Thinking of driving to Austria...

A snowHead

Anyone got any good tips or advice, ie route, places to stop over etc?

A snowHead

dk100,

If you drive down from USSR then our advice of travelling through France would not much good for you. Where will you start your journey?

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

dk100, Luxembourg has cheapest fuel prices, see this, so make sure your route goes through there and fill up.

Edit - didn't see your location! Toofy Grin

Poland looks to be even cheaper, if you're comming from Russia (surely USSR no longer exists?)

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saikee, Probably catch the ferry from Hull to Rotterdam as we are in Manchester.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

dk100, We drove from Manchester a couple of years back we did it in both Summer and Winter. We tacked on a couple of days either side of our holiday. We've got 2 children so its a different ball game, let me know if you want any more info, did we enjoy it? Yes but wouldn't do it again if we could help it. Very Happy

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dk100,

I use the Newcastle/Amsterdam ferry. In that route the boat docks at 9:30am and so I could start the journey at about 10am.

For Austria the obvious route is to enter Germany at Arnhem which is just short of 100 miles from Amsterdam, blast down the twin Rhine arteries and branch off at either Franfurt /Wurzburg/Numberg/Munich or Karlsrule/Stuttgart/Ulm/Bregenz. The former leads to Salzburg and East Tirol and the latter for the west side of Tirol.

I usually do the 650m first day directly to the resort. The wife doesn't want to drive in Europe as she consider the traffic too fast. On returning back I need two days and select any city from Bonn, Koblenz, Koln, Dussedorf, Franfurt etc for an over night stop. With the exception of the first day I consider my journey sufficiently relax but we do go for two weeks.

Amsterdam to Austria is almost 100% motorway so a car with a good top speed, cruise control and comfotable seats can make the journey surprising easy.

If I were to start at Rotterdam I suppose the route via Eindhoven and Venlo to Dusiburg makes more sense but the Northern route via Arnhem is relatively traffic free. Can't say the same for Eindhoven and Venlo.

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saikee, I think we've spoken before on this? However if not I am driving form just west of Glasgow to Salzburgerland in January.

I had thought to drive to Hull for the ferry. This decision was based on other opinions ( including snowHead

) that the Newcastle ferry was a bit of a nightmare on a Friday night and was also older , shabbier and more expensive than Hull- Rotterdam?

Haven't booked yet but will need to soon and was interested in your comments re the traffic in Holland and the Arnhem v's Venlo situation

What would you advise? obviously Newcastle would save me 3 hours or so of driving all in?

After all it is free

Between Frankfurt & Glasgow, I've usually done the Newcastle-Amsterdam(Ijmuiden) route, but this year did Hull-Rotterdam. Ships seemed much the same to me. Not done Rosyth-Zeebrugge since it restarted, nor Hull-Zeebrugge.

Regarding routes, Amsterdam and Zeebrugge have really obvious routes - just look at a map. From Rotterdam there's lots of choices and options, but almost empty motorways for much of it. Zeebrugge might just about have the edge in terms of simplicity, but may be fractionally slower, and in Winter there's a chance that the entire motorway is a 90kph zone again due to smog.

Wee tip. Make sure you have a full tank as you leave Holland so you can get through Germany without filling as German fuel prices are high then full up in Austria where it's cheaper.

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kiwi1, handy tip, but:

For Diesel, UK is most expensive. Austria is cheapest with Belgium, Germany and Netherlands in between.
For 95 octane, Austria is cheapest, but DE, NL, BE are more expensive than UK (with NL being extortionate).

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andy, thanks for clearing that Little Angel

I use diesel so handn't even thought of 95 octane.

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hmmm.... not sure if its going to be worth driving as there is only three of us and even though the flights to Munich are a rip off, by the time you add on stop overs costs and petrol I don't think we are better off?

It is a long drive. If you dont mind 18 hours in a car or whatever then you are fine. However if you are not used to driving in Europe and dont like long car journeys it will not be fun at all. Sharing the drive with someone makes massive sense. 2 hour shifts each and you can drive all night no problem. Slightly longer shifts if your feeling up for it. If you do not need a vehicle when you are there, and dont have loads of stuff to take with you, then just fly.

You know it makes sense.

tombeaton, we would be driving in the day as the ferry is an all nighter...total driving in Europe 10 hours approx.....so no where near as long as you suggest.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

robboj,

The ferry for the Newcastle/Ijmuiden used to have two boats with one significantly newer than the other. Recently a third boat was introduced and the original two went elsewhere. So the ferry service is not static.

I drive through Arnhem every time I go to the Alps. The traffic is Holland is always dense or worst in Europe so going East after Utrecht has proved more relax than punch through middle of Holland/Belgian by going south.

