[Closed] Driving to Berlin

It's a road trip. And Berlin. Of course it's worth it.
It'll be cheaper than flying, provided you don't have any incidents.

I have done it a few times. Overnight ferry from Harwich then drive all day. Probably arrive mid afternoon? I would go with the diesel as it is cheaper. might be a bit of a faff if you are only going for 4 nights as you will waste a day each way driving. From what I remember, parking isn't much of an issue depending where you are staying(we were in the old East Berlin). Oh, and eat lots of sausages. Just stay away from the donuts(JFK joke).

Driving to Berlin??

From the West??

Try one of these

[img] [/img]

IGMC 😉

It's only about the same amount of driving as to get to John O'Groats, but the food at the roadside stops will be better than Little Chefs and Ginsters. Fire up the Skoda and enjoy. Europe wide AA or similar might be good, ditto insurance.

It took me 24 hours in a coach from Bristol to Berlin.

Take the Skoda, use the Eurotunnel as you have plenty of budget (they do car breakdown insurance which always seems reasonable) and share the drive through on the first and last night, no problems.

Eat at least one sausage or processed pork product each day, that's the rule, but in reality you wont struggle with that...
Should be a piece of cake. I did a bike (motor) trip to Prague through Germany and the roads are very good, if you autobahn it then it should be pretty quick too. Just watch out for the road closed signs, with no diversion or alternative routes offered!

If you come into Rotterdam/Europort then it's not too bad a drive - about 7 hours.

Make sure that you hit Rotterdam outside of commuting time though, otherwise you could add a couple of hours to that.

Cheers for this everyone, i'm gonna alternate, kebab, sausage, kebab sausage, possibly dip everything in beer for maximum efficiency: see what it does to the mpg on the way back!

I remember doing it when the wall was still up & you weren't allowed to stop

We used to do Hamburg - Harwich when we lived in north Germany, its an long ferry journey but will put you closer than any other. Alternatively You can get the Eurostar to Brussels and a German ICE train direct from there, Berlin has great public transport so you wont really need a car there.

Me too uplink and getting a special pass to travel into the east, those were the days my dad was telling me about his time there in the late 70s when they used to take shifts at Spandau.

but you don't say where you are starting from, hell of a difference between South London and Manchester...

He did, London.

Norfolk Ferries from Dover to Dunkerque (sp?), set the sat-nav up and stop worrying. 8 hrs and you'll be there no issues. Mind you, all Eastern Europeans and all Russian lorries will take the same route. Traffic gets heavy near Brussels as the Belgs can't drive for toffee, think Surrey mums on their school run.
It's the simplest drive ever, much easier than London to Dublin, at least roads are good.
Worth noting it's illegal to run out of fuel on the autobahn and stations are every 60kms or worse. Fill up in Belgium, the Skoda will take you to Berlin easily then.

wow even more good stuff, thanks!

Without wishing to add to the stereotyping mountain, the trains are very very good and pretty cheap so maybe Eurostar is an option?

I use the RE in preference to taxis from Dusseldorf airport to Cologne these days, and the S Bahn into work.

A few bottles of water, some grub, decent cd, Bob's your uncle. Just don't mention whe war and DO NOT WEAR AN ENGLAND 5 - GERMANY 1 T'SHIRT.

This summer I drove to Sweden, £39 return with Norfolk lines Dover Dunkirk, took 21 hours with a nap in Germany. Diesel Focus, filled up in Belgium and Germany and a splash to be certain in Sweden. Road trips are great adventures. Take the Fabia and enjoy.

Can I suggest as someone who works in motor insurance, and foreign claims particularly, that you drive to Dover, get a ferry, and then hire a car thats left hand drive, and let the hire companies insurance deal with any subsequent issues.

There are so many issues that english drivers find, (not so much on your route, the Germans are pretty good) but if you have an accident in France, you will find the police fairly unhelpful. A RHD car + english motorist = fault. You have an incident which even on a bad day is like a 50/50 here, and the french police will porbably not bother to interview you, to ensure you version of events doesnt make its way to the report, but the other driver will, and when he hold you 100% fault, then thats what the report says.
Ditto with agreed statement of facts, which are the "International claim forms" in a green card pack. Every foreign driver should have one of these forms, and after an accident, most French/Spanish/Italian drivers, especially if they pick up on a lack of spoken French, will "helpfully" complete a form, as most UK drivers do not understand the importance of them. THey will complete it, holding you fully at fault, and it is a legally binding document. Even if it's totally incorrect, they win.

Countries like Spain, you won't even get a claim paid if the other driver drives off without either police attending, a good witness, or the driver completing an ASOF, as "theres no proof their driver was involved!".

Frankly, most continental motor insurers are like UK ones in about 1973, and I'd never take my car abroad!

Of course, I see the worse side of it, but the levels of honesty from those there to help, are pretty low abroad.

Got back from a road trip last week where we went all round Germany, including Berlin. You will need an emissions disc in you are driving in Berlin city centre - mine cost 6 Euros from Berlin LABO, and took a week to arrive. It's a 40 Euro fine without one. And share the driving, it's a long way.

If you do the Dunkerque route, try and avoid rush hour at any of the cities along the way (Antwerp, Eindhoven and the Ruhr - especially Dortmund). Outside of rush hour once you're on the A2 in Germany it is a breeze all the way to Berlin normally. Some very nice countryside once you're east of Bielefeld too. I live in Herford, about 2 miles from the A2.