Trip to Munich

[farbbm]

I'm just after some advice as we're looking to do a road trip to Munich in May, and just wondered how people have gone about doing it, whether it's been a blast straight down to Munich or if its preferable to do it over 2 days? We'll be travelling from Bedfordshire, so the tunnel and ferries are only a couple of hours away. I've also looked at the flights as an alternative but the prices are quite high, with the cheapest being from Heathrow, which I doubt it cheap by the time we've factored in car parking.

Whilst there we're looking to visit the BMW Welt and Musuem, and also hire an M car for an hour if I can find the link on how to arrange that, but anything else worth doing whilst there, as we're planning to be there for the week?

[UnclePat]

No idea about driving, but in terms of things to do:

- BMW Welt is good
- Beers at the Hofbrauhaus and beer gardens
- Amusement at the surfers and nudists in the English Garden
- Visit to the Olympic Park and a hike up the steep stadium terrace

The best thing I did was a trip by train to Salzburg (lovely in its own right), and from there a tour to Berchtesgaden to visit Hitler’s Eagles Nest 6,000 ft high in the mountains. Quite amazing.

[wisbech]

The Deutches Museum is one of the greatest science/ technology museums in the world. Highly recommended if you are into that sort of stuff (or just like aircraft...)

[omniflow]

I'm in the middle of planning our roadtrip / holiday for May / June this year, and will be going through / past Munich.

We're taking the overnight ferry from Harwich -> Hook of Holland. From where you live, you can leave home after work / school on the day of the crossing and be in Harwich in plenty of time. You then have the advantage of being in Hook of Holland at 8am the next day, ready to go. Munich is 8.5 hours, but that's using google timings which seems to use 100 Km/Hr. It's an easy day's drive.

There's also the advantage that there's only one ferry crossing, so no risk of massive queues for immigration etc.

[CharlesdeGaulle]

Unless you're really tight for time, I'd recommend planning to do the journey over 2 days. It's do-able in one, about 900 km from Calais, but it won't be much fun. If you have the time you could include an overnight somewhere you'd like to see on the way.

[CharlesdeGaulle]

To add, it's not really the continental leg that saps the joy, it's the UK bit and then the crossing. Remember you'll lose an hour as well with the clock change, so it makes the whole journey feel longer. I'd certainly recommend the drive though.

[omniflow]

CharlesdeGaulle said:

To add, it's not really the continental leg that saps the joy, it's the UK bit and then the crossing. Remember you'll lose an hour as well with the clock change, so it makes the whole journey feel longer. I'd certainly recommend the drive though.

This is exactly what makes the Harwich -> Hook of Holland ferry crossing so appealing. You get the UK bit and the crossing out of the way overnight (book a cabin and get a decent nights sleep). The hour gets lost in the overnight too.

[CharlesdeGaulle]

omniflow said:

This is exactly what makes the Harwich -> Hook of Holland ferry crossing so appealing. You get the UK bit and the crossing out of the way overnight (book a cabin and get a decent nights sleep). The hour gets lost in the overnight too.

Agreed. Not sure how prices compare, but it's a good way to kick off the holiday.

[farbbm]

omniflow said:

CharlesdeGaulle said:

To add, it's not really the continental leg that saps the joy, it's the UK bit and then the crossing. Remember you'll lose an hour as well with the clock change, so it makes the whole journey feel longer. I'd certainly recommend the drive though.

This is exactly what makes the Harwich -> Hook of Holland ferry crossing so appealing. You get the UK bit and the crossing out of the way overnight (book a cabin and get a decent nights sleep). The hour gets lost in the overnight too.

Thanks for your recommendations for the Harwich > Hook of Holland route, never thought about that one, but as a result ferry's just been booked.

[BertieWooster]

I lived in Munich for five years and drove to the UK and back a few times. We used to do each leg in a single day (about 14 hours give or take). We would go via Calais and the auto routes across the northern part of France and then cross the border at Baden Baden. It's then an easy drive all the way to Munich.

In addition to what other posters have said, I'd recommend going to Konigsee if you are in the Berchtesgaden area. It's a really great part of the country.

[Snow and Rocks]

farbbm said:

Thanks for your recommendations for the Harwich > Hook of Holland route, never thought about that one, but as a result ferry's just been booked.

Good choice, have used it a few times recently and always enjoy it. A few beers and some decent (ish) food and then a good night's sleep is a always a nice way to start a trip.

[Kawasicki]

wisbech said:

The Deutches Museum is one of the greatest science/ technology museums in the world. Highly recommended if you are into that sort of stuff (or just like aircraft...)

Last time I was there it was amazing… but they are halfway through updating it at the moment. Some sections are still closed.

[Prisoner 24601]

In terms of things to do - we visited Dachau, which is only a 15 min train journey from Munich. Sobering experience, but we would recommend it.

[theboss]

Last year I drove to Berlin and back and also Aachen to Passau using several routes twice so have a fairly good perception of the current state of main autobahn routes.

Generally there is a massive programme of rebuilding which is very impressive save for the fact that it significantly impedes progress. I don't know how they deal with their Swampy and NIMBY types but fair play to them.

I would drive to Munich in a heartbeat but do some route research and don't just rely on Google maps or your Satnav showing the most direct route. The last time I used the main A3 drag from Cologne down to Nuremburg which I suspect most Navs would use to get from Calais to Munich, it was like driving in the worst the M6 could throw at you in rush hour, but spread over ~400km.

German lane discipline has gone out of the window so the odd unrestricted blasts when traffic does ease off are generally constrained by tts who won't get out of the schnell lane for anyone.

My average speed on the M40 and most of the M25 was considerably higher.

I might just cough up the French tolls and go via Reims and Karlsruhe.