Every year I find the slow bit mainly in Holland. The traffic through the German industrial heartland, Dusiburg/Dussedorf, is high density too but fast moving as there are twin arteries down the Rhine. I have never stuck in a traffic jam there.

I find Germany is relatively jam free as I would driving through a big forest. Munich is another matter and has been a black spot for recent years. The situation is a lot better if you do not leave the ring road to get into the city.

I will set off on 16 Jan from Amsterdam to Flachau. The first day is 656 miles.

A snowHead

saikee, Thanks, I am the week before you, arriving in Holland on the morning of 9th January. Not going as far as Flachau though, Zell am See for me. Munich should be OK as I have driven from the airport several times. My only real concern is a big snowstorm as that would make it very tiring and I would probably have to stop a lot more as I am driving alone.

Whom/where do you book your ferry? I have priced both on the ferry companies websites - Newcastle comes in £200 more expensive which makes the time and mileage saved travelling to Hull at lot less appealing?

A snowHead

robboj,

I always book with the DFDS site. No matter what we do the crossing is always around £300 for two persons, a car and an en-suite room.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

robboj, I always booked direct too. DFDS always seems to be slightly more expensive than P+O. If you're in Paisley, it may be worth checking Rosyth-Zeebrugge too, but noting that they only have 1 boat sailing every other day. It's never worked out right for me though since they changed from 1 boats daily each way to 1 boat 3x per week.

Traffic is like saikee mentioned a few posts back. Utrecht and Köln are busy, but not usually stop-start jams. Ditto for Brussels ring if you go via Zeebrugge. Next slow bit after that would probably be around Karlsruhe and A8 near Augsburg (if you go that way).

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I too am considering driving from Leeds to Stuben over Easter, via the tunnel (using Tesco vouchers).

I'm leaning towards leaving leeds early on a friday , taking a lunchtime tunnel, driving for 4-5 hours on the other side, stopping somewhere, and then doing the next 3-4 hours Sat am.

I haven't looked at the cost of Hull->Zeebrugge, I suspect it will be a few hundred £s for a family of 4 inc a cabin...
Does anyone have any recommended stops? Is there a German/Austrian equivalent of the F1 hotels that France has??

Cheers,

Greg

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

kitenski, F1 is part of accor group, along with Etap, Ibis, Novotel, Mercure,... (I tend to use Ibis or sometimes Etap)
Edit: and there's many in Belgium, Germany, etc. too (but not so many in Austria), and some locations have 2 brands from the chain next to each other (eg an F1+Ibis or Etap+Ibis).

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thanks andy, does that mean they are in Germany/Austria Puzzled

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oops yeah my edit clashed with your post Wink

After all it is free

cheers

Ibis is widely available in Germany. It is a little bit more expensive than F1 but you do get a en-suite room. It is above Etap but below Mercure which is below Novotel.

Some cities are less expensive than the others so do shop around.

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There's also the hotels at various autobahn service stations. No idea how much they cost, or what they are like, but I'd expect slightly better than a travelodge, just like the restaurant part is slightly better than Moto etc. in UK (lot smaller, but a lot emptier).
http://tank.rast.de I think, and should be half in English.

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25 posts and no mention of tyres or chains?

Is this snowheads or another site?

Take the more northerly route via Coln.. dive down to Wursburg after passing north of Frankfurt E40,E41, onto Munich.
This does away with the horrible Rhine routes and the crap roads around Stuttgart, IME

This gives you easy access to either Calais or Rotterdam.
What you really need to do, in order to manitain momentum, is avoid the French-German border from Basle north to Luxenburg, IMV

You know it makes sense.

bertie bassett, We used to do the journey for years to Niederau for Christmas and New Year - in those days we didn't have a car with winter tyres but always had chains and very rarely had to use them. Occasionally just for the very last bit in the village to the hotel, once up from Worgl, but only once.

We had a horrifying experience on one return trip, somewhere through Germany, coming out of a tunnel and we hit ice, the car (Volvo in those days) did a complete 360 turn, we were facing oncoming lights, husband somehow gently continued the turn of the car and we slid eventually to a halt on the hard shoulder bumping the barrier, at which point the children in the back woke up. But in those few seconds, as they say, my life flashed before me, I thought we had had it, and then thought well we had a good trip. Only damage was a broken light of some sort. Of course we had come out of the tunnel too fast - got away with it that time, but a big lesson.

We never stopped overnight, used to take an early evening ferry to Calais, fed children with home made sandwiches, and they just slept all the way, we swapped driving every two hours, the drive used to take about 11 hours. There were occasions on the return journey, which we always seemed to do in the day, that I had to bow out of the driving after as little as an hour for a break with the intense concentration needed on those German motorways.

But we loved it and it was the only way that we could have got the five of us skiing for nearly two weeks every year.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

saikee, andy, Thanks again.

