Hallo everybody! My first time here on forum! My wife and I decided to take a tour this summer around Germany to visit all the nice small and not so small towns on our way. Our goal is to enjoy both the ride as well as destinations. We have 3 weeks. We are riding down from Norway and taking ferry from Oslo to Kiel. We have some general idea what to see but there are many gaps to be filled and I hope some of you can help us with a good advice. Some facts: Entering Germany in Kiel (and probably leaving Germany there as well) Places in Northern Germany we want to see: (Lubeck, Schwerin, Ratzeburg, Luneburg, Bremen) Places in Western Germany: (Arnsberg- some frends are living there, Dusseldorf, Keln, Koblenz, Mosel valley, Romantic Rhine from Koblenz to Mainz) Places in Southern Germany: (Castle route from Manheim and further east, Wurzburg, Romantic route down to Fussen and maybe famous Black forest) Places in Eastern Germany: (Saxon Swiss national park) I have tried to draw a route “down” best I could but would appreciate advices how to gain best of this trip, to avoid boring roads and to help me draw a route back to Kiel. I also have a problem to find a good roads in northen Germany (i.e. Luneburg to Bremen and Dusseldorf) Should I use Black forest to drive “down” and then Romantic route to drive “up”? Something about us: Couple in late 40s and early 50s enjoying good food, drink and life. Originally from Croatia but lives in Norway last 12 years.
There are several wine routes that I know, The Rhein-Hessen, the Mosel you mentioned, the Palatinate, the Odenwalt and quite a few more. There does tend to be quite a few restaurants in vineyard (Weinberg) areas. They also tend to have a Schloss or similar, usually with a tasting hall and sometimes food. Kloster Eberbach is now a state run wineyard, with extensive building you can tour round. The better known the vineyard, the more likely you will have to pay for your glass. There are many more. A journey down the Rhine by one of the Shipfahrt companies - mostly between Bingen and Ruedesheim - is a good way to see the river and the monuments you can't see well, or at all, from the road. I think you can get off and on again where you wish if there is something you wish to see, but make sure yo know when the boat company will be doing its return, or its continuation. There are lots of towns which are worth the walk round. I have always been based in Frankfurt, so know mostly around Hessen, so Darmstadt, Hanau etc. Smaller cities like that don't take too long, yet have much of interest. If you have interests in cars and bikes and things like that, then don't miss Sinnsheim, and allow a full day. One thing I have enjoyed is using the ICE high speed train. DB almost always has special offer trips to other cities - it was €39 to any mainland EU capital city a few years ago. We went to Berlin, from Frankfurt, took 4 hours, but cost only the €39. We were staying over, I really enjoyed it, so much to see, and a very vibrant place with lots of diversity.
Thank you. Any chance you could corrigate my route in your area such as: - What river side to chose in Mosel valley towards Luxemburg if we decide to drive the way? Upper side of the river? - On our way back from Bernkastel-Kues toward Koblenz, to drive again trhough the valley or can you propose diferend road back, as I tryied? - Side of the Rhine river to drive on? - I have tried to fallow Rhein-Hessen route but it is hard to find a map with roads (found one but includes, walking, swimming, rowing... ) We have "only" three weeks for whole our jurney any a short detour are relatively possible (Mosel will take a bit more time but...), otherwise we should keep a progress, meaning Frankfurt-Berlin is out of the question :) Thank you in advance
Sinsheim boggles the mind. I finally made it last year. Some pics here. Another lovely ride is along the Neckar river. The Rhine gets all the press, but I think that the Neckar is nicer. The stretch from Heidelberg to Neckarsulm is lovely and almost devoid of traffic. NSU has a nice little museum in Neckarsulm.
Agreed Michael. IN summer, the Rhine and Mosel can be very crowded. My sister, BiL and I used to do our winter walking all around the little hidden valleys off the Neckar. Beautiful and historic. Lots of small secrets to be discovered. We would head towards Heidelberg, then along the Neckar to Mosbach, then on to the L1087 - not the adjacent Autobahn - to Moeckmuel, Widdern , Jagsthausen and Berlichingen. We stayed on several of the properties of the Von Berlichinhgen family. Not all the rivers have a road either side, sometimes it is too steep. As far as I know, the DB ICE offers are almost always on, and to and from almost anywhere. You don't have to go intercontinental to appreciate them.
A reason to skip Hamburg and e.g. the Miniaturwunderland? Tips can be more specific if you tell us your interests: history, technics, castles ... or just scenery? After seeing both, I still prefer Speyer over Sinsheim. The latter has a strong focus on WWII vehicles. I can look into routes for northern Germany in a few days ... currently in Tanger Med, waiting for a ferry.
