Afternoon all,
I've got to drive a van to Munich on Saturday. Am going through the tunnel, and I have the option of breaking the trip, although I need to be there by lunch on Sunday.
Anyone have ideas on the best route? Obviously the usual fun on the autobahn is less relevant in a 105 bhp Transporter, so least hassle / most pleasant is the criteria.
Cheers,
Gord.
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By the way, in protest at attitudes shown in some other threads, I've added some personal info to my profile. If we all do this then I think we can make the world a little more happy, tolerant and pleasant. Who's with me??
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By the way in protest at attitudes shown in some other threads I've added some personal info to my profile. If we all do this then I think we can make the world a little more happy tolerant and pleasant. Who's with me??
No reply to your original message, but to your additional, I've added some personal information too.
Chris.
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I do this journey fairly often as I have friends in Munich.
Whilst maybe not the quickest, I tend to head through Luxembourg to take advantage of the cheaper fuel whilst avoiding tolls in France. So the journey goes something like this:
Calais - Lille - Mons - Namur - Saarbrucken - Stuttgart - Munich
I've dabbled with initially keeping a bit further north, skirting around Brussels - Maastricht - Koblenz - Mannheim - Stuttgart - Munich before which can be a bit quicker if you're prepared to keep your foot down on the 'bahns. i.e. 3.5 hours Koblenz to Munich.
Never bothered staying anywhere over night en-route.
HTH
Bost
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I've driven it once, went via the Nurburgring. Good fun in a Porsche GT3, I suspect its not so much fun in a van.
Do not do what I did when I flew there. Got to airport, presented booking number at Easyjet desk who told me that I'd booked a flight to Milan not Munich.
So I bought a ticket with Lufthanse, quick train from Gatwick to City and got there at the intended time, however I was £500 poorer.
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Keep going on the tips, folks, we are going to a place 20 miles south of Nurnberg at the end of June so its virtually the same run... I am currently thinking of the run through Belgium (which also has cheap diesel - is the Luxemberg stuff much cheaper btw?) and then down past Koln - I would have thought the Stuttgart route would be quite a long way round?
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I would also go through Belgium, take the A3 at Koln, Frankfurt, Wurzberg, then A7 down to Ulm, A8 to Munich. Similar distance as the Stuttgart route but the A7 is very quiet and largely unrestricted (happy memories). Downside is A3 will be very busy if you hit Frankfurt at the wrong time.
b308 - I would definately go this way for Nurnberg. This part of Germany is wonderful!
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I work for a German company based near Stuttgart and I also drive through Belgium. No tolls either!
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Diesel in Belgium is very much the same price as in France, in my experience. The worst snarl-ups in Belgium are on the approaches to the Kennedy Tunnel (the Antwerp ring road) and on the Brussels ring road, which is not a complete ring, anyway. Friday afternoons are often pretty dire.
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If you just want to get there the best route is up to Brussel, across to Aachen, down to Wiesbaden, across to Nuremberg and down to Munich.
You are aware though that you are not allowed to enter the centre of Munich!
You need to display the Umweltplakette to go inside the Mittlere Ring, where you get this on a weekend in Germany is anybodies guess.
Here is the Munich zone
www.adac.de/images/Umweltzone_Muenchen_tcm8-230624...f
and more info can be found on the ADAC site if you can read German.
DinUK
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Indeed - the A8 across to Stuttgart is still being rebuilt and at w/ends is likely to be jammed. The A6 is probably better but again can get busy. If you are staying outside the ring road (not the Autobahn Ring) the eco-zone sticker is probably not too much of a problem since going into the city would be easier by public transport anyway.
Avoid Hockenheim at the weekend - the start of the German Touring Car championship is taking place.
BIG
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You are aware though that you are not allowed to enter the centre of Munich! You need to display the Umweltplakette to go inside the Mittlere Ring where you get this on a weekend in Germany is anybodies guess.
And many other towns and cities in Germany - suposably you can get them by going to a registered garage en route - but I'm trying to find out more as we will need one for our car so we can get into the cities to use the disabled spaces, which luckily have the same rules as us over here!
There was a thread about it several months ago...
