Place recommendations for Bavaria, Tuscany, Austria !!!

<p>Hi,<br>

I will be planning to do a big round trip covering Bavaria, Tuscany, Dolomites and Austria (Vienna) in third week of October. Will it be good time to photograph these places ?<br />I am interested to taking pictures of landscapes and nature. Will these places (specially Bavaria alps, Tuscany and Dolomites) be as vibrant as in spring or I will find these places as brown/muddy color ?<br />Any more suggestions please, if I need to cover ? I am in very initial phase of planning, so there is scope of changing my route and places. I will have around 15 days, so have plenty of time. I will rent car, so that I can go by my flexi-time and off-freeway.<br>

Regards</p>

In Tuscany, I can recommend the Cinque Terra region for walking and photo opportunities, Lucca for a very

pleasant walled small city with an aqueduct bringing in water from a nearby hillside. Although I have never

been there, Barga appears to be a very photogenic hillside town. And there are good views of Florence

from the surrounding hills. Have a good trip.

<p>That's a lot of driving. I can't say I would recommend it. I would drop Tuscany and just do Bavaria, Austria and the Dolomites. That is at least something you could drive. Even then it's a lot of driving. Innsbruck, Salzburg, Munich and Vienna could easily keep you occupied for two weeks at least not just a week for the lot.</p>

<p>Cinque Terre is in Liguria, not Tuscany. Another, and even better plan, would be to limit your week of travel to Tuscany alone. Everywhere in Tuscany is worth seeing and much more pleasantly driveable without hours on the road.</p>

<p>There is a certain geographical logic behind bolting together Bavaria , Austria and Dolomites in one trip. Once you take into account that the best parts of Tuscany are two days drive away from these locations ( one there.one back) the logic falls apart unless you actually like Italian motorways. </p>

<ul>

<li>You might want to ask yourself whether putting together three mountain regions of somewhat similar character is such a great idea. Why not pick one and do it properly?</li>

<li>If I were you I'd check whether the basic facilities in the mountain regions- eg chair lifts, lake boat services, hotels etc are actually operating in late October. These aren't places I know well- I'm not being "smart" - but I know that you're right between the peak summer and winter/ski seasons so don't be surprised if some places kind of shut down. </li>

<li>I don't know when its liable to start snowing in the mountain regions. I know there'll be low level roads I'd expect to be open, but at least photographically you'll want to get up onto the passes for photography. I don't think the mountain areas will be brown and muddy. I do think there's a chance (that you should check) that they may be partly inaccessible. </li>

</ul>

<p>If you want to include some non-mountain areas in your trip- and I understand why you might- why not Lake Garda and /or Venice/Verona. Much less driving than Tuscany.<br>

There's another recent thread on Tuscany in October . Take a look at it. There's a photo of mine on it of Tuscany in late October. Its not at all like spring- not even a little. It has its attractions, and I've photographed there in that season nicely enough, but its not the peak for photography. </p>

<p> </p>

<p>Apart from Tuscany the areas you list are mostly the Tyrol regions of Italy, Austria, and Germany. I only know a bit about the Italian part - the south Tyrol, Trentino and down to the Italian lakes - Garda, Como. I would stick to that region and leave Tuscany for another time.<br /> What David said about October being a lull between the summer season and the winter skiing season is right. I can' say for sure what it will look like but my guess is it will be fine. And yes, check the things you want to use are open as they may close. I once travelled a long days journey in Southern Italy to a campsite then found it had just closed for the year.<br /> To me the Tyrol region, Dolomites, Trentino are all beautiful but I am struggling to think of any specific site with the Wow factor of some others. The landscape is very beautiful but to my mind one needs to seek out the photographic opportunities yourself rather than find other peoples' tripod holes. But I would mention the Blue Lake area of Val d'Aosta is beautiful as is the Cascata di Nardis area in Val di Genova. Val Gardena is a good centre for exploring the Dolomites.<br /> So my top tip would be to select some areas you want to see then allow some time at these places to explore and make pictures.<br>

Oh, and check the weather each day!</p>

<p>Two of my personal favourite locations in the region you are headed to:<br /><br /></p>

<ul>

<li>The Lake Region of Northern Italy. Lake Como, Lake Garda. Simply STUNNING.</li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li>Hallstatt, Austria. Classic example of quaint (at least is used to be) alpine village. Also very stunning.</li>

</ul>

<p><br />Have a great trip.</p>

<p>Cheers.<br>

David.</p>

<p>Your choice of the period for a landscape-oriented tour of the Alps region in Bavaria, Austria and the Dolomites is VERY tricky. You MAY find a wonderful weather (although the nights will already be cold, possibly below the freezing point) and stunning photographic opportunitiers as the larches are splendid gold in contrast to the dar-green pines and the summits powdered by the first snow, such as<br>

http://www.toscofin.it/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/dolomiti_k8etj_T0.jpg<br>

But you may as well stumble into a solid week of fog, low clouds and, indeed, brown/muddy colors (when you manage to see any color, that's it). It is unfortunately impossible to predict the conditions there beyond a few days.<br>

In any case, IMHO the top of any such tour would be the so-called "Four Passes" around the Sella Group in the Italian Dolomites (Sella, Pordoi, Gardena and Campolongo). This can be made as part of the exceedingly beautiful drive from Bolzano/Bozen to Cortina d' Ampezzo via Passo di Costalunga. In Bayern, the similar top area is centered around Garmisch-Partenkirchen, but this is even more likely to get bad weather by late October.<br>

Also, please note that as said by others this is the "dead season" there, between summer and ski periods. Many hotels and restaurants will be closed, as will all of the lifts.<br>

Lake Garda (the largest lake in Italy) is just south of the Dolomites area, and despite the short distance it enjoys a much milder climate. The road on the Western side (so-called Riva Bresciana) is spectacular while the opposite side is less so, but in any case a complete round trip is worthwhile (dont's forget the small Middle-Age walled city of Sirmione, incidentally the birthplace of the Latin poet Catullus), but certainly NOT on weekends. Lake Como and Lake Maggiore are also beautiful, but these would bring you relatively away from your main area of interest and will require a tedious drive through no-interest (from the point of view of landscape) regions.<br>

I know all of these areas very well having resided and spent my holidays there over many years, and I can provide much more info than can be compressed in a post here. Please feel free to contact me off-forum.<br>

d</p>

<p>I should perhaps add that in this moment, Central Europe (including the mountain areas of your interest) is experiencing an extraordinary late Summer. Temperatures are 10-15 C° higher than normal in this part of the year, and in particular in the Dolomites region are virtually the same as in July (23-25 C° max and 12-14C° min) at some 1200m altitude.<br>

I cannot predict how this will work out by late October. Perhaps you will be lucky enough to find the best weather in many decades, but perhaps winter will set in without any fall season to talk about.</p>