We just spent one day crossing Austria from just below Salzburg almost directly south and into Italy. The architecture is the same as in Bavaria near the alps and the roads good. We stayed mostly on the smaller roads winding through all the villages. The valleys are very flat and the alps rise abruptly from them into craggy peaks. We were mostly in the valleys but went over a couple of high passes and once got into the snowline and mist. The petrol here is cheaper than Germany at around 1.18/ltr and food is still cheap in the ALDI stores. It seems German is spoken here but we are always able to find a person who speaks english if we really need to.
We headed for a route that the guidebook said was THE most beautiful road in Europe but it failed to mention that it cost 28 euro in tolls which we didn't find out until we got there. We looked at the brochures and displays and none of it persuaded us that it was worth the money, we have seen more for less elsewhere. We backtracked and went down the next valley which was just as beautiful. Two roads we went on also had tolls, one was a private road and only cost 2 euro through some spectacular scenery including a rough hewn tunnel. The second was a high road with a huge long tunnel and cost 10 euro. The alps appears to be riddled with tunnels. We have decided to take this route down into the top of Italy then north again and into Austria again to enter Liechtenstein.
ps we have our phones but will not use them in Europe as it is too expensive on roaming. If you want to contact us please email, we don't check it often but as often as we can.
Pics (click on or copy and paste into browser) http://cjb.pascoe.net.nz
Next stop Italy.
