Tips for Germany and France Holiday

Lcasho on 16/04/2018 - 13:41
Last edited 16/04/2018 - 15:12

Some friends and I are spending a month in Europe. We want to do a detailed visit only to Germany and France (with a week off on our own)

If anyone has any tips on accommodation, places to visit, transport, mobile phone deals etc ; I'd appreciate it :)

(yes we like cars)

List so far…

"Germany"

Munich BMW Museum
Stuttgart Mercedes Museum
Stuttgart Porsche Museum
Autobahn
Nürburgring DTM Nürburgring - 7-9 Sept
Nürburgring Blancpain GT Series - Sprint Cup - 14-16 Sept
Nürburgring VLN - 22 Sept
Berlin Brandenburg Gate Museum
Berlin Computer games museum
Berlin OH YEAH! Pop music in Germany until 16 Sept
Berlin The Bauhaus-Archiv / Museum für Gestaltung - 6,15,17,23 Sept
Berlin 2018 Open Heritage Day 8-9 Sept
Berlin Trabant museum and Checkpoint Charlie
Berlin DDR museum
Berlin Music Hotel

"France"

Paris
Beaujolais wine region Near Lyon
Alsatian Wine Route Alsace
Normandy beaches
Le Mans racetrack
Nimes
Monaco

Travel Europe France Germany Holiday

Comments

  • [Deactivated] on 16/04/2018 - 14:00

    Sounds like fun

  • walvisch on 16/04/2018 - 14:14
    +4

    Plan to do your Autobahn 'peddle to the metal' drives on Saturday night/ Sunday - the only time there are very few trucks on the road, at other times it's pretty f'kd, too busy. Think about a visit to Wolfsburg (about 3 hours from Berlin) to do Audi/VW, since black Audi's are usually the brand passing you whilst you do 200 km p/h on the road. Personally I would take the train in France TGV are super fast and comfortable and at most stations you can pick up a hire car to explore the region. Seat61.com will fill you in on all train travel in Europe. Oktoberfest starts on the 22nd of September. Lastly Monaco is an expensive place, full of Russians (I'd give it a miss).

  • try2bhelpful on 16/04/2018 - 14:23
    +1

    Look into using Air BnB places for accomodation - particularly if you are going to spend 3 or more days in a particular region. You can get whole apartments for less than the cost of similar hotel rooms. We had a great place in Paris and you can put together your own meals using the local shops, e.g. the Boulangere/Patisserie, supermarkets, wine stores etc so you aren't eating out at restaurants all the time.

    Look into using the Carte de Musee in Paris.

    http://en.parismuseumpass.com/

    It allows you to beat the ticket queues for a good number of the museums in Paris; not security though. I've attached the link below for the museums it covers.

    http://en.parismuseumpass.com/rub-m-by-name-5.htm

    My personal favorites are Saint Chapelle, Versailles, Musee D'Orsay, the Louvre, the Moyen Age Museum, the Arc D'Triomphe. Watching the traffic around the Arc D'Triomphe from the top of it is hilarious.

    The MET in Paris is very good, trains run very often and will get you to walking distance of what you want to visit.

    If you like Chateaus then Loire Valley is terrific, if you like pretty villages then Limousin might be worth looking at. There are good wineries in many places in France.

    Travelling by car is not too bad in France provided you don't try to drive in Paris, we picked up our car near Versailles. The train system in Europe is fantastic, if you don't feel like driving.

    In France we have found that our PIN numbers did not work for our credit cards in EFTPOS machines. It seemed to work for withdrawals from ATM machines for our savings accounts. This is usually not too bad but we had issues when trying to buy train tickets through the machines and filling the car with diesel to return it - the station was open Sunday morning but there was no attendant and you could only fill at the bowsers using your credit card - with a PIN.

    Have a great time.

  • Randxyz123 on 16/04/2018 - 15:55
    +2

    Book BMW Welt now! Seriously unless you want a German only tour you need to get in fast!

    I’d recommend Dachau while in Munich

    Check out the surfing gardens in Munich

    Oktoberfest is a Must do. It’s very much part of the culture.

    augustiner Bier in Munich

    • frondono on 16/04/2018 - 16:24
      +1

      pork knuckle in the beer garden.

      buy day or week passes for u-bahn.

      chicken doners with garlic & spicy sauce.

      currywurst.

      schnapps.

  • retiredfeline on 16/04/2018 - 16:43
    +2

    Remember to say danke in France and merci in Germany. ;)

    • PissLUR on 16/04/2018 - 16:48

      bonjour is a must in France.

      • retiredfeline on 16/04/2018 - 16:59

        Except when parting at night. ;)

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