Thank you all, We are most into castles, old towns, not so much into technical museums but also we would like to use interesting roads as well, not highways. Curved roads are more than welcome. @pip_muenster, would appreciate very much help around northern part. Anybody who could help me resolve route from Wurzburg towards Saxon Swiss national park and then north to Kiel? It looks like we could change our route and head from Mainz towards Black Forest and then to Fussen and then with "Romantic route" to Wurzburg
From Mainz, seek out a route to Darmstadt, (the Autobahn is pretty simple, the back roads are more complicated) the other side of the A5 is the Ls3. which takes you past my BiL's tiny vineyard (not that you will notice) in Heppenheim. There are quite a few castles you can visit along that road and villages with decent restaurants. Schloss Auerbach is one I remember, which has a restaurant too. The route Ls3 takes you quite far south into Heidelberg. There are alternatives going higher up into the Odenwald, which is also really nice.
imho everything north of the Harz and north of the Ruhrgebiet (and the Ruhrgebiet itself) is just 'meh' for riding. If I want flat and therefore (almost) straight roads, I might as well just stay in the Netherlands to ride. I mean, there's nice villages and scenery to be found (often better enjoyed on a bicycle in my opinion), but it isn't really good riding.
Any chance you could find some map of this Ls3 or gpx as I cannot find it. Why Why to go east towards Darmstad instead of fallowing Rhein south and into Manheim (wich I would like to visit?
The Landstrasse 3 runs roughly parallel to the A5 Autobahn. On google maps, just off to the right/east. Mainz to Mannheim would tend to put you on the Autobahn, it is a bit complicated otherwise. You should go where you wish. Going to Darmstadt does not preclude you going to Mannheim, just heading west will do it. Darmstadt was comprehensively destroyed previously. There is lots of modern architecture - from Jugendstyl of Peter Berhens to the post modern of Hundertwasser. Not forgetting the Mathildenhöhe. There has been an artistic colony in Darmstadt for many decades. Also the newly reopened Museum in the palace is excellent. Mannheim is on the flat Rhine plain. The riding is not good really to there from Mainz, whereas the Odenwald is quite hilly and cut with narrow Tals (ravines/valleys) to explore and find the castles you said you wanted. If you switch on terrain on googlemaps you will see the better biking topography as you move to the east.
Completely agree with you, but I'm traveling with my lady (pillion) and bunch of stuff on my GS so a good scenery can be "lifesaving" in that case :)
Pictures saying more than a 1000 words... Maybe there's a few ideas/ places here (main areas around Dusseldorf/ Cologne and Stralsund, the old Hanse town at the Baltic seabord near the Polish border). http://www.austouring.com/forum/showpost.php?p=72047&postcount=222 Lots of history, Baltic charm and Muritzer Lakes district nearby. Add Ruegen to the mix and the riding might not be quite "the Alps", but there's certainly plenty for the eye....and great, local food and folks galore!! Also quite cheap compared to the rest of Europe/ Germany. Just click the link above for the "teaser", then the link in there for the whole yarn and pics.
Here is updated map... I'm starting to give up from planning thoroughly my route... It is so long and advanced that my eyes starts to hurt...
This is my modus operandi - don't have a fix route - maybe a couple of places that may be nice to visit, but most often people you meet will tell you where the good stuff is. Be flexible. Planning every metre of your route could lead to failure and disappointment. And now for a truth, an inalienable fact: you will not see everything. You will miss more stuff worth seeing than you do get to see. Don't get sad, make plans to come back.
yep, maybe I took it way to deep... I'll just talk to other MC drivers along the way and gather the ideas :)
Greeting Sjeverni, one thing you should not miss ist the black forest and the area arround, the jura and the vosges. It is a long way from norway but it is a region you shouldn`miss. You will plan a lot off small routes but you have the the posibility to connect places by autoroute, very fast and without tempo limit. The other reason for the black forest is, that you can cross to switzerland and france, why not when you are in the region. Have a call when you are in the region of Stuttgart, we help to plan ore give place to keep luggage for a tour without load. Hans
For Castles check out: http://www.castles.nl/castles-in-germany You are also going real close to Luxembourg, some great roads and famous Castles around there, well worth popping in for a day or two to ride the roads and see the Castles. Cannot help much on Routes I am afraid, only part of Germany I have visited is the Black Forest, and that is normally just as a way into the Swiss Alps.
