Touring Germany with Your Motorhome

Germany might not have been your chosen destination when you first looked into taking your motorhome abroad, but there are many, many things about this often overlooked country that make it fascinating to discover.

It has heaps of history, including dozens of castles just waiting for you to explore (a relic of its past as a collection of states, or Pumpernickel principalities, as Winston Churchill called them). There’s plenty of culture - think Beethoven and of course Wagner, whose famous opera house at Bayreuth was visited by MMM in July last year. And as you’ll find as soon as you arrive in the country, German food is much more than just Wurst, and its wines – the best of which often never make it outside the country – are seriously underrated.

The country is pretty much set up to make driving your motorhoming easy: German Stellplätze are as good as the French aire system, and you can get around the country on a motorway network that is considerably more extensive than what we have in Britain. Unlike France and Italy, all of it is free too. And don’t be alarmed by stories you may have heard about Germans not having speed limits – there is still technically no official nationwide speed limit, but local laws have made such a policy largely unnecessary. You can find out more about driving in Germany with this useful guide.

You’ll find some of the prettiest parts of the country – such as the Rhine and Moselle valleys – are within a couple of hours’ drive of the channel ports the quickest way to reach Germany. Along the Rhine you will find cities like Cologne with its magnificent cathedral or Rüdesheim where you can try the famous Rüdesheimer coffee. On the way you can visit the largest cold water geyser in the world at Andernach. Trier at the Moselle is Germany’s oldest town with a beautiful centre and surprisingly good Roman remains (yes, the Romans got here too), is just across the border from Luxemburg and Belgium.

Head further south, and you’ll head into the more mountainous states of Baden Würtemberg, with its famous Black Forest and picturesque resorts around Lake Constance, and Bavaria, which backs onto the Alps. All of these areas have been featured recently in MMM’s April and May issues.

If all that still sounds too intimidating, don’t worry – there are people on hand to help you. MandA Tours is a guided motorhome tours company run by an Anglo/German husband and wife team who have extensive knowledge of the country. Keen to provide the necessary back up, while leaving you enough freedom to do your own thing, this year the company’s offers include tours to the Rhine and Moselle Valleys, and along the Romantic Road, a route in southern Germany where you can see many medieval towns and famous castles, including the fairy-tale castle of Neuschwanstein, made famous in the Disney logo. Their Tour to Europe’s Best Christmas Markets in December visits several cities and towns in Germany, as well as Belgium and France.

Next year they are also planning a tour through the Black Forest and along the German Alpine Road, which runs along the far south of the country through the mountains. You are sure to be entertained along the way. MandA Tours books special events in advance to make your tour uniquely memorable. The ‘Rhine in Flames’, you'll enjoy a spectacular firework display  from a boat on the Rhine if you go on the Rhine and Moselle tour, which is just such an example of what to expect.