Travelling to Euro 2012 by car, help!

Fennelly

Hi

Myself and 5 others are driving to Poland this summer to follow Ireland in the Euro's. We are leaving from Rosslare on the 5th of June, arriving Cherbourg Wed 6th evening time. We are wondering what the best place is to drive to 1st to break the journey.

Berlin is what were thinking of


Can any1 throw some advice! Thanks

listermint

Fennelly wrote: »

Hi

Myself and 5 others are driving to Poland this summer to follow Ireland in the Euro's. We are leaving from Rosslare on the 5th of June, arriving Cherbourg Wed 6th evening time. We are wondering what the best place is to drive to 1st to break the journey.

Berlin is what were thinking of


Can any1 throw some advice! Thanks

Frankfurt baby!!

Have to say your a mad b%%tard driving that distance. We are flying in then driving with a camper for the remainder.It cheaper to fly.

What are you driving over?

Atlantic Dawn

I think timewise it would be better going Dublin to Holyhead and then Dover to Calais and then on to Frankfurt, far more ferries running these routes should you miss one.

Fennelly

ferry is €100 over and back. Were drivin over a Mitsibushi 7 seater space wagon! It will be... an experience, to say the least!

Well, going on the route that im getting from Google Maps, Berlin is only 2 ish hours away from Poznan.

Are ye flying to Frankfurt?

keithclancy

listermint wrote: »

Frankfurt baby!!

Have to say your a mad b%%tard driving that distance. We are flying in then driving with a camper for the remainder.It cheaper to fly.

What are you driving over?

IMO Frankfurt is boring, probably one of the worst German cities i've been to, even worse than Essen.

How about something like this OP ?
http://www.wickedcampers.co.uk/

Fly in wherever is cheapest and fly out wherever is cheapest.

How long are you willing to drive on your first day ?

freestyla

How about Nurburgring? Rare experience in 7 seater!

http://g.co/maps/p2qjd

Fennelly

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

I think timewise it would be better going Dublin to Holyhead and then Dover to Calais and then on to Frankfurt, far more ferries running these routes should you miss one.

Were live in the south so Rosslare best suits us. Were trying to decide where to stop on the way over for a rest/ session!
Thanks

Fennelly

keithclancy wrote: »

IMO Frankfurt is boring, probably one of the worst German cities i've been to, even worse than Essen.

How about something like this OP ?
http://www.wickedcampers.co.uk/

Fly in wherever is cheapest and fly out wherever is cheapest.

How long are you willing to drive on your first day ?

Were thinking of going straight to Berlin from Chehrbourg, but personally I think thats too much of a journey.

Around 14 hours driving!

beazee

No problem doing with 2 drivers on board. German autobahns are too good to stop by.

By the time you get from Rosslare to Cherbourg (16hrs) you would easily be halfway doing Rosslare-Fishguard-Eurotunnel.

keithclancy

Fennelly wrote: »

Were thinking of going straight to Berlin from Chehrbourg, but personally I think thats too much of a journey.

Around 14 hours driving!

Phoarr ... thats a bit optimistic, i'd say 16-17 hours with stops, road works, toilet breaks, traffic and missing exits

Cologne perhaps ? Lovely city and great spots for a few beers.

A&O Hostel is pretty cheap if your on a budget.

CiniO

Fennelly wrote: »

Were live in the south so Rosslare best suits us. Were trying to decide where to stop on the way over for a rest/ session!
Thanks

Did you consider "landbridge to europe" which is offered by both stenaline and irishferries.
You can choose between few routes, but in your case best would be Rosslare to Fishguard and then Dover to Calais by ferry, or Folkestone to Calais by train.
Distance-wise it's nearly the same, as what you add up driving through UK, you subtract from your journey on the Continent. Also you save a lot of time as ferry from Rosslare to Fishguard is less then 4 hours, and then from Dover to Calais is 1:15h or if you choose eurotunnel it's only 30 minutes all this comparing to 16+ hours on Ireland-France ferry.
Also hence you will have to pay over 30 quid each way on motorways in France.

I find going through UK using "landbridge to Europe" way quicker and usually cheaper than taking ferry directly to France.

blackwhite

Brussels would be my choice

CiniO

keithclancy wrote: »

Phoarr ... thats a bit optimistic, i'd say 16-17 hours with stops, road works, toilet breaks, traffic and missing exits

Cherbourg to Berlin is 1350km, so doing it in 14 hours is not that extreme, assuming he will be lucky and won't get delayed by any traffic jams.

listermint

blackwhite wrote: »

Brussels would be my choice

Now brussels theres a city that puts the 'bor' in 'ring'

MidlandsM

keithclancy wrote: »

IMO Frankfurt is boring, probably one of the worst German cities i've been to,

+1, its crap OP

keithclancy

CiniO wrote: »

Did you consider "landbridge to europe" which is offered by both stenaline and irishferries.
You can choose between few routes, but in your case best would be Rosslare to Fishguard and then Dover to Calais by ferry, or Folkestone to Calais by train.
Distance-wise it's nearly the same, as what you add up driving through UK, you subtract from your journey on the Continent. Also you save a lot of time as ferry from Rosslare to Fishguard is less then 4 hours, and then from Dover to Calais is 1:15h or if you choose eurotunnel it's only 30 minutes all this comparing to 16+ hours on Ireland-France ferry.
Also hence you will have to pay over 30 quid each way on motorways in France.

