Austria, Switzerland, and Germany

I'm new to Lonely Planet but i'm so glad I found it, it appears to be a very informative travelling site. I'm hoping someone will be able to help me.

I'm going travelling for 2 weeks in November as a solo traveller, and want to fit in parts of Austria, Switzerland, and Germany. With Austria i'll probably stay to the west, Germany south (no further than Munich) and Switzerland in general so won't be travelling too far a field.

The one thing i'm concerned about is the time of year i'm going. Do things generally shut down in these countries in the winter months? I don't want to get there and not be able to visit certain mountains etc because the trains have shut down. I've tried looking at Swiss and Austrian rail websites but the timetables are a bit vague.

I'd also like any suggestions for must see locations in these areas. I have already found small towns like Hallstatt in Austria that look stunning, and Lake Constance in Germany looks beautiful. Also any information about the best way to travel alone will be appreciated as it will be my first lone venture.

Many thanks,

Dan

Don't worry. Nothing will shut down in Switzerland or Austria in winter, in fact winter is the main tourist season (starting in December). Barring a major snow storm everything will be open an accesible.
That said : November is a horrible time to visit, because winter will not have started and the weather is rather bad (cold, rainy). Everything will be open however.

Just a bit of advice should you go to Vienna. Do note that on Mondays almost everything of interest to travelers will be closed. Even many restaurants don't open on Mondays. Schoenbrun Palace will be open though as will the Zentralfriedhof (Central Cemetery), the final resting place of Beethoven, Brahms, etc. If you want to go to Vienna and can arrange your schedule so as to not be there on a Monday, I'd advise you to do so.

Many thanks for your posts. I guess November is not the best time to visit but it's the only time I have this year, maybe I could stretch it to early December. Otherwise I should probably leave it for early 2010. The Vienna information was very helpful as that is somewhere I am considering. Thanks again

south from Munich is Mittenwald and the Zugspitze. Good options to visit.

In all 3 countries, some mountain railway lines and bus routes in the high Alps will be closed, but all well known places, like Jungfraujoch, Gornergrat, etc. can be visited.
The timetables are very clear about that
www.sbb.ch, www.oebb.at

Thanks for the advice and the suggestions :)

Edited by: diskobox