Adventure Guide to the Alps: Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein & Switzerland (ePub)

If castles, cuckoo clocks, and bell-laden cows dominate your image of the Alps, you are - like most travelers - missing out on one of Mother Nature's greatest gifts. It's a secret Europeans like to keep to themselves. In addition to its wealth of cultural sights, the European Alps offer a wider range of outdoor recreation than any other similarly sized region in the world. Adventurers of all ages hike hut-to-hut on multi-day treks, skiers slide year-round on glacial slopes, and Sunday walkers stroll forested trails. Bikers loop icy blue lakes, and mountaineers scale up waterfalls and down canyon cliffs. Here is a guide to the best sights and adventures in the mountainous regions of Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland. Based on experience gained through more than a decade of living in, traveling around, and writing about the Alps, we spotlight the best gateway cities, the best sightseeing bases, and the best outdoor adventures. This is a guide that's ideally suited to on-the-go travelers who seek the best of the Alps - those sights and adventures most worthwhile, most easily reached, and most indicative of the Alpine experience. Here, we cover the places where you're likely to end up when crossing the European Alps and the places that you shouldn't miss in-between, even if you have only a few days or a week to spend. In short, what all our readers have in common is this: the desire to experience rather than simply look at the Alps. In all, 58 destinations are covered here. Nineteen are spotlighted in detail, with in-depth information about what to see and where to sleep, eat, play, and party. In selecting these bases, we've weighed popularity, practicality, and convenience: Spotlighted destinations, then, include gateway cities (common fly-in entry points), towns particularly popular with Alpine travelers, and smaller recreational resorts easily reached via major transit routes. Then, 39 more destinations are covered in brief, profiling bases well worth a somewhat longer stay or a diversion from a pre-planned route. Often smaller or more remote, these memorable villages, valleys, and resorts are, in fact, some of our favorite places. "This book is a great general guide to all the skiing areas in the Alps. Better than any other book I looked at. Since I was unfamiliar with the Alps, I referred to it often on my ski trip to Switzerland and France. It gave the perfect amount of background info to each location and then had good, concise sections re: where to eat, where to party and where to stay. Bravo to the authors for obviously putting effort into creating an easy-to-read, concise and informative resource." -- Rahmit Olsen (Amazon reviewer). "An avid skier and hiker, the author has explored terrain ranging from Switzerland's Matterhorn to South Korea's Muju Mountain. The author of more than 800 travel features, hotel reviews and destination guides, she shares her vast knowledge of ski and adventure travel in the Alps and Europe." -- Ingram Advance Magazine. "As portable as they are helpful and heavily illustrated as well, the volumes in this series remain very reliable in making certain that adventure is a major ingredient of your trip." -- Booklist. Here is all the practical travel information you need - places to stay and eat, travel advice, emergency contacts and more - plus condensed sections on history and geography. The author is fascinated with the destination and the text is lively, revealing and a pleasure to read. Detailed town and regional maps make planning day-trips or city tours easy. Adventures covered range from town sightseeing tours and nature watching to sea kayaking and jungle excursions. Travelers looking for a more relaxed vacation may want to sign up for language classes or take a course on traditional regional cooking - these cultural adventures will introduce you to the people and give you a truly unique travel experience. Maps and photos throughout.