Travel to Europe….

[A930Rocket]

My son and I are firming up our plans of going to Europe this year for a week plus. We’d like to see the 24 hours of Lemans, the Porsche factory/museum, the Mercedes-Benz museum. and the Nurburgring. And other things, depending on time. Need ideas here.

We were thinking we would start in Germany, either with the Porsche factory/museum or the Nurburgring. No preference other than what’s closest to the city we would fly into.

Once we land, I’m thinking we go with a Uber/taxi to get to the hotel and the museums. Any recommendations for hotels?

If we start with Stuttgart and the Porsche and Mercedes-Benz museums, is there anything else of interest? How much time should we alot to Stuttgart?

What about getting from Stuttgart to the Nurburgring? Do we rent a car, or take a train (if available), followed by the Uber/taxi? I’m leaning towards a train and local transportation when there, so we don’t have to worry about a car. How much time do we alot to the Nurburgring? Any race, shops, or museums to see? Ideas for hotels?

Next stop is Leman… do we fly, train, or drive from the Nurburgring to Leman? Uber/taxi to get around when there. What about lodging?

Looks like tickets for the race weekend are sold out, but Sunday is available. Maybe we can find tickets on the secondary market for Saturday? If we can’t get Saturday and Sunday, I was thinking about practice and qualifying…maybe less hectic and not as crowded? Thoughts?

How many days do you think we need to see everything in each location? Leman would be two days. Can we see the Porsche and Mercedes museums in one day? Nurburgring in one day?

Do we just say **** it and play it by ear? Although I don’t want to get somewhere and not have a place to sleep and take a shower.

What about luggage/clothes? Not wanting to lug a suitcase around, I’m thinking a small back pack or carry on. I’m not going to see anybody again, so wearing the same pants and or shorts for a week with shirts lasting a couple of days. We can always wash clothes.

Lots of questions!

All you international travelers, let me know your thoughts. Thanks

[Rick Lee]

I would rent a car. Nurburgring is nowhere near Stuttgart and I don't think there's a train anywhere near the Ring. I usually go to Germany every summer, but always rent a car, so I don't know if Uber or Lyft exist there. I doubt it. I would drive that whole route, some combination of Strasbourg, Paris, Stuttgart, Cologne. It will be faster than a train and, while gas is not cheap in either country and France has big tolls, it costs the same for two people as for one, whereas trains will be two tickets everywhere, you will be on a time table and then will have to schlep luggage and deal with taxis.

[ZOO]

The Porsche and Mercedes museums are great. There are Porsche factory tours, too, but you likely need to book them ASAP. I didn't end up at the 'Ring, because it was a bit more complicated to get there than expected -- renting a car is the right thing.

If you are travelling from Stuttgart, I'd stop in Munich. And then see if I could get a train to the Schlumpf Museum in Mulhouse, France.

A week is probably not quite long enough . . .

[Rick Lee]

Munich is also nowhere near Stuttgart. And the last time I did that drive was the worst traffic I'd ever seen in Germany. If you go to Munich, the track to see near there is called Hockenheim. And the Ruf shop is in Pfaffenhausen, which is not too far and they are the nicest people in the world. And then, if you head about two hours south of Munich, well, there's the real Porsche Museum in Gmünd, Austria. That place is so awesome and that's where it really all started. The factory museum in Zuffenhausen sends them cars on loan, but they have some of the earliest prototype Porsches that were build right there when it was a sawmill in the late 40s.

[A930Rocket]

Thanks, guys. Traveling to and around Europe will be part of the adventure and it sounds like a car is the way to go.

My son lives in Jersey City, and with me in Charleston, we need to figure the logistics of flying out of New York or Atlanta. Seems like starting in Stuttgart and making our way to the Nurburgring is our first step. From there, driving is 5.5 to 6 hours to Paris.

