Savor the Swiss Countryside
Like many of you who have delayed plans to Europe this past year, we’re excited to hear that the EU is opening to vaccinated travelers this summer. But we’re still not sure about rushing back to cities like Rome, Paris, and Barcelona, unless we know that there will be some sense of normalcy visiting all major sites and dining out. Our focus so far has been to design trips to the European countryside. There’s no better time to visit the Swiss Alps, Icelandic glaciers, Norwegian fjords, Scottish Highlands, and off-the-beaten-track Greek isles. Whether you prefer to travel independently or a group, ActiveTravels know the best way to get you deep into the scenic European countryside. Let’s start with Switzerland.
The Swiss Alps is blessed with an intricate network of trains and gondolas that can connect with endless opportunities for high adventure right outside your hotel doorstep. You never have to travel far, thus spending far less time in shuttles or transfers to the next destination. Swiss chocolate and fondue might be the main draw to the country, but one look at lofty Eiger Peak, standing 13,020 feet, as you take a gondola high above the mountain village of Grindelwald, and you can’t help but be mesmerized by the mix of snowcapped peaks, green valleys, glacier-fed waterfalls, and large lakes. Add Bern to your itinerary and you’ll have the unique opportunity to tube done the Aare River and take an E-bike ride in scenic Emmental Valley. We were fortunate to travel to Switzerland with Backroads on a family trip designed for older children. It still ranks as one of the top five trips we took as a family.
Contact ActiveTravels and we’ll get started on your Swiss Adventure!
Backroads just announced 
Since Daytrip debuted in 2015, we’ve worked with them to book a number of drives for clients around the European continent. They’re a fantastic alternative to train or plane travel, especially when you want to stop along the way to visit an off-the-beaten track town or sight. For example, Lisa and I used the company in Spain on 
My kids weren’t too pleased to wake up at 6:30 am on summer vacation, but I wanted to be at Carara National Park at 7 am, when it opened. I knew from prior trips to the country that Carara was one of the few places to see that majestic bird, the scarlet macaw. Last time here, I heard a loud noise, only to peer up at a family of four vibrantly colored macaws. That is an image I was hoping to recreate. We arrived early and the gate was closed. In summer, Carara opens at 8 am read the sign. Screw it. The kids were already giving me grief for waking them up, so we sneaked in through the gate and started our hike. An hour later, we were covered in sweat from the sweltering rainforest humidity and had only spotted one very large Jesus Christ lizard. No macaws. We drove back to the hotel and I was bumming big time. 
This is the time of year that I usually receive press releases from tour operators announcing new trips in 2018. Since I just returned from an outstanding Backroads trip to Switzerland, that one caught my eye. They are introducing
Today, we couldn’t pass up one of the rare opportunities to bike from one capital city to another, in this case Vienna to Bratislava. Actually, Lisa wouldn’t let me bow out of this ride early, because her mother was born in Vienna and her grandmother was born in Bratislava. So even though it was called the Iron Curtain Ride, we called it the Fried Roots Route for her mother’s family. Most of the riding was relatively level through bucolic countryside and forest, primarily on one of the EuroVelo trails that crisscross the continent for bikers. We stopped at a small snack bar for yes, our last radlers, and yummy cherry strudel, before continuing to our glamorous lunch spot, 
Then it was on to Slovakia, crossing a small bridge where a memorial was dedicated to the people who died trying to escape communist rule in hopes of finding freedom in Austria. We pedaled past old castle walls before hitting the city and snaking along the Danube to where our trusty home for the week, the