The Alps are one of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately 1,200 km (750 mi) across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. One cannot visit all the significant sights of the Alps in one trip. The best is to break up the trip into multiple segments focusing on one region at a time. The Alpine region has a strong cultural identity. Traditional practices such as farming, cheesemaking, wine making, and woodworking still thrive in Alpine villages.

We had previously visited east Switzerland and Italian Alps in 2018. The highlight of that trip was the Bernina Express Train connecting Chur (or Davos) in Switzerland to Tirano in Italy by crossing the Swiss Engadin Alps. For most of its journey, the train also runs along the World Heritage Site known as the Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina Landscapes. The trip on the Bernina Express through this World Heritage Site is a four-hour railway journey across 196 bridges, through 55 tunnels and across the Bernina Pass at 2,253 metres (7,392 ft) above sea level.

We are focusing on French Alps, Switzerland, German Black Forest, and Austrian Alps in this trip. The best time to visit the Alps is summer months when daily temperature is high. However, one can consider to visit during shoulder Spring and Fall seasons. We did our trip in October before snow falls. October also brings in beautiful fall foliage. The temperature is in the range of 60°F (18°C) high and 40°F (10°C) during fall season. There are some light raining days. A weatherproof rain jacket should be sufficient. The train connections are extensive in Europe. A Swiss or European rail pass can be convenient as you go between cities big and small. We opted for a rent car as we had to cover a vast region from French to Austria.

Our journey was taken during middle September to early October 2024 starting with a car rental at Frankfurt International Airport. We spent a couple of days exploring Rhine River valley first before we hit the road to German Black Forest. Please refer my blog on Rhine River Castle for that part of trip.

German Black Forest is a range of hills stretching east of the Rhine River in Southwest Germany. Ancient Romans found the thick forest here inaccessible and mysterious, so they called it “black.” Today, Germans and tourists alike are attracted to this most romantic of German regions — filled with hiking opportunities, folk museums, cute hamlets, and no shortage of cuckoo clock. Germans come here to recuperate from their hectic workaday lives, as well as from medical ailments, so did we. Baden-Baden is the major spa town of the region, and the highlight of most visits here is a sober, 17-step ritual at the Friedrichsbad, a.k.a. the Roman-Irish Bath at the infamous Caracalla Theme Spa. This bathhouse pampered the rich and famous in its elegant surroundings when it opened in 1877. Today, this steamy world of marble, brass columns, tropical tiles, and lily pad imagery welcomes gawky tourists and laid-back locals. Enjoying the baths here is one of Europe’s most elegant experiences so we took the plunge. Spa charges you a fee for 2 or 4 hour spa time and bath towels. The mineral water is temperature controlled and continuously refreshed. There are two spa pools, one inside and one outdoor. There are water pumps pumping water jets and waterfalls which can “perform” massage on you.

We made a stop at Colmar, a charming French town in Alsace region. The city is renowned for its well-preserved old town, its numerous architectural landmarks and its museums, among which is the Unterlinden Museum, which houses the Isenheim Altarpiece. A walk of about ten to twenty minutes can take you to following beautiful sights, in order – Maison dite “au Pèlerin”, Au Vieux Pignon, Brasserie des Tanneurs, Rue des Tanneurs, Marché Couvert Colmar, No. 9, 10, 11, 13 Quai de la Poissonnerie, La Petite Venise, Pont st-Pierre. A boat tour about ten minutes is popular to see the town in a different perspective.

We continued our journey to Chamonix to pay tribute to Mont Blanc. Mont Blanc spans the French–Italian border, and at 4,809 m (15,778 ft), is the highest mountain in the Alps. The Alpine region area contains 128 peaks higher than 4,000 m (13,000 ft). We prebooked Aiguille du midi cable car and were very lucky for a clear sky day. I would suggest not to prebook the cable car ticket as it could be closed in adverse weather. The line was not that busy on the day we visited. We can see miles of glaciers at Aiguille du midi. Another cable car called Panoramic Mount Blanc can take one from Aiguille du midi cable car station to the Italian side of Mont Blanc. The Panoramic Mount Blanc cable car will travel miles over glaciers for 50 minutes and bring one to a small town, Pointe Helbronner, in Italy. You can take the Panoramic Mount Blanc cable car back to Aiguille du midi using a round trip ticket. Or you can take an one way trip followed by a shuttle bus or taxi back to Chamonix from Pointe Helbronner. Unfortunately, the Panoramic Mount Blanc cable car was closed due to high wind condition on the day we visited. There are many terraces, the Bridge, Espace Vertical, Hypoxia Level, and Le Tube on top at Aiguille du midi. The restaurant however doesn’t serve anything (seems to be closed). It was cold outside but one can go inside to stay warm after ten to twenty minutes staying outdoors.

We left France behind and headed to Switzerland to see majestic mountain Matterhorn. The Matterhorn is a mountain of the Alps, straddling the main watershed and border between Italy and Switzerland. It is a large, near-symmetric pyramidal peak in the extended Monte Rosa area of the Pennine Alps, whose summit is 4,478 metres (14,692 ft) above sea level, making it one of the highest summits in the Alps and Europe. Matterhorn can be reached by Gornergrat Matterhorm train from famous Swiss ski town Zermatt. Zermatt is a car-free town, only accessible by train. We drove to the nearby town Tasch instead. A ten minute train ride can take you from Tasch to Zermatt. Tasch is a small town with road access. It has a good range of hotels and restaurants clustered around the train station. Everything is actually much cheaper than Zermatt.

