Germany 2009

[kelly58]

Having spent our time touring France in the past using Aires de Service we are thinking of giving Germany a try next year.

Firstly is there a site guide available like the French Aires we also use the Camping Car CC guide sites ? , is there a tomtom download with the German Aires ?

Our motorhome is a 2006/07 2.2Hdi Peugeot gross wt 3 tons are there any requirements or restrictions regarding emissions in towns / cities / motorways ?.

Are the main motorway routes toll free ? .Anyone with recomendations for places to put on the must see list would be very much appreciated .

It may seem a bit early to start planning for next year but it will give us plenty of time to collate the information that may be of help to us.

I have driven to Koln and Franfurt on business some years  ago but that was a get there get home as soon as you can trip so I was not in a position to enjoy the country. Thanks Kelly

[Don Madge]

Hi Kelly,

 

From 1 January 2008 some German cities require all motorists to purchase a "Pollution Badge" in the form of a windscreen sticker in order to enter city centre ‘Umwelt Zones’ (green zones).

 

The participating cities are: Augsburg, Berlin, Braunschweig, Köln (Cologne), Darmstadt, Dresden, Düsseldorf, Essen, Frankfurt am Main, Hannover, Heidelberg, Islfeld, Karlsruhe, Kassel, Leipzig, Leonburg, Ludwigsburg, Madgeburg, Mannheim, Mühlacker, München (Munich), Neu-Ulm, Nürnberg (Nuremberg), Pforzheim, Pleidelsheim, Regensburg, Reutlingen, Ruhr Area, Schwäbish-Gmund, Stuttgart, Tübingen and Ulm.

 

You must present your vehicle registration document at Pollution Badge (Umwelt Plakette) sales outlets, including vehicle repair centres, car dealers, MOT (Tüv) stations and vehicle licensing offices, and you will be issued with a badge, coloured (Red/Yellow/Green) according to your vehicle’s Euro emission rating.

 

The cost of the badge is understood to be between €5 and €10 and, once issued, covers you throughout Germany for the life of your vehicle. Failure to display a badge could incur a fine of €40. Enforcement will be managed by the police, local authorities and traffic wardens.

 

http://www.stadt-koeln.de/en/lowemissionzone/article/11609/index.html#sm1

 

Details of LEZ's in Europe can be found here.

http://www.lowemissionzones.eu/content/view/63/90/lang,en/

 

The German aires are called Stellplatz.

 

I can recommend the Reise Mobile Bord Atlas it cover Germany and 27 other countries.

 

In January you can buy it on line at http://www.vicarious-shop.co.uk/view_product.php?c_id=4&sc_id=&p_id=72 It's very heavy and comes in two volumes and a CD.

 

It's cheaper bought in Germany over the counter as the postage in the UK is rather a lot.

 

Safe travelling

 

Don

 

[ryedaleman]

Autobahns are free. See http://www.germany-tourism.co.uk/driving_in_germany_low_emission_zones.htm re new low emission zones.

Would recommend the Black Forest, Lake Constance, The Romantic Road(, links Lake Constance) with Bavaria. Germany is a lovely country with friendly people, excellent roads, good useable cyle tracks, reasonable prices and best of all very good beer.

The summer time can be very hot (have seen 38c in Frieberg in June) but obviously in the mountains the weather can be a bit more variable.

http://www.blackforest-tourism.com/

http://www.bayern.by/en/index.html

http://www.pfalz-touristik.de/

[peejay]

Hi Kelly;

 

If you can wait, the 2009 version of the Bordatlas that Don mentions will be in print on 16 Jan 09. You will receive a CD with the books and you can download the stellplatz poi's from that CD.

If you don't want to wait, you can also get the Tomtom POI's online now by following ::This Link::. You will need to install Tomtom Home if you haven't already got it.

 

For more info on Pollution zones (Umweltzones), have a look ::Here::

 

Pete

[rupert123]

kelly58 - 2008-11-01 1:01 PM

Having spent our time touring France in the past using Aires de Service we are thinking of giving Germany a try next year.

Firstly is there a site guide available like the French Aires we also use the Camping Car CC guide sites ? , is there a tomtom download with the German Aires ?

Our motorhome is a 2006/07 2.2Hdi Peugeot gross wt 3 tons are there any requirements or restrictions regarding emissions in towns / cities / motorways ?.

Are the main motorway routes toll free ? .Anyone with recomendations for places to put on the must see list would be very much appreciated .

It may seem a bit early to start planning for next year but it will give us plenty of time to collate the information that may be of help to us.

I have driven to Koln and Franfurt on business some years  ago but that was a get there get home as soon as you can trip so I was not in a position to enjoy the country. Thanks Kelly

Fantastic country, very friendly, English widely spoken, lots good stelplatz. Would agree with Don on books. Motorways although free are very busy, a lot of them much like our own. This year we did, Mosel, Rhine, Black forest, Lake Constance, can recomend all of them. we will be going back next year to try other parts of country, it surprised us at how few other Brits we came across.

