Thinking of planning a week away sometime next may / june. Drive over with bikes. 3/4 days riding and the rest sightseeing / food.

Love Germany but have never ridden there. Can anyone recommend an area with some decent riding? Criteria – couple only been riding 2.5 years, absolute mincers capable of uk reds – nothing too spicey, no bike parks, cross countryish but without epic 1000m plus climbs (ageing legs).

Anything fit that bill, or anywhere else in Europe driveable?

Many thanks in advance.

Couple of links to get you started. The areas are Odenwald and Spessart.

https://www.mtb-geo-naturpark.de/rundstrecken

https://www.spessartbiken.de/spessartbiken/de/tourennetz/

I’ve got this book to but not ridden any out of it and it’s in Deutsch so only really bought it for the GPX.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Biken-Eifel-sch%C3%B6nsten-zwischen-Luxemburg/dp/3765455792/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=3765455792&qid=1575039963&sr=8-1

It’s a big place though, can you narrow down where you’d like to go?

Harz Mountains. An easy day drive, especially if using one of the UK – Netherlands ferries.

As above, it’s a big place. Pretty much every national park type place must have a million km of XC type riding, and then some “singletrail” or “flowtrail” as well.

I’d add Pfalzerwald to the list above too https://www.pfalz.de/de/pfalz-erleben/radfahren/radwege/mountainbike-touren

For the Odenwald one above https://www.mtb-geo-naturpark.de/rundstrecken the best routes are the ones maintained by the local MTB clubs, but they’re also the ones that are officially closed for the winter (1st Nov – 31st March iirc). Some have significant proper singletrack, but other routes are a random loop made up from bits of forest trail and tracks thru vineyards, so a bit of local knowledge helps.

From my limited experience German MTB us a bit dull in general. The cliche about fire roads is unfortunately true.

Lovely loop from Pegnitz to Pottenstein.

Nice downhill run at Ochsenkopf.
Both east Bavaria
Apart from that, not done much

Thanks – will investigate some of the above.

I was out there in the summer with my bike. Bear in mind there are some very strict laws on where you can and can’t ride (and they get enforced too). Any track over 2 metres wide is fair game. Narrower may get you into trouble (there was an item on the German news recently showing MTB riders dropping out of a wood and being stopped an given on-the-spot fines! The area of the Odenwald (where my wife comes from incidentally) has the largest concentration of purpose made/sign-posted MTB routes, and is a very nice area to boot. That is where I would probably be heading in your shoes.
The other option is to get on the main german forum and say where you want to ride and ask if anyone will show you around. I got a really great tour of all the cheeky singletrack around Stuttgart this way.

The MTB Amgazine BIKE also has loads of info and tours, including gps files to download for free. Google translate may help you if your German is poor.

https://www.bike-magazin.de/touren/deutschland.html

The 2m thing is something that is different in every Land in the german speaking part of the world. There is no single 2m federal law as such.  eg for Hessen (where half the Odenwald is) was going to pass a law stating that bikes, wheelchairs etc. could only be used on tracks navigable by a motorised vehicle, but the law that eventually got passed was more along the lines of that they can be ridden on any path installed by the landowner or land manager, unless there’s a sign prohibiting it, so long as one gives way to more vulnerable users etc. (or something like that). Ride sensibly, don’t be a d**k and don’t ride anything that’s obviously cheeky or dodgy jumps made illegally, or any offpiste then it’s not a problem.

Only time I’ve been apprehended was by flippin dog walkers forcing me to slow down because their dogs are running around… in a blimmin nature reserve… on a well sign posted main cycle path. The phrase rhyming with duck and cough transcends language barriers 🙂

There is a lot of fire road, because there is a lot of forest. Unless you find the singletracks on komoot/gpises/etc. or know which of the official signed routes are singletracky, you’ll probably ride right past loads and not know it’s even there.

https://www.mtb-news.de/forum/  has a forum section for all of the different regions in Germany. If you don;t speak german, there’ll almost certainly be someone who’ll reply in English.

The 2m rule is only applied in the Black Forest. I’m based in the eastern part of Germany and can recommend the Harz mountains (Braunlage is a good base to start with a cable car ride to the top of the mountain and then the choice of the bike park trails back to the car park or head off to the better natural trails in the area.) The second area is the Ore Mountains (Erzgebirge). Loads of great riding and a bike park called Rabenberg you could use as base. There is also a mountain bike trai called the Stoneman Miriquidi which is a trail you can download which starts in the ski resort of Oberwiesntal and takes you through the Czech Republic and Poland and back to Germany The last and the area I know best is the Thuringian Forest (Thüringer Wald). There are several national level downhill trails here which gives you an idea of the trails in the area. There is also a 180 km trail called Der Rennsteig which you could follow ( it’s the German South Downs Way). If you want more info PM me.

https://www.stoneman-miriquidi.com/

Winterberg and Willingen?

Lived in Bavaria /Munich for the best part of ten years. For the odd day out there are some decent trails, but if I’ve got a weekend spare I’ll drive south to Italy rather than ride in Germany or Austria.

Have a look on Trailforks and see how few trails there are in Germany and Austria compared to Italy! And the weather is better on the other side of the alps.

I’ve had too much conflict for my liking with walkers and even Hüttenwirt (mountain hut landlords?) who despite not understanding the laws insist that you are not allowed on the trails. (Art. 141 Bayrische Verfassung).
Tirol region of Austria is particularly backwards. There they do indeed have the <2m rule and technically you’re only allowed to ride on trails that have been specifically designated as bike trails.

Don’t know what things are like further north of the Danube, but from my perspective here in the south it looks flat.

Freiburg in the SW is, however, worth a trip. Nice town with a good vibe. Lots of bars, students and bikes in town.