Getting to Austria from calais

[trotts]

Greetings GSers!

although I no longer own such a beast I still view this forum as one of the best!

Lucky me I am quite experienced at going abroad on my bike and have done so every year for the last 10. I have just booked with a mate 8 days in the middle of May on the continent and have booked a hotel in the middle of the Austrian alps for 3 days thanks to comments on here.

Anyway pouring over the maps I cannot make up my mind the best route heading down (when I have 3 days 2 nights to get their) 3 days there, and 2 days to get back to calais. Those of you who have done Austria kindly point me which routes you have taken. It looks like 800 mile trip, ok for 3 days 2nights to get there,but might be a slog getting back to calais.

 

[The Grey One]

Depends on where you are staying! The Alps cover a huge area so give us a clue.

John

 

[trotts]

Depends on where you are staying! The Alps cover a huge area so give us a clue.

That's a classic ! with you

 

[wessie]

For the 2 day trip back, with 1 overnight stop, you will have to do a load of miles on the autobahn to cover the distance. Overnight north of Wurzburg, maybe as far as Koblenz if you dap on a bit.

On the way down, with 2 overnight stops you can see a bit more countryside. Head SE via Belgium & Luxembourg to stay near Saarbrucken. From there you can go through the Black Forest & head for somewhere near Garmisch. Next day bimble across the Deutsche Alpenstrasse towards Salzburg before hooking up with the Austrian 99 or A10 to get to John's

 

[karlp]

For me

Go along motorway to Trier. Karlsmule hotel.
Stay night
Head off to Rotweill along the B500
Stay night
Go to Austria
Stop at Landau - on the lake for lunch
Head off into Austria

Return is not so easy as you only want one night stop

Options are motorway to Bastogne or back through France

 

[sven]

For the 2 day trip back, with 1 overnight stop, you will have to do a load of miles on the autobahn to cover the distance. Overnight north of Wurzburg, maybe as far as Koblenz if you dap on a bit.

Not necessarily - I did Breganz to Cochem by lunchtime one day, mostly on fast A/B roads east of the Black Forest, with just a bit of Autobahn around Karlsruhe.

290 miles in four hours as there's very little traffic off the Autobahn away from the big cities.

 

[Wapping]

I am quite experienced at going abroad on my bike and have done so every year for the last 10. I have just booked with a mate ... have booked a hotel in the middle of the Austrian....
Anyway pouring over the maps I cannot make up my mind the best route....

Sit down with your mate (and your maps) to engage him with your 10 years' of accumulated touring experience. Between the pair of you you'll work it out.

Have a look at:

http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3361313&postcount=15

Also, you are not the first to have made the journey or to have asked the question. So try Search and the Trip Report section.

Can't be bothered? You are not alone. .

 

[Captain Black]

I ended up in Austria once on my bike. When I got off the train at Calais I just went straight on then turned left.

 

[The Grey One]

For me

Go along motorway to Trier. Karlsmule hotel.
Stay night
Head off to Rotweill along the B500
Stay night
Go to Austria
Stop at Landau - on the lake for lunch
Head off into Austria

Return is not so easy as you only want one night stop

Options are motorway to Bastogne or back through France

Wrong end of Austria as they are comin to us in Carinthia.

John

 

[The Grey One]

Depends on where you are staying! The Alps cover a huge area so give us a clue.

That's a classic ! with you

Great!, I will be sending out our info sheet once I am back in Austria but basically-From Calais turn left to Belgium, in Belgium turn right to Luxembourg and then on into Germany towards Munich. from Munich towards Salzburg and due south to us. 800 miles in total, if you want or need to use motorways there are no tolls on this route until you get to Austria In Austria you need a vignette for the autobahns ( just under 5 Euros for 10 days) There is an extra 10 Euro toll for the two big tunnels on the A10 but unless he weather is bad the B159/B99 route is much better.

There are some suggestions for places to stay on our website here http://www.hochalmspitze.com/hotel-restaurant/partners/

Get out your maps and enjoy the planning

See you in May-first beer is on the house.

John

 

[Phluppe]

If you're going to John's place, and have the idea to head over Munchen (aka Munich) I've a nice shortcut for you. It won't save out a lot of time, but it'll save you some boring autobahn mileage.

Head for Luxemburg, head south towards France and before leavign Lux, take a left towards Saarlouis. There it's either over Saarbrucken (which the gps will probably recomend) or over Neunkirchen. Anyway, head for Zweibrucken and continue straight over the route10 towards Landau. There you can rejoin the route65 autobahn towards Karlsruhe.

It makes you avoid Mannheim and Kaiserslautern when coming from Lux, or Köln and Koblenz when riding over Liege.

The route10 between Zweibrucken and Landau is partly motorway, partly under construction. You might have to exit the motorway for a few km's and ride through the villages, but when on a bike you can just skip through traffic, if encountered. It's a nice road, cutting through the Pfalzer Wald, it just gives you a smile where the alternative gives you nothing but stress

Grtz, Philip!

 

[Andy Michael]

I have stayed at the Hochalmspitz a couple of times, the last visit we went via Calais stopped at St Avold and Garmish on the way down and used the train from Munich to Dusseldorf on the return leg this worked out pretty good for us as the previous time we tried getting back with just one stop and that was too much like hard work high mileage and high stress. The train is expensive but a grat time saver and an interesting experience.