I find going through UK using "landbridge to Europe" way quicker and usually cheaper than taking ferry directly to France.

That Landbridge thing never worked out cheaper for me, cheapest last time was P&O Calais to Dover and then Liverpool to Dublin, worked out at 240 all in - Return.

That Irish Ferries 'thing' from Rosslare was the worst boat i've ever been on.

CiniO

OP do you actually want to stop somewhere in the city centre and have a nice evening there, go out, etc, or just want to have some rest on the way.
If the first option, then I'd say any city in Germany will do. Maybe Koln or Dortmund as they are pretty much half way.
Otherwise maybe there is no point stopping in the city, but just by the motorway in some hotel, so you don't loose too much time entering the city.

keithclancy

CiniO wrote: »

OP do you actually want to stop somewhere in the city centre and have a nice evening there, go out, etc, or just want to have some rest on the way.
If the first option, then I'd say any city in Germany will do. Maybe Koln or Dortmund as they are pretty much half way.
Otherwise maybe there is no point stopping in the city, but just by the motorway in some hotel, so you don't loose too much time entering the city.

Thats a good point, I'm driving to Berlin on the Easter weekend and after mulling it over I think we'll either blast straight on to Berlin or stop in a motorway hotel.

CiniO

keithclancy wrote: »

That Landbridge thing never worked out cheaper for me, cheapest last time was P&O Calais to Dover and then Liverpool to Dublin, worked out at 240 all in - Return.

Outside peak season I paid €110 for car + driver (Dublin-Holyhead and Dover-Calais) one way.
It was way cheaper considering Rosslare - Cherbourg was also about 110 + I had to take a cabin for nearly 20h crossing, while I didn't bother with a cabin for shorter crossing between Ireland, UK and France. That saved a good bit of money. Also avoiding cost of French motorways between Cherbourg and Belgium border is another 30 to 35 quid saving.

Fennelly

CiniO wrote: »

OP do you actually want to stop somewhere in the city centre and have a nice evening there, go out, etc, or just want to have some rest on the way.
If the first option, then I'd say any city in Germany will do. Maybe Koln or Dortmund as they are pretty much half way.
Otherwise maybe there is no point stopping in the city, but just by the motorway in some hotel, so you don't loose too much time entering the city.

Yea were driving from Cherbourg for the craic and experience it will be...along with the fact that after lookin at most of the options mentioned about, it was still the cheapest.

We're plannin on stopping somewhere for a laugh (good nightlife)...but doing it on the cheap aswel. So were stayin in a hostel...but the question is in what city. Would it be worth belting all the way to berlin, iv heard good things about Berlin. But I rekon anywhere would be good tbh!

Thanks;)

Marcin_diy

I can't help you with your route, but can give you few tips
Last summer I was driving route Dublin- rosslare-pembroke- calais - amsterdam- bremen- gdansk. on way out I took night ferry, was in uk at midnight and it took me 5h to drive about 550 km. I slept 3h and went for a eurotunnel. in france we were at 9am, stayed until 1pm and drove to amsterdam. we were there at 6pm stayed overnight and drove to bremen. we left at 9am and it was too late. bloody traffic on german autobahns. we were stuck on the "parking " for 3h and arrived to bremen at 3pm. next morning we left bremen at 8 am and shortly after we were stuck in another traffic on motorway, we arrived to Gdansk at 11pm.

on way back
left gdansk at 4am, at 8am I was in "kolbaskowo"- small townat old german polish border, an was in bremen by 1pm. next morning I left bremen at 4am, arrived to calais at 9am, did some shopping (quality wines for 1.5euro each) . eurotunnell, and was back in pembroke at 6pm. got some sleep as ferry was at 2am, was in rosslare at 6 am and in dublin at 8am

on way out I took it easy as was travelling with 2year old, on way back I was alone.


