Traveling to Austria

[GRW]

I stayed in Malta, a tiny village below a massive dam in the Grossglockner area.
From there we made a day trip to Lake Bled in Slovenia.
Find the Vrsij (I think the spelling is) Pass to travel over. So old parts were cobbled, and the scenery stunning.

 

[GRW]

Vršič Pass - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[Matrixx]

 

[RaceDiagnostics]

Just booked the ferry crossing from Newcastle/Amsterdam for our 2024 trip, 11th June to 25th June, no specific plans yet but will visit Rothenburg first then onto Austria, returning via Switzerland. Will need to find a good outside bar for the Germany/Scotland game on the 14th. Should be great fun.

I think last time we took the ferry it cost ~£400, this time ~£700. Last time we went in the XK8, this time it will be the 450SL.

 

[DAPPH]

Heading to North Italy via the Switzerland route early next month in my van, take the old chugger over the Stelvio again. Staying at a small place called Auronzo di Cadore for a few days then going over to the historic City of Mantua to see friends..May come home straight through France or take the German route,have not decided yet. @Matrixx some stunning pics there mate

What are the French Peage costs against the toll free German route these days . Years ago in 1985 I made the mistake of using French motorways & a Michelin road atlas to get to south of Stuttgart the tolls took all my hotel & food money The company I was delivering to advanced me enough to eat & sleep as well as two refuels of the VW LT50 van .. it took all the profit out the trip .. I got sacked as a result ...... I was supposed to have known I had to take the German autobahn both ways adding 140 extra miles and god knows how many extra hours to my time out .

 

[fizzy]

Just booked the ferry crossing from Newcastle/Amsterdam for our 2024 trip, 11th June to 25th June, no specific plans yet but will visit Rothenburg first then onto Austria, returning via Switzerland. Will need to find a good outside bar for the Germany/Scotland game on the 14th. Should be great fun.

I think last time we took the ferry it cost ~£400, this time ~£700. Last time we went in the XK8, this time it will be the 450SL.

View attachment 438548

Watch out for Swiss road tax!
I managed to avoid it just about. You don't pay it if you only use minor roads but beware - they can turn into motorways quite unexpectedly.

 

[Matrixx]

What are the French Peage costs against the toll free German route these days . Years ago in 1985 I made the mistake of using French motorways & a Michelin road atlas to get to south of Stuttgart the tolls took all my hotel & food money The company I was delivering to advanced me enough to eat & sleep as well as two refuels of the VW LT50 van .. it took all the profit out the trip .. I got sacked as a result ...... I was supposed to have known I had to take the German autobahn both ways adding 140 extra miles and god knows how many extra hours to my time out .

The Belguim and German motorways are toll free, if you use Waze and select avoid tolls, you could use the French roads for free, and the off motorways roads are good, for example Calais to Bordeaux was 30m longer avoiding the toll roads 11 hours in total.

 

[Matrixx]

Watch out for Swiss road tax!
I managed to avoid it just about. You don't pay it if you only use minor roads but beware - they can turn into motorways quite unexpectedly.

I got the Green sticker for Germany , just incase I had to go into a City, a 9 day pass for Austria, on line and digital, and the years tax for Swiss motorways. again if you use Waze it can take to from A-B avoiding the toll roads.
Switzerland is very expensive.

I went over on the Chunnel £266 return.

 

[RaceDiagnostics]

Just looked into the green sticker, looks like cars older than 30 years are exempt but you do need to display your V5 in the windscreen when parked in a low emissions zone.

 

[Matrixx]

Just looked into the green sticker, looks like cars older than 30 years are exempt but you do need to display your V5 in the windscreen when parked in a low emissions zone.

The green sticker is linked to your car, so all the deatils will be registered to the sticker. I ordered mine direct from Berlin, very cheap.

 

[RaceDiagnostics]

June 2024 trip to Germany and Austria, 2000 miles driven and no major issues.

