It’s not necessary to relate all the details involved in planning an Austrian vacation. Many airlines fly to Munich, Germany and Zurich, Switzerland, the easiest gateways into the Bregenzerwald area. Even though the current airline rates are astronomical, persist! Airline fares change daily… Try Priceline.com, Find Discounted Airline Flights at CheapOair and you’d be surprised what decent fares materialize. Other important bits of information are:

Finding An Affordable Hotel/Pension/Apartment? I used the Bregenzerwald website to request a brochure and for hotel/pension/guesthouse/apartment inquiries. Again, try Hotels.com and Expedia for hotels if that’s easier for you.

You’ll find someplace to stay in your budget range among these 22 villages and towns. Room is a zimmer in German. All inquiries were e-mailed back to me without exception and it was then just a matter of deciding. We chose the Hotel Tannahof in Au, Austria for a 11-night stay. MONEYSAVING TIP: If you are staying anywhere for more than 7 nights, ask if a discount is available for longer stays. Hotel Tannahof gave us 11-nights for the price of 10! They also offered a FREE roundtrip pick-up from the train station, accepted credit cards, spoke English, had internet and provided half-board – Buffet Breakfast and a choice of entrees at Dinner.

A hotel was also needed for one night around the Zurich Airport vicinity before flying home. MONEYSAVING TIP: Just one more time, check any of the above websites for the least expensive place with free transfers between the hotel and airport, important if you are looking to save money.

MONEYSAVING TIP: It’s usually less expensive to take half-board at your hotel than eat dinner in a restaurant unless you rent an apartment and cook your own meals.

Transportation? ex-Marine drives for a living and refuses to get behind the wheel on vacation. With gas prices the way they are, fine with me. Instead, one of Europe’s efficient trains. Flying into Zurich, Switzerland was a little closer to the Bregenzerwald region than Munich. You can buy train passes and point-to-point tickets in advance or wait until you arrive. MONEYSAVING TIP: It’s always cheaper to buy in advance if you plan on training to more than one country and extensive training within one country. Check out the following sites in advance to see what’s more economical in your case. Rail Europe, SBB (Swiss Rail), and DB Bahn (German Rail).

TIP:: Don’t forget to notify both your bank and credit card company that you will be out of the country or risk a block on all transactions. They’ve tightened up considerably because of identity theft. Your first transaction may go through, but prepare to hear “denied” on the second unless you’ve notified them.
Your vacation can take a year to save for, only a second to ruin. Purchase travel insurance through Travel Guard. Starting at $30.

What to Bring? The most important items – hiking boots, and our 3rd and 4th legs, hiking/walking poles. Along with an ATM card, and credit cards, we never hike without them. Everything else was the usual hiking/walking apparel – waterproof jackets and pants, fleece, shorts, plastic water bottles, etc. A minimum of casual clothing for all else. Most European restaurants and hotel are very casual both summer and winter.

It took about 14-days to make decisions on where to go, how to get there and what was the most economical but planning done and confident that I’d taken as much as possible into moneysaving consideration, we were ready to explore the area of Bregenzerwald in Austria.