-ifyou drive arond London Bristol and Cardiff during the day expect delays.
- watch for speed cams around London
-if u are early for eurotunnel even more than 2h go for it if there is space they let u in at no extra charge.
- in holland and belgium don't drive more than 10 kph than limit.
- in germany take extra time for motorway in rush hours around large cities. traffic jams for few h are nothing unusual.
- turn rds on your radio- this is motorway radio that stops your cd etc only if somethin important near to you. you dont need t o speak german to understand road number, and info that there was an accident or make way for ambulance and polizei.
- between 10pm and 6am there is no speed limit on most german motorbahns. You can travel then really fast ( my car can go 227km/h :-) ) during the day there are speed limits on many roads.
- be carefull when there is maintenance on the motorway roads are re marked and they are very narrow... you will see it worse than irish backroads....
- if you decide to drive like a snail watch other cars. dont block them, dont overtake doing 110km/h if u are not sure that.car behind you is not doing 250km/h. in germany stupid behviour can cost you lot of money or your life..
-use overtaking left lane for overtaking only. if polizei catch you cruising on the overtaking lane you can get ticjet.

next part will be tips for driving in Poland. Soon...

keithclancy

Fennelly wrote: »

Yea were driving from Cherbourg for the craic and experience it will be...along with the fact that after lookin at most of the options mentioned about, it was still the cheapest.

We're plannin on stopping somewhere for a laugh (good nightlife)...but doing it on the cheap aswel. So were stayin in a hostel...but the question is in what city. Would it be worth belting all the way to berlin, iv heard good things about Berlin. But I rekon anywhere would be good tbh!

Thanks;)

In that case i'd recommend Berlin for a night or 2, its very good:

http://www.ferienwohnung-zimmer-berlin.de/index.php

That place is great for a cheap apartment for a night or 2, if theres a few of ye.

Anywhere in Prenzlauerberg or Freidrichshain are fantastic.

CiniO

Marcin_diy wrote: »

next part will be tips for driving in Poland. Soon...

I would love to hear that one

listermint

Fennelly wrote: »

Yea were driving from Cherbourg for the craic and experience it will be...along with the fact that after lookin at most of the options mentioned about, it was still the cheapest.

We're plannin on stopping somewhere for a laugh (good nightlife)...but doing it on the cheap aswel. So were stayin in a hostel...but the question is in what city. Would it be worth belting all the way to berlin, iv heard good things about Berlin. But I rekon anywhere would be good tbh!

Thanks;)

Jesus was it the cheapest? inc petrol / tolls / boats / hotels surely flying to one of the citys and renting camper was cheapest. Thats what we are doing and it beats driving all the way there in the hundreds..

keithclancy

listermint wrote: »

Jesus was it the cheapest? inc petrol / tolls / boats / hotels surely flying to one of the citys and renting camper was cheapest. Thats what we are doing and it beats driving all the way there in the hundreds..

In fairness it depends on how many are going

Marcin_diy

CiniO wrote: »

I would love to hear that one

I know... thats why i'm waiting for you to help me...

our Irish colleagues can be surprised for example that if you don't start from lights quick enough your car can smashed with a bat..:-) lol

Fennelly

keithclancy wrote: »

In fairness it depends on how many are going

6 of us goin, in a 7 seater Mitsubishi Spacewagon, bought for €550!

Keep an eye people!

Cant wait

Fennelly

So everything split 6 ways... that makes it the cheapest.... for us at least

Bandara

Seems a shocking expensive option, we booked cheapy flights into dusseldorf and home via Berlin, we then have a new saloon car rented for €235 for 7 days !

savagecabbages

Marcin_diy wrote: »

our Irish colleagues can be surprised for example that if you don't start from lights quick enough your car can smashed with a bat..:-) lol

god yer painting a lovely picture for foreign drivers maybe a little unsure of their surroundings at the euros this summer!

One note to OP re the landbridge, it may work out cheaper/faster, but be aware that you can all sleep (assuming you have cabins) on the longer ferry, and set into the 14-17 hour drive from Cherbourg fully refreshed, but on the landbridge you'll have two shorter ferries (or one train) and you wont be getting any meaningful rest along the way. Depends on how many drivers ye have, but it'l be a hellish drive!

keithclancy

Hammertime wrote: »

Seems a shocking expensive option, we booked cheapy flights into dusseldorf and home via Berlin, we then have a new saloon car rented for €235 for 7 days !

When you say cheapy flights I assume you mean Ryanair which is Dusseldorf (Weeze) thats about 2hrs 45 away from Dusseldorf and 16 euros per person with an NRW Ticket.

Aer Lingus is usually around 50-60 quid each way, cheapest place to rent is usually Hertz at the Bahnhopf (Airport is a bloody rip)

Also beware that you may incur an extra fee when travelling to Eastern Europe, Europcar and Sixt (Some lower class cars were ok) but not all without a great big whacking surcharge.

One way rental though between Duesseldorf and Berlin thats a pretty good price !