We were told that in November (but it was late November for us) there is a bigger chance of ferries and flights being cancelled if the weather is bad.

Kaohsiung: we enjoyed one day in the city (Lotus Pond, Cijin island, Caishan Natural Park also called monkey mountain). And the next day we went to Fo Guang Shan and the Buddha Museum (closed on Tuesdays). We took the MRT to the HSR train station and bus 8501 from platform 3. It took less than an hour to get there. You could spend a whole day there (lots to see at the museum and the monastery is huge). We thought it was interesting and spent most of the afternoon. Make sure you are there for lunch. There is a delicious vegetarian buffet at the museum.

Why do you want beaches? Just to see them or to actually relax on the beach? The best beach near Hualien is probably Qixingtan. From Taitung you could go to Dulan. Like I said, we took the hop on/hop off bus to explore the east coast. Kaohsiung has the Cijin beaches.

We skipped Kenting and we went to Fenqihu, Alishan, Tataka, Sun Moon Lake for one night, Cingjing and Hehuanshan. If you like nice scenery, hiking, sunsets and sunrises you should go. My trip report (link in my earlier post) has more information.

Makes sense about Thursday, especially if you have family to stay with in Calgary!

As to camping - I think any of the campgrounds would be scenic - at this point, you need to see which have availability. If you have a choice, I'd opt for something farther along Hwy 40 from the TCH rather than one of the campgrounds right by the highway. Things are warming up, but there are never any sure promises about the weather -- May long weekends with freezing temps are not that unusual. Seems like it's either gorgeous or miserable - a weekend when Mother Nature is either really nice or really in a foul mood.

I think the trail to Banff is Goat Creek, or something similar. Very popular with mountain bikers, and because it's lower lying, can be mucky. I'd check conditions closer to your arrival. Agreed Ha Ling, but as I alluded to, the trail is being closed on some days to allow for major re-construction and re-routing of the trail. EEOR might be a better option -- the last section is a scramble, but just going up the meadows before the final summit offers wonderful views.

Title: 2 Weeks in Switzerland- My Itinerary for Active Travellers

Destinations Covered: Switzerland

Theme: Travel in Switzerland

Style: Itinerary, destination inspiration

Synopsis: I recently returned from an action-packed trip to Switzerland where I visited a nice mix of familiar and lesser-known destinations. My itinerary included cycling trips, mountain bike adventures, scenic boat and train rides, gorgeous hikes, memorable mountain excursions, and even paragliding.

Here's an in-depth look at my itinerary, including a summary of what I did in each destination, travel times, and tips for visiting. (Disclosure: I was hosted by Tourism Switzerland)

URL: https://www.travelyesplease.com/travel-blog-2-weeks-in-switzerland-itinerary/

Czech is my favourite country for cycling except for Romania. (Romania's cheaper and I like the village architecture more.) Czech has a few things that you need to know about -

1. There is a scheme there where you can rent bikes from the railway company CD. You pick up a bike at one station and you can drop it off at the end of your trip at almost any station in the country. The guy who told me about this scheme said that CD is sad it isn't more popular - but almost all Czechs have their own bikes, so it's very unusual for them to rent. But this means that there are more bikes for the rest of us.
2. Go into any bookshop in the country and you'll find maps and map books of trails. Czechs are hugely into getting out of town for weekends and their maps are magnificent. The website mapy.cz is better than google maps for hiking paths, although paper maps are much better. On mapy.cz click "change maps" at the top left and choose "outdoor." You'll see the cycle paths marked, although you have to zoom in to get them.
3. The bike paths are wonderful for seeing good roads but not useful for getting town to town in a hurry.
4. As you'll see on mapy.cz there are a lot of campsites and you generally won't have to wild camp.
5. You've got five weeks and that's almost too much for Czech. You'll have enough time to slip over the border to Vienna, Salzburg, Regensberg, etc if you want. (Or if you want a week in Prague that will eat your time up.) If you want to explore a little of Poland, I recommend the route around Jelinia Gora and Walbrych towards Wroclaw. Just don't go too far south to Katowice, where there are lots of factories.
   The whole of Czech is good for cycling but this is probably the best itinerary to start with. Begin in Prague and cycle in the very early morning around the city as well as seeing it. Then go south-west and aim for Sumova national park, on the German border. Swing back south to see Cesky Krumlov (tourists love it but you'll be a little underwhelmed because most small towns are similar to it - just not so tourist-friendly.) Going north, aim to go through Tabor, Kutna Hora, and the Cesky Raj national park until you come to the northern mountains. Tackle them - you'll be in better shape by then, and they're glorious. Head east, possibly popping into Poland and watching out for the Witches Cycle trail. Finish in Olomouc, possibly adding a big loop down towards Brno before you finish.
   (The only disadvantages of this route are that you won't see Karlovy Vary, the famous spa town, or the main wine producing area of southern Moravia.)

I lived in both Poland and Czech for two years each and Czech is hands down better for cycling.

I agree, more time in Kanazawa would be nice

I would consider going from Nagoya to Magome-Tsumago, then heading north to Matsumoto and seeing it's castle. You can then take the bus through the mountain pass to Takayama with excellent views.

I HIGHLY recommend not doing Kyoto as a serise of day trips from Osaka. The best hotels in Osaka are in the south of the city, the train stations to Kyoto are in the north of the city. Upon arriving in Kyoto, the train stations are in the center of the city, the things you acutally want to see are mostly along the edge of the city with the mountains. doing this as a day trip again and again is an epic waste of time and money, and will leave you exhausted from dealing with rush hour traffic.

Kyoto has plenty of good hotels, restuarants, and night life. There is no reason to go to Osaka.

Thanks to everyone for all your great ideas and suggestions!

