Looks like I will be attending a conference for work in Munich in mid May (specifically the International Congress Center Messe München).
I’m thinking of making it a road trip so options would include driving diown through France as far as Strasbourg and then heading across to Munich.
Which means I need an overnight stay - probably don’t want to push all the way to Strasbourg but Reims looks about right geographically. Don’t know what it’s like though. Anything to do for an afternoon (not too energetic, will have driven 600km by then as well as the tunnel crossing - soaking up a bit of culture would be fine), any good inexpensive hotel or restaurant recommendations?
You’re nuts. Take a sleeper train and if you want some extra sightseeing then explore around Munich. You can get easy public transport to Dachau for example, or pretty places.
How inexpensive ? We’ve stayed at several hotels in the past around the outskirts of Reims, usually either Novotel, or Mercure (Parc des Expositions), but they’re not the cheapest of the cheap options, usually around 130 EUR/night.
The outskirts or Reims are a bit of a dump, like many French cities, but we found the city centre interesting enough. Obviously, if you’re on the outskirts, you could do a trip to one of the champagne producers in the are
If you do want to push on to the Strasbourg area for your stay, we recently drove from Munich to Dunkerque and stayed overnight here just north of Strasbourg.
Whilst I like staying in Strasbourg when I actually have to be in the city for work, if I’m transiting on way/back from Germany, I usually stay somewhere south or north of the city as it is easier to access the motorway system.
Forgot to mention, make sure if you take the car, that you have the Umweltplakate sticker which I believe you can order online (but it takes a while to get sent) or else buy at any TUV station on the way once in Germany.
EDIT for clarity: theoretically you shouldn’t need the sticker to get to the ICCM which is way out on the eastern side of the city (near the old Trudering airport), but just in case you happen to take a wrong turn and end up driving into the protected zone (which isn’t particularly obviously marked in all areas).
Further edit for addtional info: it takes about 25-30 min on public transport to go from the ICC to Marienplatz (city centre) involving a change of underground and/or use of the trams. I was considering a training course out there in December, and decided to give it a miss once I found out where it was taking place. If I’m going to be spending 30 min just getting to the city centre on public transport, I prefer to do it from further afield and stay in a more rural and scenic small town or village with a rail connection to the Munich main station!
That won’t be particularly possible for me, my wife will probably be coming along for the sightseeing in Munich but four days of conference 8:30 to 5:30 will leave me no time for much else. No inclination either as the content will be hugely technical and almost certainly make my brain ache.
The alternative is to fly - but for two of us the fuel costs are likely to be less by car.
Thanks.
It’s at this point I wish emissions control plates were harmonised across the EU…
We only found about a year ago as we were en route to Munich, just outside of Augsburg - had to do a quick search at a service area on the motorway for the nearest TUV station, which in the end wasn’t a massive detour, and we got the sticker sorted in about 20 min. Obviously, out in the sticks, they don’t always speak English very well, but that wasn’t specifically a problem for us.
The most stressful part of that drive is the A8 from Karlsruhe to just after Stuttgart airport, as there are ongoing roadworks, nutter German drivers, and lots of traffic.
My German starts at “Guten Morgen”, goes out as far as “ein Bier bitte” and then slams into a brick wall.
I’m seriously going to have to look up “I’m sorry I don’t speak German, do you speak English” for the trip. Probably accompanied by “perhaps we can try Google Translate”.
That shouldn’t bother me as we’ll probably stay at the Novotel at the convention centre, and my wife won’t exactly be pressed for time if she heads into the city.
I wouldn’t go through Rheims. I would go Calais, Aachen, Koln, Frankfurt, Munich. Part of that would be to avoid the aforementioned A8. Ideally I would stop somewhere like Rothenburg op der Tauber overnight then head for Ingolstadt off the autobahn then Munich. That would make a real road trip of your journey.
Calais to Achen is quicker via Reims and Metz. If going via Brussels you must register with the Brussels Low Emission Zone (FOC) the fine is €150 for not; the Ring is in the LEZ.
I did similar when I was much younger (21), Calais to Cap d’Agde overnight, one fuel stop and over 1100 km. Had some chemical help back then (from my GP😉). Did the same coming back as I had tickets for Led Zep at Knebworth
I can do basic tourist/business traveller stuff in German which is usually greeted with a polite “Thanks for trying, but you pronunciation is awful” smile before they switch to English.
Been to a few bars and restaurants outside the tourist areas in German cities where you spoke German or you went thirsty/hungry.
