rootrider
Mr. TDI SportWagen
I'm looking for as many ideas & suggestions as I can get here.. so please feel free to come up with interesting routes to take or things to see all over the country.
Ok, so my itinerary for you looks something like this, I will try to flesh it out more when I have time:
5th Arrival in Frankfurt (what time?), if you arrive early leave for Wolfsburg and the VW museum , otherwise catch some sleep.
6th, After VW museum drive up to Wilhelmshaven (or Hamburg if you prefer), a wonderful small coastal town right at the biggest intertidal zone in the world, the Wadden Sea. Do some Mudflat hiking, be careful not to drown
7th, Drive along the scenic coast through Eastern Frisia, take some pictures at the beach (no vacation is complete without one) or visit one of the many Quaking bogs.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3060/2470900881_67451057d8.jpg?v=0
8th, Make your way to Cologne or straight to the Ring, either through the Netherlands or the Ruhrgebiet (the latter not being very picturesque imho).
9th, Ring
10th, Drive through Eifel and wine country around Trier in the Mosel valley.
11th, If you liked the Eifel region around the Ring, go to the Black forest region, otherwise proceed to the Alps.
12th, Alps
13th Munich maybe? Or go towards Stuttgart already and visit Burg Hohenzollern
14th, Stuttgart, Porsche and M-B museum.
15th, return flight
excellent.. btw. It's definitely right in line with the speed at which I think I'll be able to get around the country.
So if I'm going from the Eifel region down toward the Alps and Munich, that kind of takes me past the Stuttgart area. Where should I drive between the ring and the alps?
And do you have any more specific suggestions between the coast and the ring?
yeah, I don't doubt that most rental companies have manual diesels.. but their web sites make it impossible to ensure that I would get one. If there is an option, most sites make you check a box to 'request a manual'.. at least sixt has it the other way around where you have to 'request an automatic'