Edited by b308 on 14/05/2009 at 18:05
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Munich! >> You need to display the Umweltplakette to go inside the Mittlere Ring where you get >> this on a weekend in Germany is anybodies guess. And many other towns and cities in Germany - suposably you can get them by going to a registered garage en route - but I'm trying to find out more as we will need one for our car so we can get into the cities to use the disabled spaces which luckily have the same rules as us over here!
Hi Gordon,
There is a good PDF file in English on the ADAC site.
www.adac.de/images/Plaketten_ausl%C3%A4ndische_Fzg...f
It explains about the stickers and where you can obtain the stickers (look near the end). You can buy them in advance.
I think (my German is not perfect enough to be sure on legal stuff) that the ADAC information on Munich also states that holder of disabled badges are exempt, irrespective of the vehicle type - but you have to get an exemption certificate, so if you have a car which qualifies, it's probably better to get the normal sticker.
Note that the rules for Munich will change in 2010 so only green and yellow are allowed in, red are currently allowed.>> >> You are aware though that you are not allowed to enter the centre of
r here!
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>>I think (my German is not perfect enough to be sure on legal stuff) that the ADACinformation on Munich also states that holder of disabled badges are exempt, irrespective of the vehicle type
My understanding as well - I did a check on the other thread and the links mentioned on that one and found that the town I'm staying at has one of the garages that issue these things so I'll wait til the Monday and get one - a relaxing day on the Sunday will come in handy anyhow!
Heres the link for more info:
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?f=2&t=70...7
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DinUK, thanks for the reminder, I'd completely forgotten about that!! Fortunately I'm going with a colleague who is Austrian, so I'll get him on the case as his German is a mite better than mine!
Everyone else, thanks for the tips. I'll get a map out and have a look when I get the chance (probably on the tunnel :-( )
Gord
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My regular commute is between Stuttgart and Munich on the A8. I would recommend avoiding this until next year when the widening work will be completed. As well as the roadworks and lane narrowing the route also gets clogged up in the summer with dutch drivers towing caravans to Italy.
If coming from Belgium, I would take the A3 to Nuremberg and the A9 to Munich. There are major roadworks around Wuerzburg at the moment but apart from that it's a clear and fast route.
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Hi,
I drive regularly to Bayreuth. I've always gone Calais, Lille, Mons, Namur, Liege, then A44 to Aachen, A4 to Koln, then A3 to Frankfurt and Wuerzburg.
Through France on this route there is no toll. Lille at busy times can be slow. Keep to limit, lots of radar! Belgium usually very free of traffic.
Germany always the slowest leg of the journey despite theoretic unlimited speeds on autobahn. However, nowadays there are frequent limits on dangerous sections and often very heavy traffic so we always average slower than UK, France or Belgium despite sticking to limits in those 3 and trying to drive faster in Germany!
Big jams are frequent between Frankfurt and Wuerzburg, especially after Aschaffenburg where route is mostly 2 lane motorway with hills (=slow trucks).
I always exit north up A7 after Wuerzburg but I think A3 on to Nuremburg is still slow after that.
Try German leg after midday Saturday - non essential (basically non fresh food) trucks banned from Motorway until Monday am. Watch for heavy holiday traffic though since this is a main route to the south and Italy.
Web sites exist for diesel prices in Europe so you can compare.
Good luck!
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If you turn right out of the tunnel and head for Brussels on the E40 (A10) through Belgium watch out for Gatso cameras in the central reservation from Jabbeke to Brussels (the run from the coast). They have appeared for the last couple of years during the summer season and there seem to be a few more this year.
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In Germany the A61 is an alternative to the A3 for part of the way south, but it has some steep climbs.
If you are returning next week, be aware that Thursday 21st is a holiday (and Friday a bridge day), so expect massive queues at peak times.
June 1st and 11th are also holidays.
It is worth checking your final route for any massive road works:
The simplest site is here:
www.verkehrsinfo.de/
No English translation, but also lists delays and speed traps.
Another site lists the precise length and duration and purpose of roadworks only.
www.bmvbs.de/Service/-,373/Baustellen-Informations...m
Most roadworks are very short eg at bridges and generally cause no problems.
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