Visiting Europe 2012 looking for tips

D

Darrell

Hi Guys and Ladies hope somone can help, My Wife and I will be traveling to europe in either July or August next year. We are looking to do a river cruise with a start in Prague then traveling to Budapest cruising to Amsterdam and finnishing in Paris.
Our intention is to arrive a few days early in Munich and base ourselves there and take a look at the BMW/porsche/Mercedes Benz museums/Neuschwanstein Castle as well as a trip to the Swarovski museum east of Innsbruck. My Question is what would be the best way of geting to Stuttgart and down to Austria etc. I would think my options are Hire car/ Rail or day trip via a travel group.
These river cruises usually have early booking incentives so we are looking to sign up soon. If anyone can give us a heads up it would be great.We would also have to travel from Munich to Prague for the start of the cruise.
Are there some other sights well worth seeing while in the area.
Looking forward to getting some good avdvice.

Darrell
DRB #46
G50 LS1
Austrlia
 
M

Marcus

As for me, I´d choose a rental car from Munich to Stuttgart (Porsche Museum, Mercedes Museum) and back. It´s not that far away (approx. 2 hrs.) while both museums are easy to access by car and have plenty of parking space around.

Not only do get a drive through some beautiful landscapes but also it gives you on some stretches an idea of driving on ze German Autobahn.

Best,
Marcus
 
Jim Craik

Jim Craik

Lifetime Supporter
If you are a car guy, and get a chance to rent a car, from Amsterdam, Spa and the Nurburg ring are only a few hours apart and well worth the trip
 
D

Darrell

Thank guys
Andy and Jim I am hopeing to do Le Mans etc some other time as well as Goodwood, this trip is more a holiday with just a little car stuff. Rental car seems a good option.
Marcus is there any problem traveling over the border to Austria with a rental car.

Darrell
DRB#46
G50 LS1
Australia (spelt it right this time)
 
D

Dalton Veitch

Darrell,

While I'm a car enthusiast, I'm not terribly keen on European driving, on the wrong side of the road and all. Admittedly it's very useful in some circumstances and depends what you want to visit. We've (wife and I) taken the train from Amsterdam down to Paris, with stays along the way, and it was very convenient and enjoyable. Finally stayed in a cheap little hotel in Mont Marte, which is a very handy location and easy to get to by Metro.
 
C

Cliff Beer

Dalton, if you're in Munich, and have a couple days to tour before your cruise then renting a porsche and getting some autobahn time would really be a unique opportunity. Much, if not most, of the German autobahn is now speed controlled, but there are still plenty of sections that are not. It's a unique thing in the world to be able to drive as fast as you want (and can safely do) - worth taking advantage of if you can. Last time I was there I rented a 911 from europecar.com and did some speed runs, mostly while my wife was napping in the passenger seat. Every once in a while she would wake up and freak out when she realized we were doing mostly between 220-240kph (daytime, dry, sunny, little traffic).

If you're finishing in Paris then that's also a great place to rent a nice car and do some driving. Last time I was there I rented a nice s-class mercedes (diesel) and drove through the Loire down to Cannes/Grasse for a few days - was a wonderful few days of good food and scenic touring.

Enjoy!
 
D

David Morton

Lifetime Supporter
Maybe the comment that depending on how much time you have, some of the cities need several days to do justice and if you are returning for some other functions later on then maybe reduce the number of places a little and get more value at each one. For me, Budapest and Vienna would be about two to three days in each, Amsterdam one, and Paris, Berlin maybe two, and then the car museums in Germany are a day each. Nurbugring and it's museum is a bit of a treck but worth a visit and a lap but I don't know about taking hire cars around the Nordschlieffe. Marcus or Tom could comment on that . And a word of caution , unless you are a really good and practised high speed driver, don't risk the very high speed on the Autobahn as it's an easy way to spoil your holiday. I spend a lot of time transiting in Europe on the 'motorways' and I 've seen some absolutely terrible wrecks of sports and high power Audis and Mercs that have closed the A-bahns for several hours while they scrape up the bits.
 
Last edited:
D

David Morton

Lifetime Supporter
On the contrary Ben. Most places of interest to visit in London should be reasonably crowd free. Accomodation in an around London may be problematic but out in the outer suburbs should be no real problem. After all, it's only two weeks. (ps I've got tickets for the diving and synchcronized diving finals and prize giving).
 
D

Darrell

Thanks Marcus, I will be staying in Munich for about a week and doing day trip from there and traveling to Prauge to hook up with a tour afterwoods.

Darrell
DRB G50/LS1
 
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