There are choices. Stay home and forget about Europe or try to find other, less expensive alternatives. It’s no secret that the U.S. Dollar is doing a little better against the Euro and English Pound (as of this writing) but what do you do if your feet are itching to get on that plane and you are short of funds? Do what I do, get on the Internet and start googling.

ex-Marine (husband, Steve) and I both enjoy day-hiking in Europe with Austria one of our favorite destinations. Up on a hill is a lonely goatherd… You can base yourself in one or two different locations, snarf down a humungous breakfast with yogurt, breads, juice, cheese, ham, other breakfast meats, eggs, pates, jelly, jam, wonderful butter (forget the margarine and pig out on real butter). Throw on a day pack and set off for a day in the mountains. Take a FREE cable car up the mountains in many resorts, return down to a valley and hop the usually FREE bus back to the original starting point or…do nothing.

Take the family. Walk an easy path, or hike up and down on extremely well-marked trails that even grade the difficulty and give times to the next spot. Through meadows filled with wildflowers, forests, pastures where fat, healthy cows with melodious cow bells stand munching and chewing. Stop for lunch at one of the many mountain chalets and restaurants scattered everywhere…some have playgrounds and nature trails.

Bregenzerwald, Austria map
Stop for coffee, a nosh, and browse the stores in town before heading back to your little hotel/pension/apartment. Soothe those aching muscles in a hot bath, read for a while, order a bottle of wine and eat a huge dinner…you deserve it. MONEYSAVING TIP: If you stay more than one night in any European hotel where dinner is included, order an entire bottle of wine. If you don’t finish it, your server will mark your room number on the bottle and serve it again the next day.

This kind of trip comes as close to perfection as possible for us. Don’t want to do anything one day? Veg out. Want to go sightseeing? Hop one of the very efficient European trains or buses and go explore another town. Are you a bicyclist? Unlimited amount of mountain bike routes everywhere.

Save up to 40% on Last Minute Fares with Hotwire Limited Rates!
Past Austrian trips have included: Mayrhofen, Kitzbuhel,St. Johann di Tirol. Not interested in Austria? What about Davos,Switzerland, the completely beyond belief Alsace Region of France, Mallorca, Slovenia, Tuscany or the famous Amalfi Coast/Sorrento in Italy. Travel on your own or join one of Adventure Center’s many inexpensive group tours everywhere in Europe.

Time to choose a summer destination and the winner: Bregenzerwald! Bregenzerwald (province of Vorarlberg) is right in the heart of Europe between Lake Constance and the holiday resorts of Lech and Zurs and is a large ski area in the winter. Easy to reach from Zurich or Munich, there are little villages, forests, sunny alpine pastures and the main reason we chose Bregenzerwald, a free Guestcard with a three-night stay. This entitles all guests in the 22 village/town region the following:

- Free use of all the mountain chair lifts

– Free admission to the outdoor swimming pools in Au, Bezau, Egg, Hittisau, Mellau, Schoppernau and Schwarzenberg (villages scatter throughout this region)

– Free use of all Bregenzerwald public bus lines

Big, substantial savings when a one-way chairlift ride usually runs around 15 Euros. Time to continue the planning…