# Germany



## Mobilvetta (Jul 17, 2019)

The wife has done an itinerary she fancys doing, we won't be able to set off until early November, thinking of getti'ng the ferry from Hull to Rotterdam. 

She then wants to visit Amsterdam, don't know why as we have had a short holiday there previously. Can anyone recommend a must see place in Holland to visit as a replacement for Amsterdam.

 From there she has Bremen in Germany next, then Hamburg followed by Berlin, then onto Prague then Bratislava then Vienna then Budapest  and onwards to Trieste followed by Venice, then onto Verona followed by Milan then onto Turin, then to San Remo, then into southern France and then into Spain. 

This is what happens when you let  a retired women loose with a European Atlas. Has anyone been to these places, does it sound like a feasible trip at that time of year. We are in a 7.4 motorhome and have a scooter in the garage to  use, will we encounter difficult mountain passes.  I want to avoid Tolls as much as possible. I'm thinking maybe a month doing this itinerary and then a couple of months in Spain 

I initially said I wouldn't mind visiting  towns and city's in Germany before heading down to Spain, never been and I have been told there are some fabulous places to visit, has anyone visited Germany and can share there itinerary, I have been told Munich is a place to visit which she hasn't got on her itinerary. Not sure about Prague and Budapest and Italy. We could also miss out Holland and get the ferry to Zebrugge instead of Rotterdam, looking for idea please on what would make a great trip at that time of year on our way to  hopefully sunny Spain. 

Also I was hoping to leave the motorhome on a secure site for a week or two and fly home for Xmas, but I have since been told that you are not allowed to leave your motorhome unattended by a friend of mine who has a motorhome, haven't checked yet with comfort insurance to see if this is correct. Be grateful for some advice from the many experienced travellers on this site.


----------



## mossypossy (Jul 17, 2019)

*Gouda*

Gouda was nothing but lovely.
Stade in Germany was quite pleasant.....we struggled to be charmed by Germany though.


----------



## mossypossy (Jul 17, 2019)

*Gouda*

Gouda was nothing but lovely.
Stade in Germany was quite pleasant.....we struggled to be charmed by Germany though.
There is a guy in Brokdorf just north of the Elbe above Bremen who would be happy to store your motorhome. Family Hink on the cc app. Could even store it in one of his barns.


----------



## mark61 (Jul 17, 2019)

Thats a very long way round to get to Spain. Bremen and Hamburg are perfectly good places, just not sure I’d do the detour to visit them. Saying that I really like Germany, you just have to get off the autobahns. One place I would recommend, as you plan going from Berlin to Prague is the Saxon Switzerland National Park. stunning area and not to be missed if you are over that way. South east of Dresden straddling German Czech border.
Sounds like a great trip. 

https://www.nationalpark-saechsische-schweiz.de/der-nationalpark/naturraum/?lang=en


----------



## colinm (Jul 18, 2019)

Mobilvetta said:


> Can anyone recommend a must see place in Holland to visit as a replacement for Amsterdam.




Aalsmeer flower auction near Amsterdam, the worlds largest flower auction, fascinating place.
p.s. you haven't said time of year, Mosel valley is good to visit for grape harvest and walnuts.


----------



## Mobilvetta (Jul 18, 2019)

colinmd said:


> Aalsmeer flower auction near Amsterdam, the worlds largest flower auction, fascinating place.
> p.s. you haven't said time of year, Mosel valley is good to visit for grape harvest and walnuts.



Thanks, the beginning of November is the earliest we can set off.


----------



## Dezi (Jul 18, 2019)

Hi,

We have been to all of these places over the years and many of them several times.

A trawl through these aires etc will give you some ideas to think about.

11 different trips and locations covering most of Europe. 


https://www.wildcamping.co.uk/forum...ing-11-a.html?highlight=Aires+on+a+shoestring

Bon voyage.

Dezi


----------



## Beemer (Jul 18, 2019)

I lived/worked previously in north Germany for many years, and travelled the country north to south, and found southern Germany to be my favourite.
Recently we flew over to Berlin for 5 days and thoroughly enjoyed it, so much to see and easy to use transport system (recommended).
The Harz mountains would be quite nice in November, Braunlage in particular, use the Wurmbergseilbahn (chair lift) to the top of the Wurmburg.  The Harz mountains are not far south from Hannover and maybe a visit on your way south to follow the Rhine through southern Germany.

A post from our last visit.:

https://www.wildcamping.co.uk/forum...1723-mile-tour-germany-france.html?highlight=


----------



## Haaamster (Jul 18, 2019)

Utrecht was nice a few years ago, don't know if it still is. Like a mini Amsterdam with the canals but with less crowds.


----------



## colinm (Jul 18, 2019)

Mobilvetta said:


> Thanks, the beginning of November is the earliest we can set off.



OK, grape harvest will be over by then, and I would guess most of the walnuts will be gone, Mosel valley is still a nice place to visit, but as with most of Germany at that time you might run into some bad weather.