Gornergrat Matterhorm train from Zermatt to Matterhorn has six stops. One popular thing to do is to get off at Rotenboden stop and hike to the nearby alpine lake and take a reflective photo of Matterhorn. We took off and hiked to the lake at Rotenboden. We rejoined another train a hour later to reach the summit Gornergrat. There are an restaurant, restroom, and an astronomical observatory at Gornergrat. Tours available to visit the astronomical observatory. However, it was not open on the day we visited.

Our next stop was Interlaken. Interlaken is the outdoor sport capital of Switzerland, if not of Europe. It is known worldwide for the range of adventure sports available here and for its many top excursion destinations. Our main goal was to see Jungfraujoch, the Top of Europe, with its three famous mountains Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau. Ogre (Eiger; the standard German word for ogre is Oger) is a man-eating giant. Monk (Mönch) was protecting the young girl Jungfrau (the “Virgin” or “Maiden”) from the Eiger.

Before we climbed the Top of Europe, we visited Schilthorn where the first James Bond movie was shot. To reach Schilthorn, we rided on three cable cars over Lauterbrunnen valley and car-free town of Gimmelward. Lauterbrunnen valley is very greenery, scattered with tiny farms. It is a sight to be hold. Parasailing over Lauterbrunnen valley feels like a flight over the Garden of Eden. We unexpectedly found Schilthorn is a better place to see the three peaks of Jungfraujoch as we are afar. One wouldn’t be able to see the three peaks of Jungfraujoch on the Top of Europe trip because the Jungfrau train travels in a tunnel inside the mountain. Besides the scenery, Schilthorn offers an all you can eat James Bond buffet in 360 degree rotating restaurant, as well as a short outdoor Thrill Walk on which one walked on high-wire glass walkway in the Swiss Alps, suspended almost 1000 feet above ground. Life must feel good as time goes by while viewing the Swiss Alps in a rotating restaurant!

Jungfraujoch, the Top of Europe, was visited next day. We took a train from Interlaken to Grindelwald Terminal, followed by Eiger Express cable car going up. Eiger Express took us to Eigergletscher where we changed to the Jungfrau train to reach the Top of Europe. The Jungfrau route is nine kilometers long, of which seven kilometers are in a tunnel through the Eiger and Mönch mountains. The rack-and-pinion railway stops en route at the midway station of Eismeer, where you can leave the train for five minutes and admire the imposing mountain landscape and the longest glacier in Europe, Aletsch Glacier, through a viewing window. Make sure you get off the train. The view is magnificent!

We opted for an all train route when we came down. We had to change trains three times but the changes were convenient. These two routes offer different sceneries. The all train route coming down went through Lauterbrunnen valley which was beautifully greenery.

Leaving Interlaken, we made some quick stops at Lucerne and Liechtenstein before we arrived at Hallstatt, Austria. We did the Golden Round Trip Mount Pilatus Tour at Lucerne. The cruise on Lake Lucerne is very relaxing and refreshing. Liechtenstein is hiding in hilly mountains. It is beautiful but not much there to do or see other than wearing a paper crown pretending to be the Liechtenstein Princess. There are some small Alps towns Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Mittenwald, and Innsbruck worth a visit if time permits.

Picturesque postcard-worth Hallstatt is definitely the gem of Austrian Alps. It is a very small town with limited accommodation choices. We stayed at Seehotel Gruener Baum which is located at the central “square” with a water front terrace. A two minutes walk when you turn right from the hotel will lead you to the best Instagram photo spot. Turn left will bring you to an electric boat rental place. We rented one of soundless electric boats for an hour on the lake. It is definitely the way to go to enjoy the Austrian Alps! We also took the Salzwelten tour. We liked the tour very much. The tour guide will take you down a salt mine which has been used for 300 years and have some fun activities while show you how the mine worked.

The final stop of our Alps tour is Salzburg, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Birthplace. Salzburg has a distinguished DomQuartier worth a few hours of visit. In the 1500s, Salzburg’s prince-archbishops planned an Italian Baroque-style city center that today is considered a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The elaborate buildings they commissioned reflected the prince-archbishops’ power over both religious and more earthly matters. The resulting DomQuartier is a series of harmoniously conceived buildings: a cathedral, Residenz precinct and St. Peter’s Abbey. Visitors to the Residenz can tour the prince-archbishops’ elaborate state rooms, which feature Italianate frescoes, soaring arched ceilings and elaborate flooring. The Residenzgalerie boasts a collection of European paintings spanning the 16th to 19th centuries. Meanwhile, the Cathedral Museum permanently exhibits artwork from the Salzburg Archdiocese that date back as far as the eighth century, as well as temporary art exhibits. St. Peter’s Abbey is also easily accessed in the DomQuartier.

Salzburg is the birthplace of Mozart. There are two Mozart’s houses worth visiting. It is also the movie shooting site of Sound of Music. We took the Original Sound of Music Day Tour. We think the tour is just so-so. The tour guide took us to various sites and made a stop at Austrian countryside.

One cannot skip a Mozart Concert at his birthplace. We attended one Mozart Concert with Dinner at Fortress Salzburg after an afternoon River Cruise. What a way to finish the Austrian Alps!

Wait, before I finished my Touring Alps blog, I need to tell you there is a beautiful Alps lake, Schönau am Königssee, only 30 minutes from Salzburg. Check out the beautiful church by the middle of the lake!