Germany Road Trip Advice

[70sThrowback]

Hi All,

I have put this up on Impact Bumpers too, but not had much response. Following a planned visit to Stuttgart next year I need to plan a 2 day trip from Speyer to Rotterdam. The plan is to visit the Speyer Technik musuem in the morning and be at the ferry in Rotterdam by 6.30pm the following day. So looking for an interesting route (if possible) that fits that timeline. I have not been before, but at the moment my thinking is to loosely follow the Rhine and stop overnight somewhere near Koblenz. We will be a party of 9 cars. If anyone has done this journey and can pass on any tips / hints that would be very much appreciated.

One suggestion has been Landau / Pirmasens / Dillingenthen and on to Luxembourg. I am completely open to ideas so let me know your thoughts, including and stop off points and places to stay.

Many thanks

Jonny

[misteralz]

That's not really long enough, tbh. En route you'd want to visit, at a minimum, Porsche Gelderland, Kieft en Klok, Thunderbike Roadhouse for lunch, Classic Remise Düsseldorf, Motorworld Köln, Technik Museum Speyer AND Sinsheim, Porsche, Mercedes, and Motorworld when you're in Stuttgart, and ideally get off the autobahn and take in some deserted Schwarzwald roads.

[misteralz]

I always stay at the V8 Hotel when I'm in Stuttgart, btw. It's a cool location and Motorworld is just there. It's got a good brewery cafe, and if it's a nice night there's a constant flow of cool stuff going past. Get a big jug of dunkelweizen and just chill. Böblingen mall is just around the corner as well, if you just want to grab a Maultaschen Brötchen instead. Delicious.

[hot66]

north of say Namur / Liege etc to rotterdam is pretty shite really. Treat that bit as motorway slog. Over all the years we have never found good driving roads in that bit.

Think I would head along the French Belgium border / Luxembourg etc.

Or You could run upto the ring , then across to Spa ... thats a nice drive , then the Durbuy, Dinnant etc area there are some nice roads. We all stayed in Bouillion whhich had some great driving roads in and around the area.

Just do what I usually do which is spend a couple of nights with Google maps and street view and look for the wiggly roads in the hilly areas

[NurLinks]

Fully agree to the above post. I'm Dutch and can confirm that Northern Belgium and the South of the Netherlands are not great for driving (to say the least). Also a word of warning: the Antwerp ring road is notoriously busy at all times of the day, and Rotterdam is almost as bad, especially during rush hours. So calculate for that when planning your trip.

The Ardennes in Luxembourg and Belgium are great, however. This area is rich in racing history (Spa new circuit and the remains of the old track) and military history (from the middle ages through WWII). Apart from the mandatory Nurburgring visit, the Eiffel is also fantastic for driving.

[911hillclimber]

To be a bit/lot boring, left Baden-Barden a few days ago and the price of fuel is the same as the uk for E10
E5 in France is very nearly 2 Euro per litre.
Sorry in advance...

[anglophone1]

Fully agree to the above post. I'm Dutch and can confirm that Northern Belgium and the South of the Netherlands are not great for driving (to say the least). Also a word of warning: the Antwerp ring road is notoriously busy at all times of the day, and Rotterdam is almost as bad, especially during rush hours. So calculate for that when planning your trip.

The Ardennes in Luxembourg and Belgium are great, however. This area is rich in racing history (Spa new circuit and the remains of the old track) and military history (from the middle ages through WWII). Apart from the mandatory Nurburgring visit, the Eiffel is also fantastic for driving.

Agree with both above - the Dutch and Belgian autoroutes were the shittiest par of last weeks trip IMO - thank God James found some good roads for Friday morning!! Running back North on Sunday helped a lot too....................
C

[70sThrowback]

I always stay at the V8 Hotel when I'm in Stuttgart, btw. It's a cool location and Motorworld is just there. It's got a good brewery cafe, and if it's a nice night there's a constant flow of cool stuff going past. Get a big jug of dunkelweizen and just chill. Böblingen mall is just around the corner as well, if you just want to grab a Maultaschen Brötchen instead. Delicious.

Thanks for this. I have already got the outward route and plan sorted, we are staying at the V8, we are visting the factory etc etc.. This is just the way back after visitng the Speyer Technik museum. Obviously time is a constraint but unfortunately there is nothing I can do about that. Also we can always come back again. Hoping for some interesting routes and stop offs on the way back so we aren't just motorway all the way.

[70sThrowback]

north of say Namur / Liege etc to rotterdam is pretty shite really. Treat that bit as motorway slog. Over all the years we have never found good driving roads in that bit.

Think I would head along the French Belgium border / Luxembourg etc.

Or You could run upto the ring , then across to Spa ... thats a nice drive , then the Durbuy, Dinnant etc area there are some nice roads. We all stayed in Bouillion whhich had some great driving roads in and around the area.

Just do what I usually do which is spend a couple of nights with Google maps and street view and look for the wiggly roads in the hilly areas

I think thats looking to be the issue, that route is generally rubbish. So its either go north, or go south. Will look at both routes. I did spot Spa as an option, but i've been before so was hoping to explore a new area. Thanks for all the feedback so far, appreciated.

[arbitrate]

To be a bit/lot boring, left Baden-Barden a few days ago and the price of fuel is the same as the uk for E10
E5 in France is very nearly 2 Euro per litre.
Sorry in advance...

Depends where you're buying your E5! I paid 1.52 or thereabouts at a couple of my favourite Total stations in Pagny sur Meuse and outside of Chalons en Champagne. €2/litre sounds like peak peage prices.