Denolloyd

Hi Folks,

My wife and I will be picking up a vehicle via European Delivery, and are schedule to take initial delivery on 7/4. I'd like to do as much as I can while in Europe. I've never been to Austria or Switzerland, so visiting both would be fantastic. I've put together the below itinerary. Hoping for thoughts / feedback.

Thanks in advance!

Cannot change:
Arrive in Frankfurt - 7/3 (early in the AM)
Train to Munich - 7/3 (Afternoon)
Take delivery - 7/4 (early in the AM)
Drive to Reutlingen - 7/4 (afternoon)

The Journey - Open to changes
Leave Reutlingen - 7/5 (early in the AM)
Drive to Innsbrook - 7/5 (in the AM / afternoon)
Drive to Lucerne - 7/5 (in the evening, overnight here)
Drive to Mulhouse - 7/6 (in the AM)
Drive to Frankfurt - 7/6 (in the evening, overnight here)

Cannot change
Return from Frankfurt - 7/7 (1:00PM)

stimpy

I might do Salzburg rather than Innsbruck. And Colmar or Strasbourg rather than Mulhouse unless you are going to the auto museum in Mulhouse.

I hope you realize that you will have to purchase some ugly windshield stickers and place them on your shiny new car before you enter Switzerland and Austria motorways.

El_Duderito

Rather than Mulhouse I'd do Colmar an hour north of Mulhouse. Strasbourg would also be a stop.
As suggested by stimpy I would also head east to Salzburg and then skip Innsbruck or part of the mountainous area (depends on the car ;-)). But this seems like quite a detour.

Gagravarr

Given the rough route, I'd suggest Strasbourg and Heidelberg as being two places to visit, even if only for a few hours (though you can spend longer!)

greg5

Skipping Mulhouse and going to Colmar, or nearby Eguisheim would be a good idea. Colmar's 'Petit Venise' is kind of cool a night though with it's lit up with neon. Luzern to Colmar is a pretty quick drive so you'll have time to spend in the vineyards if you're into that. There are a lot of nice towns around Colmar.

Denolloyd

All - Thanks for the feedback. I've managed to organize things so that I can hit on all of the recommendations provided. By moving Reutlinghen after Salzburg, looks as though total drive time will be under 14 hours (estimated).

Anything else I may want to consider? Any of these cities best for overnighting? Worth a trip to Czesky Krumlov ? I love that place!

Again, I appreciate the help.

Cheers

greg5

I'd drive down to CH from Reutlingen and go through Sargans on the way to Luzern. That way you get to see a bit of the Alps.

MSPeconomist

Except for maybe Salzberg, I'd skip Switzerland and Austria, partly because of the silly requirement of an annual sticker purchase for autobahn use.

I very much like the Romantik Road. [The north to south direction is considered better.] If you have time, the Castle Road is also nice and there are a bunch of wine routes in various areas of Germany. It's also fun to drive alone the castle area of the Rhein or the Mosel river valley.

Personally, for European delivery I'd plan the trip in terms of places that would be fun to drive or places that must be seen by car, such as small villages. Include some mountain roads and places where you can go really fast on the autobahn, assuming that you're confident about driving in Germany. There are also some dramatic bridges, for example near Koblenz.

stimpy

Germany too, starting later this year. Sad news I know. Note however for Austria and Germany you aren't required to purchase an annual sticker. You can get a short term one for cheaper.

As for where to stay, I might suggest Strasbourg. It is a large enough city with plenty of nice hotels, but still has a small town feel about it. Get a hotel in the center and walk around the place de l'Homme de Fer in the evening and have a nice Alsatian meal.

Denolloyd

Wirelessly posted (iPhone 3G: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 8_3 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/600.1.4 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/8.0 Mobile/12F70 Safari/600.1.4)

"CH"?

stimpy

Confoederatio Helvetica which is the ancient name of Switzerland and the current abbreviation.

greg5

Oops. I keep forgetting that some (most) folks don't know this. Sorry.

stimpy

I think most people in Europe know this. Certainly in nations that border Switzerland. But maybe not the rest of the world.

Denolloyd

Wirelessly posted (iPhone 3G: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 8_3 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/600.1.4 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/8.0 Mobile/12F70 Safari/600.1.4)

, not a problem. I was thinking to myself. Copenhagen seems to be quite a distance! In the office now, but will take a look at the new potential route this evening.

Really appreciate the help.

Revilo199

Actually I'd go with Innsbruck given the route. It's actually quite the beautiful city. I definitely recommend taking the Nordkettenbahn (funicular) up into the mountains, it starts right in the center of the city and the view from the top (2269m/7444ft) is spectacular.


Regarding the motorway stickers: They come off very easily and without any visible signs left on the windshield if you use a razor blade to get them off (you can get razor blades specifically made for this at gas stations).

Also the Austrian one costs like 15€ for 10 days, so that's quite reasonable. The one in CH is a lot more expensive IIRC, but it's Switzerland so reasonable prices are not to be expected anyways.