What happens when two adults want to take a European summer vacation but they can’t agree on where to go and neither person wants to plan out every detail of a two week trip? Ah, you find a pre-planned trip that you both agree on and let the travel company plan the logistics for you. This, is that trip!For our vacation last summer, we just didn’t have it in us plan a big trip to and around Europe. So we turned to our trusted travel company, Gate1. Prior to 2023, we had taken three trips with them: Kenya, Iceland and South America. We were familiar with their style of travel, how they manage their offerings and their guests so we thought, let’s give it go. We decided years ago that traveling during off-season is the way to go. Besides our honeymoon, we always skip June-August travel. For 2023, we decided to give mid-June a try. And to keep adding to this weird recipe of a trip, we picked an itinerary that took us through 5 countries in 12 days, which is incredibly unusual for our style of travel. Apparently we wanted to shake things up. We reviewed several itineraries on their website and finally settled on a nearly two week trip starting in Italy and ending in Slovenia. We noticed this itinerary gave us a day, to a day and a half of leisure time in each city, which is something we’ve always loved about Gate1. With the travel company taking care of the overall organization, we did some planning for each of our main city stops and felt good about the balance. Stop No. 1: Lake Como, Italy We traveled from Austin to Milan, with a stop in Newark and landed around 8am. After immigration, we made our way to curbside pick up and Gate1 was waiting for us. We were taken in a private car to Lago di Como which is the southwest end of the lake about 30 miles from Milan. Around 10am, we arrived at our hotel, the Barchetta Excelsior. One thing we’ve always loved about Gate1 is their hotel locations are usually convenient, quality spots right where you want to be! We got lucky and our room was ready so we were able to check in, get situated and go explore Como. During our two days there, Gate1 had two things planned for us, a welcome dinner on the first evening and the following day was a trip to the town of Bellagio. Places we planned to visit: the inner area of Como, a few coffee shops for croissants and cappuccinos, the Como Cathedral and the marina. We made lunch reservations at Figli dei fiori (highly recommend) and indulged in pasta, wine and dessert. After our welcome dinner and meet-and-greet with the other guests on our tour, Chase and I took a stroll around the east side of the lake and waited for sunset in front of the Life Electric statue. The next day was Bellagio. We had coffee and pastries from a local shop down the street and then we made our way to a private boat charter that took us across the lake to Bellagio. It was supposed to be a half day but because we wanted to stay in Bellagio longer, we asked our tour guide to help us buy a ferry ticket back to Como later in the day. We had to cover the extra cost (€12 total) but it gave us an extra 5hrs in the village! Things we planned: more coffee shops, walking the steep alleys for pursuing and shopping for silks, a photo op on Salita Serbolleni and then a hike up to the northern point of Bellagio for our late lunch reservation at La Punta restaurant (get reservations, don’t chance it here). We caught our ferry and it took about 90 minutes to make it back to Como. We really enjoyed the views on the lake, all the towns and villas we past were just incredible. Since our lunch was so late in the afternoon, we decided to skip dinner but for sure had room for some gelato from Gelab. It’s in the city of Como and had vegan options which was why it was on our list. The next day we took off for country #2. Stop No. 2: Lucerne, Switzerland Did I mention that the 12 days of travel would be done via motor coach? One of those big ones, like the style greyhound uses! Considering our group was unusually small with only 20 people, we had so much space to stretch out but I cannot imagine this trip with twice as many guests. We got really lucky here! ...Anyway, because we were traveling by motor coach, we made stops for stretching and snacks. Our pit stop was in Lugano; we had about 90 minutes to eat and explore. Lugano was really pretty but we just didn't have enough time to form an opinion of the town. Definitely a downside to these kinds of itineraries. We hit the road and about an hour later, we were in Lucerne. We stopped at the Lion Monument to observe the memorial and then were dropped off in the city center to grab lunch and get acquainted with the town. Things we planned to do: the Chapel Bridge, Jesuit Church, lunch at Bünderland restaurant (this wasn’t planned per se, we needed lunch and this place looked lovely), and due to the high temps, we took a swim in Lake Lucerne. That evening, Gate1 had dinner covered as the whole group went to a very cheesy dinner and show type of place. We tried traditional cheese fondue and had rösti with veal schnitzel. Not a huge veal person but the rest of the food was great. Chase loved the applesauce dessert. Day two in Lucerne was at our leisure. We decided to do the optional tour with Gate1, Mount Pilatus. Gate1 arranged the transportation and tickets, everything on the mountain was our choice. We hiked the Flower Trail and then grabbed a cappuccino at the Pilatus hotel before doing the Dragon Trail (incredible). At our designated time, we all met back up and took the cable car down to meet our driver. Once we were back in the city, we took advantage of our metro pass and headed out for lunch at the Richard Wagner Museum. We also toured the museum which was full of musical relics and insights on Wagner. Other things we planned to do: the Reusswhr (the needle dam), Spreuer Bridge, dinner reservations at Wirtshaus Taube (Chase got traditional Rösti, so good) and of course, gelato for dessert. Stop No. 3: Innsbruck, Austria We took off for Austria in the early morning and got to enjoy some beautiful scenery along the way. Our mid-way pit stop brought us to country #3, Liechtenstein. Vaduz is the capital of this tiny principality and we had about 2 hours to explore. Unfortunately, it wasn’t long enough to really venture far so we walked around the small town, did some souvenir shopping and got a passport stamp. We were delayed getting into Innsbruck due to some construction in the alps so we had an abbreviated amount of time to explore. Things we planned to do: a city tour with a local guide, a tour of the Innsbruck Cathedral and lunch at Gasthof Weisses Rössl. Because of our delay, we missed our lunch opportunity but we did stop at the restaurant and had a snack and a spritz during their afternoon happy hour. That evening, dinner was covered by Gate1. We really wanted to skip this meal and go back into Innsbruck but due to how far the hotel was from the city, concierge didn’t recommend us going if we didn’t have our own car. This was a big let down for us, especially since Gate1 usually has hotel options in city centers. What we did get to see was a quirky, colorful town with lots of beautiful patios and great views of the river. Seemed like a fun day trip, just wish we had a couple more hours there. We took the opportunity to rest up and get ready for our second half of the trip: Salzburg and Vienna, Austria as well as the hidden gem of Slovenia. More to come soon! Until Next Time, C + D
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