If there is a choice between trekking or hiking, I'll take hiking every time. There's nothing like getting out of a bed in the morning (rather than crawling out of a sleeping bag), eating a hearty Austrian breakfast, hoisting my day pack and heading up into the beautiful mountains for some exercise.

Surrounded by wildflowers, evergreen trees and clear air, I plod along uphill, humming my favorite hiking song, "Up on a hill is a lonely goatherd..." And end of the day, a downhill, heading back to our hotel - stopping on the way back at a Konditorie (bakery) for a yummy dessert - into a steaming, hot bath (most European hotels don't have a hot water regulator and it's literally possible to parboil yourself in the tub), read a little and eat a wonderful dinner with wine. That is what I call living!

Looking for a fast, relatively inexpensive hiking and walking holiday, we decided to go back to Austria.