My biggest worry now is the weather as I look to book my hotels today, and it shows showers most days that I was planning in Lucern and Wengen for mountain and hiking..what to do? Do I go towards the Italian/Lugano section first (as I earlier wanted to do anyways but all of you suggested that would be too much with the limited 9 full nights that we have) and then come back to Lucern/Wengen area to do mountain and hiking..hopefully the weather is better by then? or just keep to the original plan of Lucern (3nts) then Wengen (3nts) then Montreux/Vevey 2 nights and the last night of 16th in Geneva before my early morning flight on the 17th Oct (9am) onwards..Going to Lugano from Zurich (where we arrive next Monday Oct 7th afternoon around 5pm) and stay in Lugano for a day or two and then coming back to Lucern/Interlaken/Wengen area but then cut a day from either Lucern or Wengen since we won't have enough days left for Montreux/Vevey before heading to Geneva for 1 day before our flights.I am not sure about how challenging the trains will be to Lugano from Zurich and more so from Lugano back to Lucern as was mentioned earlier...and should I even consider this because of the weather or just take a chance that it will clear up or possibly only rain intermittently allowing us to do some hiking and possibly Rigi/Pilatus?

I am stressing out a bit with only 4 days before my flights to Zurich and hotels still not booked, and this weather issue throwing a wrench in the plans (which was flagged by many)..should I call the hotels in Lucern/wengen to get a better idea of weather forecasts..I have been checking on meteoblue as many suggested in other forums..

Hello all! I've done my research for the past few days and so far I've almost finished planning my trip at the moment I'm deciding to do this

April 18 - land in Bucharest in the afternoon and head straight to Brasov

April 19 - 21 Brasov - Sighsoara - Sibiu - Bucharest

April 22 - Back to Bucharest for one last night before I fly out back to Athens

All via train, do you think this is a good idea? Or should I stay in Brasov as base and just do day trips? Or should I do it the other way around?

I'm dropping Cluj and just saving that for another trip. Points of interest are Prejmar, Faragas Mountains, Peles & Bran Castle.

Thank you in advance :)

Thanks Samira....I had no problem at all with that train ticket. It was a simple fix. I have now been home for three weeks and already starting to formulate ideas for my fourth trip there next year if all goes well. This time I will concentrate mostly on the Carpathian Mountains as I visited them my first two times but not my third.

Can you please tell us-

What time of year?
How many days to make the drive?
Are you driving back to Charleston? Do you live in Charleston? As you may have been to all the places nearby I mention.

Interest? Hiking? Nature? Art? History? Civil War? Partying? Food? Landscapes?

Poster #1-

I would NOT call Indianapolis, Louisville, Charlotte pretty. Lexington and horse country, or the Bourbon trail is nice, as is the Asheville area. Pretty, would be Charleston, Savannah.

It all depends how many days you have to drive it, and your interest.

I make this drive all the time, both in a car and on a motorcycle, but from Chicago to Charleston.

The nicest areas and best thing to see and do in Smokey Mountain National Park, and the Blue Ridge Parkway. This needs 2-3 days alone. SMNP is the most visited National Park in the US. Second would be the Asheville area.

But we normally stop first in a area between Louisville and Lexington, Shaker Village, which is a nice estate near Harrodsburg and Danville, two old Kentucky towns of historic interest. The Bourbon Trail is also in Bardstown.

https://shakervillageky.org/

We then usually head down to Cumberland Falls KY, this is a nice state park, great hiking, rafting and camping. They also have a MOONBOW, which when a full moon is out over the waterfalls as night, its gorgeous.

https://parks.ky.gov/parks/resortparks/cumberland-falls/

Nearby you have Berea, and lots of small interesting Bluegrass towns, roads and scenery.

Then we head from there to Gatlinburg Area, and into the SMNP, and drive 441 thru the park to Cherokee, and stay there 1-2 nights, or, over in Bryson City. (hiking,rafting)
The other option is to head to Asheville area on the Blue Ridge Parkway, and either stay in Asheville area, or, rent a AirBNB Cabin near Asheville and in the foothills above, south west of town, tons of great places, great hiking and great driving. Nearby you have Brevard, Highlands and Blowing Rock/Hot Springs. You can spend a week in this area if you want.

Asheville you have the gorgeous Biltmore Estate, great art and music scene, and good foodie scene.

https://www.nps.gov/grsm/index.htm

https://www.biltmore.com/

https://www.exploreasheville.com

From here, we usually stop a night in Greenville SC, which is a very cool downtown and foodie scene. Then we head to Charleston.

Charleston is one of the prettiest old American cities, and the historic area is just dripping with history, as well a great old homes and historic district, as well as the plantations nearby are a must. Allow 4 nights in Charleston, a week is best. Hotels are not cheap, its a huge wedding destination too. $300 night is normal, if you want to walk everywhere, as car in Charleston is not needed and expensive to park. If hotels are too much $, consider Mt Pleasant area right across bridge....

Side trip for areas of interest, are Madison Indiana on the Ohio River, NOLA area of Louisville KY, Lake Fontana near SMNP, Tellico Plains and drive the Cherohala parkway, the backway to Bryson City/Cherokkee, base there, then drive 441 North and back as a day trip, its a gorgeous road thru the park, but weekends and July/Aug is crowded.

https://cherohala.com/

Lots of great hiking, waterfalls, rafting, camping and nature in KY & NC...

Picking up a car in one country and dropping it off in another is extremely expensive, and not always possible. Use buses and trains for simple transfers between major locations, and rent a car only for limited local use.

Given the time you will spend in Switzerland, it may prove economical to use a car there and to travel on one of the many high mountain routes in that country, rather than to cross Austria to search for a specific road.