive so hopefully that will be the most somber part of the trip.

If it is not too far out of the way, you should swing by the Vajont dam. Site of a massive landslide where the side of a mountain dropped into a new reservoir at 70 mph and pushed all the water up and over the top of a very tall new concrete dam, creating a massive wall of water that wiped out everything below. Visiting the site is a surreal experience - like wandering a post-apocalyptic world. Massive concrete structure filled with dirt and unused.

I think about 2000 people died. People still maintain shrines there.

[Bo Diddley]

We did Bavaria and Austria back in 2023. We're considering Switzerland and some more Bavaria next spring.

Bavaria does not disappoint! We drove out to Vienna, but that involves traveling the bulk of a day there and back from Munich. Depending on how long you will visit, if it were me, I'd make Munich our base and do a bunch of day trips from there. Maybe spend a couple nights up in Rothenburg.

[Clark Addison]

I don't know most of that area but we just spent 2 days in Lucerne. I liked it, my wife loved it. I would recommend it, but would also not spend any more time than that unless you were going to get out of the city and do some hiking/outdoors stuff, which we didn't really. We did a boat tour on the lake and had dinner at a resort outside the city on top of a cliff overlooking the lake but didn't hike, bike, etc.

[Omaha 680]

Going to the Italian Alps to see a couple project examples. It falls over our 20th anniversary so we decided to go out together a little early and then my wife will head home when the boring stuff starts. Flying in to Munich and considering southern Germany, Austria, and/or Switzerland. Flying out of Milan.

Suggestions (cities, sites, food, etc) are welcome and appreciated. We are kind of winging this one.

Edit: we will probably do Dachau on the day we arrive so hopefully that will be the most somber part of the trip.

[Northwestcoug]

Brb putting Mallorca on the vacation list, wherever the hell it is.