[ron.]

A wander along the Mosel river springs to mind, don't miss the small town of Cochem one of the most picturesque sites anywhere.

 

The 'Romantic Road' including Rothenburg Ob Der Tauber (a superb medieval town) and Fussen (the royal castles) is another good route.

[rupert123]

Like your pictures of Cochem Ron, we stayed at a stellplatz almost under the bridge this year.

[Klyne]

Quite a lot on Germany on my website if its any help. www.caravantravels.co.uk

 

David

[Don Madge]

Klyne - 2008-11-01 6:25 PM

 

Quite a lot on Germany on my website if its any help. www.caravantravels.co.uk

 

David

 

David,

 

Do you use the Stellplatz in Germany with your Caravan?

 

Anyway it's about time you saw the light and changed over. :-D :-D

 

Don

[ron.]

Know the stellplatz well Henry but we now use the campsite on the Cochem-Cond side and stay a bit longer to take advantage of the wine bars and wholesome grub.

[Klyne]

Don Madge - 2008-11-01 6:50 PM

 

Klyne - 2008-11-01 6:25 PM

 

Quite a lot on Germany on my website if its any help. www.caravantravels.co.uk

 

David

 

David,

 

Do you use the Stellplatz in Germany with your Caravan?

 

Anyway it's about time you saw the light and changed over. :-D :-D

 

Don

 

Hi Don

 

What do you mean cross over to the dark side? Seriously we always use campsites. Often thought about a motorhome but can't justify the cost of what we would like and we also are not totally convinced it would suit our form of travelling. However would not rule it out altogether!

 

David

[JeffersonCampervan]

kelly58 - 2008-11-01 8:01 AM

Having spent our time touring France in the past using Aires de Service we are thinking of giving Germany a try next year.

Firstly is there a site guide available like the French Aires we also use the Camping Car CC guide sites ? ,.Anyone with recomendations for places to put on the must see list would be very much appreciated .

 

ADAC ( the German motoring association - offices with stores in most cities) also has a stellplatz guide -the "stellplatz fuhrer"; in addition they sell a mapping software "Camping and Wohnmobil Europe ". It's a MS Streets & Trips type mapping program with very complete campground & Stellplatz/Aire info, as well as other useful points of interest like propane stations. Well worth 40 Euros.http://www.adac.de/default.asp?location=1Germany is full of surprising little towns, great food and and accessible stellplatz & campings. Some obvious locations that spring to mind are the Mosel River from Trier to Koblenz, then the Rhine south from Koblenz to Bingen.The Romantische Strasse, with it's most famous stop, Rotenburg ob dem Tauber.http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1066http://www.romanticroad.com/Berlin is a great city & has a stellplatz for 17€ that has showers & wc and is very convenient to the centre. Koln likewise has a reasonable (10€ IIRC) stellplatz that is walkable along the Rhine into the zentrum.others, in no particular order: Munchen,Bamberg/Frankische Schweiz (trinken & essen at Schlenkerla),Dresden; Erfurt; Quedlinburg; Heidelberg/ then along the Neckar/up through the Odenwald. History abounds, notably the effects of WWII: significant in this regard are Dachau, Buchenwald & sections of Berlin. Depressing, however.There's a lot to see & experience in Deutschland!

[potjoe]

Hi,We did 4/5 weeks there in may/june fab, sun,very good for m-homes and free on motorways.If you go to Vicarious book you can get a book called Camperstop and it is poss to down load POI`s to your sat nav that goes with the book we liked it as it had some pics and info on the aire

if you like it all you do then is press go on your sat nav and it takes you there it works well. We r back in 2009 as well. Regards john (lol)

[kelly58]

Thanks everyone for your comments I have made notes of your places of interest so now we can get a good map and start planning.kelly

[terry1956]

Hi, don,t for get the great beer, best in europe. enjoy its a great place.

michael

[Mel B]

Heidelburg - must see - we 'wild camped' at the side of the road next to the river, on the opposite side to the castle with lovely views in the Sunday morning at 7.00 am of the sun on the old bridge etc - beautiful!

[Thai Bry]

Some pictures of our travels this year in Germany.

Our fav site at the mom is in a small village called "Kipfenberg" in the Almuthal natur park.

We do most of our touring in the south - Bavaria & the like, can't really say we've ever had a bad time of it. Weather this year was blistering, and I gort some fly-fishing done in some lovely streams.

Thai Chicken curry made by me fresh that day on a site near Ausberg

Hope you enjoy your trip.

Thai

[net-traveller]

If you haven't already done so I suggest that you sign up to the free e-mail newsletter service of the German Tourist Board. The current letter is for Rhine & Moselle area.

 

http://www.germany-tourism.co.uk/index_EGB.htm for the home page then click e-mail.

 

There are many links to the regional tourist boards both on the website and via the e-mail.

 

One other area to consider is the former east germany. Not what you would expect from a former communist country. A bit faded in parts but none the worse for that.

 

;-)