Story and photographs by Susan Manlin Katzman
You’ve seen the snow-graced mountains and picturesque villages in countless ads and movies, but nothing prepares you for details of the real experience of The Alps: the icy sharpness of pristine air, the sounds of utter silence, the scent of rain-washed hay and village kitchens, the taste of little-known local foods and the extravagantly awesome mountain vistas that change at every curve of the road, printing picture-postcard images on the memory.
The Alps are a grand mountain range system arching across Europe from Austria to the Mediterranean Riviera. The range is divided by topographic features into more than 40 subunits, most bearing local names and boasting unique characteristics. Wanting to sample a cross section of the glory, my husband and I planned a circular driving itinerary through several countries, using Munich to sandwich the trip.
After flying American Airlines to Chicago and Lufthansa to Munich, we rented a mid-size car from the Hertz counter at the Munich airport and drove directly to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, a picture-book town in the center of Alpine Bavaria. Our itinerary continued along the German Alpine Road to the spa town of Bad Reichenhall, through Berchtesgadener Land in Germany, then along the thrilling Grossglockner Road in Austria, through the Dolomites in northern Italy to Bolzano/Bozen, and on to St. Moritz and Chur in Switzerland and, finally, to Lake Constance (The Bodensee) where we, again, drove the German Alpine Road before heading back to Munich.
Every day brought summits of travel pleasure: the driving (exciting for him, terrifying for me), the spas and the variety of accommodations from farm guest houses to luxury hotels. We both loved the beauty surrounding us at every moment, the lake areas (populated with merrymaking vacationers), Swiss chocolates, German dumplings, the Ice Man at the Archeology Museum in Bolzano/Bozen, Munich museums and the serendipity of the unexpected.
Should you choose to spend a summer vacation driving this close to heaven, be sure to do as the locals do: hike, bike, picnic, take part in special activities—be they concerts, festivals or “spa cures”—dine on regional specialties, drink hometown brews and smile. And a few last tips: Choose your vehicle carefully—travelers take to these roads with bicycles, motorcycles and zippy sports cars. Get a good, highly detailed driving map, and drive carefully.
Someone once said that life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the experiences that take our breath away. Driving through Alpine Europe, you’ll understand what that means.
