Sophie & Sisi Tour

From Bavaria through the Alps to Vienna, we’ll follow in the footsteps of Sophie Scholl and Empress Sisi, soaking up peak October beauty!

October 10-16, 2027

 

$2385 per person with a roommate. For your own room, add $875.

We’ll be tracing the footsteps of THE WHITE ROSE Sophie Scholl, and THE RELUCTANT EMPRESS Sisi, plus endless fascinating history, culture, and delicious foods along the way!

 

Price Includes:

  • Hotels, six nights: Munich October 10, 11; Bad Ischl October 12, 13, 14; Vienna October 15
  • Breakfasts
  • Katie & Olivia as your guides
  • A Smoothness Team to support you along the way
  • Tickets to everything on the itinerary:
Munich Old Town

“My stay in Munich was the scene of my complete liberation.”

-Marcel Duchamp

 

  • En route to Bad Ischl:
    • We’ll make an extended midday stop in Salzburg (a UNESCO World Heritage City) to explore as you please: famous Imperial bakery, hilltop castle, Mozart birthplace, Christmas Museum, Sound of Music film locations, Mirabell Palace and gardens… you’ll have four or five hours to choose your own adventure and explore with fellow Nameiacs, or on your own

      Salzburg in Autumn
  • In Bad Ischl, Austria (a UNESCO World Heritage Region):
      • A rejuvenating stay at one of the famed historic thermal bath resorts which made Bad Ischl famous. Use the thermal spa as much as you want during our stay!
      • Spend a day either at the expansive Kaiservilla, where Sisi met Franz Joseph and where she later lived during the summers (and famously loved to run in the hills); or if you’re sick of palaces and gardens, take the Katrin cable car and hike the alps!

I am Sunday’s child, a child of the sun; her golden rays she wove into my throne, with her glow she wove my crown, it is in her light that I live.”

-Sisi

 

  • Picture-perfect Hallstatt in Autumn

  • In Admont, Austria:
    • Admont Abbey (a double monastery for nuns and monks founded 1000 years ago) still an active monastery with a great museum
      • The medieval nuns’ scriptorium at Admont Abbey was one of the most productive and intellectually sophisticated female centers of book production in Europe, for 400 years!
    • The world’s largest monastic library- a Roccoco masterpiece; the model for the animators of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast!
    • Abbey gardens and exhibitions
Admont, World’s Largest Monastic Library
Admont Abbey in the Alps
  • In Vienna, Austria:
      • We will drive to Vienna from Admont in the evening on our final night (because Vienna is a more sensible place to set you free rather than a remote alpine town!). We’ll have time for one final meal or stroll together in Vienna.

Includes:

  • All ground transportation (trains, coaches, ferries, cable cars, funiculars, feet!)
  • All city tax and conservation fees
  • All gratuities for the group
  • A happy tribe of fellow Nameiacs to explore with – literally priceless

Doesn’t include:

  • Flight/airport transfers (trip begins in Munich and ends in Vienna)
  • Lunches and dinners (lovely breakfast is included)
  • Shopping/optional activities

“Human nature seems to me like the Alps. The depths are profound, black as night, and terrifying, but the heights are equally real, uplifted in the sunshine.”

— Emily Greene Balch

What to expect: 

After you register, you’ll get an invoice via email to pay your nonrefundable $500 deposit to secure your spot!

This is not your typical tourist tour…NOTHING like it, really! These tours are personally curated by us, and we’ll be by your side. We never use travel agents, instead making all the arrangements ourselves. That way we can ensure authentic, eco-friendly, whimsical travel that takes us off the beaten track and deep into women’s history! Time to soak up a place and to connect with real people is paramount.

What’sHerName Tours build welcoming tribes where you are free to be yourself! We all abide by Rule #1: Do What You Want. That means you can always opt out of anything without judgement. You can expect to do a lot of laughing, standing in awe, happy-crying, and tasting wonderful things. Your Smoothness Team thinks of everything for you. We don’t like frenzied, check-list sight-seeing; we love slow travel adventure, with a happy band of women’s history geeks! You will have a fantastic time. Nameiacs who return again and again tell us that they don’t even worry about the details anymore; they simply trust that we’re going to deliver a wonderful, unexpected and soul-nourishing experience.

October is a wonderful time of year to visit Bavaria and Austria. The crowds of Oktoberfest will be gone (we are carefully avoiding the first week of October!), and the autumn days will be glorious. The snow and ski crowds also won’t have arrived in the alps yet. Perfect!

Most folks come solo, so GO FOT IT! This is the happy tribe you’ve been looking for. After all, they’re all Nameiacs too!

“The best coffee in Europe is Vienna coffee, compared to which all other coffee is fluid poverty.”

— Mark Twain

FAQs

OK, I’m searching flights. What info do I need to know?

You’ll want to arrive in Munich well before 3pm on October 10 (our first gathering will be at 4:00 pm, at the hotel). You can depart Vienna anytime on October 16. Be sure you are searching a multi-city flight: into Munich, out of Vienna. Unless of course, you’re planning your own trip extension adventures. Both cities are also very well-connected by trains, including long-distance night trains.

Tell me more about the roomie situation. 

Most folks come solo, so go for it! We’ll match you with another Nameiac. When you fill out the registration form, you can list your roomie preferences (gender etc) which we always do our best to meet. You’ll have separate beds, just share the same room and bathroom. Many a strong friendship has been forged this way! If you’d prefer your own room, just select that option at registration and pay the additional $875.

I LIVE NEARBY. could i join for just PART OF the trip?

Love that you’re wanting to join! These tours have some kind of magic. Somehow, groups of strangers turn into a tightly bonded travel family, and we want to honor that by keeping one steady group for the duration. We hope you’ll join for the whole thing!

I DON’T SPEAK GERMAN. WILL IT BE TOO HARD FOR ME?

Never! We all struggle along together and do just fine. It’s a fun challenge and a joy to successfully communicate across a language barrier. (Also, you might be surprised how far your high school German gets you)!

How much should I budget for spending money and meals? 

It’s so hard to say. The range of options for meals can suit all budgets and tastes – from grocery stores to street food to fine dining. Same goes for shopping. You know you best! A typical business travel per diem is around $55/day, if that helps.

when will you have a more detailed itinerary?

You can expect a detailed itinerary about a month before the trip. In the meantime, you can trust us: we pour immense effort, experience and heart into designing transformative travel experiences.

What if the trip gets canceled? 

If we cancel the trip, you’ll get a full refund. If you have to cancel, you’d forfeit your $500 deposit, to help cover the expenses we’ve already paid in your name. If you’re worried about having to cancel, you should request to pay the total in full, and then get travel insurance, using the invoice receipt.

How does payment work?

After you register, you’ll receive an invoice via email from our bank, Relay, to pay your $500 deposit with a card. You’ll then pay the remainder in two more installments, evenly spaced out between your time of registration and October. You could also choose to pay in full anytime you want. The full amount must be paid before departure, of course.

I want to go for it – but I’m a little nervous. Is this a crazy thing to do?

Hey, if this adventure is calling to you, it’s FOR you! Go for it!

Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.

– Anais Nin