What are your thoughts on flying or not flying on certain airlines? Doing a Google search for flights, brought up airlines I’ve never heard of. Any to avoid

[Ayles]

Book your Porsche Factory tour now… when I went we had to book months in advance. Don’t write off BMW Welt either. That was a very cool museum.

Look into VRBOs we stayed in awesome apartments in Munich and Stuttgart but used a hotel in Berlin. We never had a car, took buses and trains everywhere with no trouble whatsoever. As was mentioned elsewhere the traffic was insane. The jam outside of the Porsche factory and museum was the likes of one I had not seen before. Ended pretty thankful we didn’t have to deal with the traffic or parking.

Not sure how old your son is but we also took a train out to Legoland Germany which my son really enjoyed.

[908/930]

While there, consider going to the BMW museum also quite good. Not sure you need a car once in Paris and can get there by train from Stuttgart pretty easy. Hate to say but Paris has gone downhill, but still lots to see there.

Do a very thorough look at your rental car when picking it up and take pics, they gave me an Audi A6 with about $4k damage to rocker panel, fortunately I looked over the car as soon as got out of the very dark underground parking. I am sure they were aware of the damage because the car was clean.

The large cities there have quite good transit systems.

When there a couple years ago easy drive between Munich and Stuttgart, up to 220kph at times.

[Rot 911]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

Munich is also nowhere near Stuttgart. And the last time I did that drive was the worst traffic I'd ever seen in Germany. If you go to Munich, the track to see near there is called Hockenheim.

Rick, the Hockenheim track, which is in Hockenheim, is nowhere near Munich, nor Stuttgart. It is up by Heidelberg. I know this because I lived in Heidelberg for four years and the track was only about 30 minutes from where I lived.

[creaturecat]

take the train, when available.
that’s what i would do.

[ZOO]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

Munich is also nowhere near Stuttgart..

It's 230 km away. Hardly a problem by car, and certainly not a problem by rail (though the German trains are surprisingly inefficient.

When we travel to Europe we generally buy airline tickets with layovers where we want to be . . . it's an affordable option if you are going between major cities. Last year our tickets included layovers in Lisbon, Paris, and Barcelona. There are cheap airlines within Europe, too, such as Ryainair. I haven't used them, but they are affordable.

Rail travel is also pretty easy between countries.

[A930Rocket]

Well, our daughter and SIL came by to drop off their golden, while they go out of town for a friends wedding.

I told them that we were talking about going to Europe in June, and she reminded me, that our first grandchild will be born June 7th. That’s a good problem to have! 😂

Soooo, if we do go, we would need to start with Lemans and work our way east to Germany. Or maybe this is groundwork for next year…


FYI. Our son is 27.

[jyl]

LeMans tickets appear sold out, per website. Don’t know if there are work-arounds.

I’ve been twice, in 1997 and again in the early 2000s. Simply drove up, bought a ticket; I don’t know when it got so popular with the pre-sales. Slept in my car, the second time I was smart, rented a break (wagon) and parked on some tiny side lane a short walk from the course.

[tdw28210]

Originally Posted by A930Rocket

Thanks, guys. Traveling to and around Europe will be part of the adventure and it sounds like a car is the way to go.

My son lives in Jersey City, and with me in Charleston, we need to figure the logistics of flying out of New York or Atlanta. Seems like starting in Stuttgart and making our way to the Nurburgring is our first step. From there, driving is 5.5 to 6 hours to Paris.

What are your thoughts on flying or not flying on certain airlines? Doing a Google search for flights, brought up airlines I’ve never heard of. Any to avoid

The non-stop flight from Charlotte to Frankfurt on American works well. It can be pricey though. I just wouldn't do a connecting flight to get to Europe if possible. Last time we went we home-based out of Mainz. A smaller, more quaint city near Frankfurt and took the train to Stuttgart and other locations across Europe. Something to know is that once you're there in Europe, airfare once on the continent is stupid cheap. Like bus fare prices to fly to Greece or Finland. The trains are just a great way to see the sights and are pretty reasonably priced.