Germany Advice

[crusher]

Hi All,

Looking for some advice on cycling in Germany. I’m going to the Euros in June, basically to follow Scotland around, i do have the option to take public transport and stay in the cities, but toying with the idea of taking my bike over and cycling between the cities, camping en route.

It would be Munich - Koln(over 4 days)
and Koln - Stuttgart(over 3 days).

It‘s going to be a bit of an effort getting my bike over on Ryanair, so looking for any advice/recommendations on whether this is gonna be a fun thing to do or more hassle than it’s worth, and I’m better off just drinking beer on public transport.

Are these routes nice?
Will there be plenty camp spots on the way?
Anything else?

Thanks

 

[Andy in Germany]

Greetings from south Germany.

Germany is a great place for cycling, with lots of cycle routes on mostly traffic free or traffic light surfaced roads/paths. Many cities now have very good infrastructure and in rural areas we have "Feldwege" which are like a C-class road in the UK but classified like a Bridleway, so usable only by pedestrians, bikes, horses, and tractors. The south of the Country is beautiful as well, but I would say that, wouldn't I?

However, Germany is also a lot bigger than people think, and also very hilly. Munich-Köln is about 600km with 1300m climbing, Köln to Stuttgart is a bit shorter, about 400km with ca. 800m climbing, because you can follow the Rhine and then the Neckar river from one stadium to another. That's a lot of riding in a week, with football games in between.

Personally I'd forget about the football and just ride my bike, but alternatively you could combine rail and cycle travel; trains have spaces for bikes, and on local trains you don't need to reserve, although it may be crowded at peak times and in some cities bike transport is restricted until 09:00 in the morning, or there's a surcharge. You could cycle from München along the Isar and Donau towards Ulm, then catch a train to Köln for example, then ride from Köln-Frankfurt and catch a train to, say, Mosbach and ride the last bit along the Neckar for a couple of days.

 

[Emanresu]

Great advice about cycling in Europe. Train / cycle combination is usually far easier than in the UK though even we are catching up now.

My method is to plan the route and have the rail station exit points marked. Since you are miles from home and you may not know the language, having something go wrong means you can recover by getting to the nearest exit point and travelling to somewhere that has an LBS or the parts you might need.

Download the rail apps too. Enjoy the games too.

 

[chriswoody]

Greetings from Northern Germany.

If you decide to go down the public transport route there are a few things to note, firstly alcohol is verboten, I know on my local train they will kick you off and I suspect there will be a lot of Police on the trains during this period.

Downloading the DB navigator app would be a smart move, alongside which, Germany currently has the Deutschland Ticket. So for the princely sum of €49 per month, you can travel anywhere in Germany on Regional trains as well as on more regional transport like trams and buses within the cities themselves. This ticket is not valid on the faster Intercity trains, be that IC or ICE.

Two points worth noting, the Deutschland ticket doesn't cover bikes, so you need to buy a daily ticket for bike travel, though you don't need to reserve a place on regional trains, just turn up and hope for the best, though there are generally a lot of places available.

The other point to note is the ticket is only available on a smartphone and by subscription, which in Germany are notoriously difficult to cancel. There will be a date on which you can cancel, make several notes and alarms for this and cancel on this date. Failure to do so will result in another €49 going out of your account, there will no no warnings or emails from Deutsche Bahn they will just keep taking your money ad infinitum until you finally remember that tiny window of cancellation and cancel then.

https://int.bahn.de/en/offers/regional/deutschland-ticket

Overall though, keep in mind like Andy says it's a big old country, but fun to travel by bike. Overall it's very welcoming with great cycling infrastructure, generally good public transport and most folk will have some English language skills if you get stuck.

Whatever you decide though, be it bike or train or a combination, have fun.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Just to say I've travelled round Germany a fair bit by train and have seen LOADS of bikes, often loaded tourers, on the trains. Also - as @chriswoody says, download the DB Navigator app. Even if you're not planning to use the train, plans can change.

 

[Dogtrousers]

However, Germany is also a lot bigger than people think, and also very hilly. Munich-Köln is about 600km with 1300m climbing, Köln to Stuttgart is a bit shorter, about 400km with ca. 800m climbing, because you can follow the Rhine and then the Neckar river from one stadium to another. That's a lot of riding in a week, with football games in between.

Are you sure your elevation figures are correct? 1,300m over 600km (0.2%) is a very low figure. Ditto 800m over 400km. Even for a route that's generally along a river they look a bit low (you have to leave the river now and then)

 

[Brandane]

Anything else?

No plans for the later stages of the competition? Or are you heading home along with the England team?

 

[matticus]

Are you sure your elevation figures are correct? 1,300m over 600km (0.2%) is a very low figure. Ditto 800m over 400km. Even for a route that's generally along a river they look a bit low (you have to leave the river now and then)

You very often CAN stay at water level on rivers in that region (Dutch canals similar). In fact I find the main drawback being boredom!
cycle.travel gives

 

[Dogtrousers]

You very often CAN stay at water level on rivers in that region (Dutch canals similar). In fact I find the main drawback being boredom!

Wow. I'm surprised. But I'm not going to argue cos it's outside of my experience.

My personal hilliness scale is 0.5% overall: flat; 1% overall: normal; 1.5% overall moderately hilly; >2% overall very hilly. But I calibrated that scale in the UK. If I was travelling further afield I'd have to add 0.2% overall: Flipping billiard table. And probably some other things at the other end for mountainous regions.

 

[Andy in Germany]

Are you sure your elevation figures are correct? 1,300m over 600km (0.2%) is a very low figure. Ditto 800m over 400km. Even for a route that's generally along a river they look a bit low (you have to leave the river now and then)

Sloppy communication on my part. Münich is nearly 600m higher than Köln, the climbing is the range of hills in the middle forming the Rhine-Danube watershed.

 

[TomDW]

Just to add the Rhine gorge south of Koln between Bonn & Mainz is a must do cycle route. There's a train along the valley if you run out of time. Have a great trip.