First leg was driving from Broughty Ferry to the ferry port at Newcastle. Had a minor issue with the odometer, I zeroed the trip counter and managed to bust the entire odometer so couldn't keep an exact record of the miles driven. No big deal though.

Overnight on the ferry to Amsterdam, which turned out much better than expected. I think it's had a make over since our last trip.

Day 2 was going to be a bit of a drag to get down to Rothenburg.

Finally got there, beautiful old walled city.

After a few days we moved on to our home from home, Mayrhofen in Austria.

Great place for mountain sports and hiking.

....and has Europe's only 365 day a year ski resort.

To be continued........

 

[RaceDiagnostics]

Next it was on to St Wolfgang, another scenic town on a beautiful lake. We avoided the autobahns and took the long route across the mountain passes.

If you have a bit of bread and a kids fishing net, you can get a duck and a trout in one swipe.

Next it was on to Kitzbuhel.

Glitzy, sophisticated, chic, and has a great Irish bar. This is the view from the starting gate of the men's downhill world cup race

We had a massive storm that night and the car ended up looking like this with dust from the Sahara.

To be continued....

 

[RaceDiagnostics]

Next it was on to Lindau back in Germany.

It's an amazing place

Great for boating etc.

Then it was on to our last stop, Rudesheim on the Rhine.

Another amazing little town.

Nice cars in the hotel car park.

Alas it was time to head back to Amsterdam and the overnight ferry back to Newcastle.

First a small ferry across the Rhine.

Thankfully the sea was flat all the way to Newcastle so the crossing was comfortable but I still woke early. Sunrise.

It been an ambition do do the trip in the old Merc for the last 10 years and we enjoyed every moment, however I don't think we would do it again in a car without AC as it was hitting 30degC on a lot of days.

 

[Barking Mat]

Nice photos, went to Bernstein and Graz, over 30 years ago.

Amazing place, mountains, wienerschnizl, beer and sausage !

Just where I was staying the bell on the church rang every hour, 24 hours a day, slept terribly, friendly people, amazing landscape, top food and drink.

 

[marlinspike]

Wonderful. Been to Austria many, many times, mostly the Tyrol. Stayed in Mayrhofen 7 or 8 times alone. We were in Westendorf this time last year. Been on driving holidays through Germany a couple of times too, though 30 plus years ago now.

You can't beat sitting up a mountain in the sunshine with a nice drink. The lake looks like the Stilluptal?

Love the car too. I've looked at those on Ebay many times but expensive parts put me off a bit. Can't hear 'Broughty Ferry' without thinking of Bob Servant and smiling.

 

[RaceDiagnostics]

You can't beat sitting up a mountain in the sunshine with a nice drink. The lake looks like the Stilluptal?

Spot on, we also drove up to Schlegeis which has an incredible dam. The activity centre up there is now run by Peter who used to own Scotland Yard.

I took this video a couple of years ago up there. There were also lots of people climbing up the face of the dam.

 

[finyuk2005]

Just booked the ferry crossing from Newcastle/Amsterdam for our 2024 trip, 11th June to 25th June, no specific plans yet but will visit Rothenburg first then onto Austria, returning via Switzerland. Will need to find a good outside bar for the Germany/Scotland game on the 14th. Should be great fun.

I think last time we took the ferry it cost ~£400, this time ~£700. Last time we went in the XK8, this time it will be the 450SL.

if you can book well in advance, the difference in price for the DFDS boat even from a few days to the next can be massive! im heading over in september and it was £470 return

 

[Matrixx]

Spot on, we also drove up to Schlegeis which has an incredible dam. The activity centre up there is now run by Peter who used to own Scotland Yard.

I took this video a couple of years ago up there. There were also lots of people climbing up the face of the dam.

we went there too.

 

[RaceDiagnostics]

Snap!

 

[RaceDiagnostics]

Half thinking about booking up the ferry again for this June and heading back to Switzerland. May just go ahead and book it and then plan the tour later.