----------



## barge1914 (Jul 18, 2019)

mark61 said:


> Thats a very long way round to get to Spain. Bremen and Hamburg are perfectly good places, just not sure I’d do the detour to visit them. Saying that I really like Germany, you just have to get off the autobahns. One place I would recommend, as you plan going from Berlin to Prague is the Saxon Switzerland National Park. stunning area and not to be missed if you are over that way. South east of Dresden straddling German Czech border.
> Sounds like a great trip.
> 
> https://www.nationalpark-saechsische-schweiz.de/der-nationalpark/naturraum/?lang=en



Yep, the Sachsische Sweiss National Park is well worth a visit, and over the border it’s equally interesting and less exploited Bohemian Switzerland National Park. Certainly if you are visiting Prague it’s worth visiting Bratislava and Budapest, they are reasonably close, and so why not Vienna, and Salzburg, then there’s so many interesting routes to Italy through the Alpes, why not swing by Slovenia...it’s beautiful. You see where’s this is leading...

There’s a lot of interesting places along your itinerary, too many to mention, and I think that may be your problem. With the amount of time you’ve allowed you are bound to miss most of them and see an enormous amount of motorway instead, you won’t have time to follow the interesting minor roads that enable you to soak up the character of the countries you are passing through. Really you are covering enough ground for two or three years worth of three month itineraries. Why not prioritise, don’t try to swallow it all in one exhausting blur of a trip. Decide on a region for this year, find out as much as you can about it, then plot your route between the places of interest, and so get the best out of it. How many hours do you want to drive in a day, do you want to drive every day, every two days? How many days do you fancy stopping in the most interesting sounding places, or giving time to walk, swim, cycle or whatever else pushes your buttons. Do you really want to see nothing but tarmac. A few simple sums should enable you to see whether you are biting off too much for one trip. I’m sure you have plenty of years left to do the other trips.

Anyway, enjoy whatever you decide.


----------



## Mobilvetta (Jul 18, 2019)

barge1914 said:


> Yep, the Sachsische Sweiss National Park is well worth a visit, and over the border it’s equally interesting and less exploited Bohemian Switzerland National Park. Certainly if you are visiting Prague it’s worth visiting Bratislava and Budapest, they are reasonably close, and so why not Vienna, and Salzburg, then there’s so many interesting routes to Italy through the Alpes, why not swing by Slovenia...it’s beautiful. You see where’s this is leading...
> 
> There’s a lot of interesting places along your itinerary, too many to mention, and I think that may be your problem. With the amount of time you’ve allowed you are bound to miss most of them and see an enormous amount of motorway instead, you won’t have time to follow the interesting minor roads that enable you to soak up the character of the countries you are passing through. Really you are covering enough ground for two or three years worth of three month itineraries. Why not prioritise, don’t try to swallow it all in one exhausting blur of a trip. Decide on a region for this year, find out as much as you can about it, then plot your route between the places of interest, and so get the best out of it. How many hours do you want to drive in a day, do you want to drive every day, every two days? How many days do you fancy stopping in the most interesting sounding places, or giving time to walk, swim, cycle or whatever else pushes your buttons. Do you really want to see nothing but tarmac. A few simple sums should enable you to see whether you are biting off too much for one trip. I’m sure you have plenty of years left to do the other trips.
> 
> Anyway, enjoy whatever you decide.



I absolutely agree, this time I wanted to tour part of Germany and then head down to southern Spain for the weather, it was the wife who put together the itinerary of places she wanted to visit, last year we toured parts of Spain, Portugal, France and Belgium, so fancied taking the German route down to Spain this time. I have the French Crit air already, but it appears I need another for Germany, but cannot find the official site to apply for one, the vehicle was new last year and is euro 6 engine, think we might also need one for Austria too if we enter that country, not sure about the other EU countries, you would think that the EU would have one sticker for emisions that could be used to visit all EU countries. Does anyone have the link for the German official site as opposed to going via a third party site that will charge more than the official site please.


----------



## colinm (Jul 18, 2019)

Mobilvetta said:


> Does anyone have the link for the German official site as opposed to going via a third party site that will charge more than the official site please.



I think this is where I got ours from.
Online-Antrag Feinstaubplakette - Berlin.de


----------



## EdintheClouds (Jul 19, 2019)

We're doing a similar trip a couple of months earlier than you - I've got a Harwich-Hook of Holland ferry booked in September, and then three weeks later we're meeting friends in the Pelepponese for a few days.  I'm considering the most interesting route and am tempted by places like Brno and Bratislava and Budapest which we haven't visited before, but there are already some great new ideas in this thread!  I'll let you know!


----------



## Mobilvetta (Jul 19, 2019)

colinmd said:


> I think this is where I got ours from.
> Online-Antrag Feinstaubplakette - Berlin.de



Thank you so much, I have been to that site and ordered one at a cost of €6.


----------



## Mobilvetta (Jul 19, 2019)

EdintheClouds said:


> We're doing a similar trip a couple of months earlier than you - I've got a Harwich-Hook of Holland ferry booked in September, and then three weeks later we're meeting friends in the Pelepponese for a few days.  I'm considering the most interesting route and am tempted by places like Brno and Bratislava and Budapest which we haven't visited before, but there are already some great new ideas in this thread!  I'll let you know!



Sounds fabulous, will you keep us all informed of how your trip goes.