Have double checked prices. DFDS £421.96 and P&O £287.45. Cabins are cheaper with DFDS but difference is almost exactly the fact that the car is three times the price of P&O. Its a Landrover Discovery so presumably the DFDS pricing policy on cars that size is making things less favourable. Sad

I'll mull it over for a day as I reckon I'll be about £35 more on diesel to Hull and back, even then its still £100 and I'm not sure I could find that much hassle in an extra three hours driving?

A snowHead

robboj, yeah was P+O Rotterdam Hull for me this year, but that was car+driver and cabin for 1. Longer drive on UK side, but 4 hours worth of 98 octane on the A1 was still less than the extra that DFDS were charging this year, although previous years DFDS came out best. You just need to shop around, compare +/- 1 day at each end of the journey. Oh and check-in time for P+O is really early compared to sailing time.

A snowHead

andy,

That is because they like to depart earlier than the timetable suggests...if possible.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

This raises a basic question...do you mind driving more than, say, 6 hours ? I don't mind at all - I can leave Surrey and drive to my parent's place north of Inverness stopping only to fill up and grabbing a quick sarnie/drink/pee. However my wife really struggles if she has to drive more than about 4 or 5 hours so I do all the driving when we are together in a car. Each to his own I suppose. I've driven to the Alps on several occasions non stop but I recognise that it's not most people's cup of tea. However it does give you much more flexibility than going with a TO or a cheap airline.

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I drive from Bradford every year around 3 times, usually to Austria. I have always set off around 4pm (after work) Friday and have arrived around 2pm Austria time. In my opinion, the last 2 years have increased massively in traffic congestion (apologies for grammar!). Last year, we hit traffic for the first time 40miles before Munich and was stuck in traffic all the way through to the Kufstein turn off in Austria. A long days travelling that was! On a plus side, I am always travelling half term week in February so any other week you can travel is probably fine, or btter, at least. Also, cost wise, it makes sense if you are on a tight budget. We generally put aside £80 - £100 each with three in the car. This is deisel, ferry, changing insurance for all drivers, green card (for those with insurance companies that charge). We usually have a bit spare left.
Lots to consider when driving but if you treat it as part of the holiday, it is quite a good drive.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Interesting feedback on roads Dougie, I am driving to Stuben on the 9/10th April 2010 and can't decide wether to drive thru Germany or thru France......

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kitenski, we're driving to Ischgl this Friday from Birmingham - catching the 22.17 eurotunnel train and aiming to meet up with my brother for breakfast in Ulm. He's coming from northern Germany and will be staying overnight there. Via Michelin is telling me that the fast route from calais to Ulm is through France and takes 7hrs30 and then via Garmich to Ischgl is a further 2hrs45. (10hrs15 total). Through Germany to Ulm takes a further 30mins but saves about 45 euros on tolls. Strangely, the recommended route from Calais to Ischgl (still through France) drops south of Ulm but takes 15 minutes longer.

We were in Stuben in the 2nd week of Feb and had what I can only describe as the best snow I've ever experienced in Austria.

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Cheapest fuel I've found is in Samnaun in Switzerland - it's duty free, cheaper than Luxembourg wink

After all it is free

Yoda, that's because it is a duty-free oddity! No idea why that small area has no taxes but it useful for buying any type of gear. It's like the Stelvio Pass region in Italy, also a small odd tax-free zone for some reason.

Colin Bell, when you say you are thinking of driving through Germany - which route? Driving through the night you should not have too many problems.

A lot of the route that used to be a standard, i.e. Aachen Koblenz Frankfurt Würzburg, etc is quite slow these days due to long term road works.

I always swing into southern Belgium at Lille and then go via Luxembourg directly into Germany near Metzig. I can give you a list of cities as way markers if you do not have a sat-nav. Currently there are little or no hold-ups on the A8 as far as Augsburg - then a couple that can be problematic in heavy traffic if someone breaks down or shunts someone else.

BTW the radio is saying that we are due heavy snowfall this weekend along the north side of the Alps. It is pretty bad in some areas of Bavaria (Schwaben and the Allgäu currently have pretty heavy snowfall and drifting as do northern Bavaria), but the is none where I am near the Inntal (yet!)

Sue

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Okay guys and dolls...We are off to Zell am See in a few weeks and are driving for the first time. Ferry is taking us to Rotterdam, ferry arrives there Saturday morning and what we want to know is what is the best route? And we will probably break up the journey by stopping off over night, any suggestions off a good town/city to stop off at?

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Samerberg Sue, thanks. Very helpful. Perhaps we'll stay in France for as long as possible! We have Sat Nav but I don't always trust it!

Help!!

Thinking of driving to Austria...

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