Each year Messina Hof Wine Cellars, Inc offers travel to a wine region.  Paul and Merrill Bonarrigo lead these travel tours. This year our Messina Hof Travel was on Amawaterways from Budapest to Bucharest. This was an unexplored wine region for wine and food.

Tip for Travel: If you are traveling abroad for a guided tour, try to go early before the tour and/or stay after to explore other areas. Make the most of your time there to do as much as possible. Airfare and 9 hours of flight time are investments.

This was a great trip and we wanted to share our favorite finds and some tips along the way.

Tips for all destinations:

  1. If you are traveling by train, book your hotel near the train station or tram stop that runs from the train station. It makes movement around the city and to other destinations much easier.
  2. On the first day we either take the sightseeing Hop on Hop off bus to learn more about the city or we jump on the local buses and trams to see every part of the city. This allows us to identify areas we want to explore more. We usually go to the local Tourist Information office to get maps and points of interest.
  3. We use the bus and metro to move around the cities. Most towns offer one and two day passes for all local modes of transportation.

Dusseldorf, Germany – The hotel we found was amazing and not far from the tram.

Hotel: Villa Achenbach Achenbachstrabe 17, D-40237 Dusseldorf [email protected]
Old world elegance in our room, the living room, and the breakfast area.

Our favorite spots in Dusseldorf were the waterfront and water view café’s, the Altstadt (Old Town), the diverse architecture spanning many centuries, and the Benrath Palace.

Dresden, Germany – Travel from Dusseldorf to Dresden is 7.5 hours by train through Frankfurt.

Here we stayed at:

Intercity Hotel: Wiener Platz 8, 01069 Dresden, +49 (0)351 26355-0

Check-in 3 pm. Includes Breakfast and a local transportation ticket which was very helpful.      

The historic city center is a great place to feel the history of this elegant city. Not only do you see the Opera House, Dresden Castle, two beautiful churches, and the market, but the city looks like it was the home of kings.

The Elbe River is beautiful and offers a romantic night view of the city lights.

A delicious surprise was the Italian restaurant Mamma Mia Pasta.