----------



## Mobilvetta (Jul 19, 2019)

I have now applied for my German LEZ sticker, already have the French one, there are a few other countries bordering Germany that we may venture into, Austria been one of them, we have a gross weight of 4050KG and it appears that you require a gobox if you are over 3500kg, has anyone over 3500kg gone into Austria without one of these, do they check your log book at the border to see what weight your vehicle is.

 Also Switzerland seems to have a vingerette for vehicles under 3500kg and a box for over this weight, again has anyone just purchased the vingerette and not bothered with the box.

 Does Italy require any stickers or boxes, I thought been a member of the EU was supposed to make travel between all EU countries simple, but instead of having one sticker suits all, it appears each country and city has its own rules despite what Brexit politicians would have us believe that all rules are made in the EU.


----------



## Beemer (Jul 19, 2019)

Mobilvetta said:


> I have now applied for my German LEZ sticker, already have the French one, there are a few other countries bordering Germany that we may venture into, Austria been one of them, we have a gross weight of 4050KG and it appears that you require a gobox if you are over 3500kg, has anyone over 3500kg gone into Austria without one of these, do they check your log book at the border to see what weight your vehicle is.
> 
> Also Switzerland seems to have a vingerette for vehicles under 3500kg and a box for over this weight, again has anyone just purchased the vingerette and not bothered with the box.
> 
> Does Italy require any stickers or boxes, I thought been a member of the EU was supposed to make travel between all EU countries simple, but instead of having one sticker suits all, it appears each country and city has its own rules despite what Brexit politicians would have us believe that all rules are made in the EU.



Our A class has a Gross weight of 4.5t, coupled with our 2004 Diesel engine allowed us to receive a yellow sticker (3) for Germany, so everyone knows what a smelly van we have .
This did not cause any problems with travelling through Germany, as we were informed that we could drive through cities, albeit on the autobahns, with no restrictions.

More often than not we would park up on a Stellplatz and walk/bus/train into the city, which, lets face it, is the better way to see a city anyway, and with Germanys efficient public transport, was (for us) a delight to use.

As for Austria and Switzerland?  Their loss.  We would drive around them.  In my opinion, Austria and Switzerland would be very similar to southern Germany.


----------



## groyne (Jul 20, 2019)

We overnighted in Bremen earlier this year on our way to Denmark, it's pleasant enough for a mornings wondering around, but there was nothing to keep us there. If we'd had more time we'd have gone via Hanover. Hamburg on the other hand is worth several days sightseeing.


----------



## barge1914 (Jul 20, 2019)

*Austria*



Mobilvetta said:


> I have now applied for my German LEZ sticker, already have the French one, there are a few other countries bordering Germany that we may venture into, Austria been one of them, we have a gross weight of 4050KG and it appears that you require a gobox if you are over 3500kg, has anyone over 3500kg gone into Austria without one of these, do they check your log book at the border to see what weight your vehicle is.
> 
> Also Switzerland seems to have a vingerette for vehicles under 3500kg and a box for over this weight, again has anyone just purchased the vingerette and not bothered with the box.
> 
> Does Italy require any stickers or boxes, I thought been a member of the EU was supposed to make travel between all EU countries simple, but instead of having one sticker suits all, it appears each country and city has its own rules despite what Brexit politicians would have us believe that all rules are made in the EU.



It’s relatively easy to avoid motorways in Austria and thus avoid the need for stickers and plakettes . We did this on our first couple of trips through the country, just takes a bit of planning. On the other hand when we did pay up it wasn’t too expensive.


----------



## RV2MAX (Jul 21, 2019)

Doing the trip with the waypoints you mention , it wont really matter where you go , as you will be passing thru that fast that you wont remember much , and will end up fatigued with all the moving on . JMHO  
Leipzig is a nice city , and brilliant for shopping , your wife would probably remember that


----------



## Mobilvetta (Jul 22, 2019)

RV2MAX said:


> Doing the trip with the waypoints you mention , it wont really matter where you go , as you will be passing thru that fast that you wont remember much , and will end up fatigued with all the moving on . JMHO
> Leipzig is a nice city , and brilliant for shopping , your wife would probably remember that



We can extend the trip as don't need to be back until the 23rd December, I would still prefer to venture around Germany as opposed to visiting the other countries, but we will see how it goes, thanks for the tip about the shopping at Leipzig, I will make sure I don't tell the wife, definitely one for me to avoid been a Yorkshire man, like to keep my wallet intact.


----------



## Deleted member 58330 (Jul 22, 2019)

mid winter trip, weather turns wet and cold.  Not the best time to visit but xmas markets are nice.  I lived there and would not contemplate going there that time of year in a MH unless way south skiing with electric or a generator.


----------



## Mobilvetta (Jul 24, 2019)

MidAgeTraveller said:


> mid winter trip, weather turns wet and cold.  Not the best time to visit but xmas markets are nice.  I lived there and would not contemplate going there that time of year in a MH unless way south skiing with electric or a generator.



Oh that's a shame and disappointing, unfortunately work commitments mean I can't set of any earlier, fingers crossed that the weather is dryer than the norm.


----------

