Is the best way through Germany and Switzerland? Do you have to stop for customs entering/leaving Switzerland ?
Cheers

No border controls once outside the port at Amsterdam. At the Swiss border, all they will only care about is checking for the autobahn Vignette.

edit: would have thought that going via Brussels, Luxembourg, Metz, Dijon, would quicker than via Germany.

Cheers mate. Where can you buy them?

If you go that way, then either: at the last services before the border (then you can drive straight thru), or at the border (there’ll be a guy or two with portable sales machines if it’s busy/daytime).

You reckon via Luxembourg etc is the best road mate.
I seem to have 3 choices..

The vignette can work out cheaper than the tolls sometimes depending on the route, plot it on the viamichelin website and it will cost tolls etc for you!

Big recommendation is stopping off at lac blanc bike park in the Alsace on the wsy, its great fun and damn technical, quiet and often means you get a days riding that would otherwise be lost to driving! Look it up

Cheap petrol/diesel there.

I know the road via Germany pretty well. Not sure what the road works are like right now (was carnage in a couple of places last time I went that way). Must check that, since I’ll be heading that way later in the year.

Never been the other way, so that’s a guess.

Nice one guys. Cheers

Do you have to stop for customs entering/leaving Switzerland ?

There are occasional spot checks on the Dutch border for cars leaving to Germany and Belgium, they let the dogs have a sniff around the car and your back on your way. My wife cross the Belgian border nearly every day and has been stopped twice this year.

I’ve always had delays when driving down through Germany, often a complete closure of the motorway. That said when the traffic is flowing you make fast progress. The Route through France is usually fairly quiet and if you nip in to Luxembourg it will give you the chance to pick up some cheap fuel and booze!

I’ve done Rotterdam to the alps a few times and find the Luxembourg route pretty easy. Only time i’ve been stopped at border was going into Geneva from France the back way on little roads, even then they just quickly looked at passports an waved me through.

The Swiss motorway vignette they will sell you at the border, I’ve always bought one as they last a year and I tend to go for skiing as well as biking, you may want to balance up route and tolls. ViaMichelin is very good, I would have thought that you’d be routed into France at some stage on way down so avoid Switzerland

Went to Austria the other week. Lots of roadworks on the E41 in Belgium, went through at night so no delays,
Fuel in Lux is 20c cheaper / litre.
Coming back went the mainly Germany route and sailed through, no roadworks.

Is that E40 or E411 ?

Never seen anyone checking passports since Swiss joined Schengen a couple of years back. If there’s a guy waving people thru, it’s cos he’s checking for toll stickers. all other borders are about as strict as crossing from Scotland to England. It is true that there are random customs checks… in Germany look for unmarked Audi A4 estates cruising at 60mph, and not at the more traditional 140km/h.

Sorry, the E42 I think it was (I was already 11 hours into a 23 hour drive at the time!)