Grossglockner is situated in the Alps and is the highest peak in Austria. At 3,798m, it sits on the border of the federated states of Tyrol and Kärnten, and is a part of the range Hohe Tauern. The mountain peak itself, lies in the southern branch of the range. At the foot of Grossglockner lies the Pasterze Glacier. In spite of increased melt-off, due to rising temperatures, it is still the largest glacier in the eastern Alps. The recognisable pyramid shaped peak is actually two mountaintops, Grossglockner and Kleinglockner (3.770m), they are separated by the highest mountain gorge in Austria.
The real trip to GrossGlockner starts in Lüneburg, about 190 kilometres from the Puttgarden ferry, and is perfect for an evening ride, after crossing over from Rødby.
HOTEL FOR THIS STAGE – FRIDAY-SATURDAY
Gasthausbrauerei Nolte – Dahlenburger Landstr. 102 -21337 Lüneburg
Expect to pay between €30-40, for 2 persons in apartment.
www.gasthausbrauerei-nolte.de
The German Fairytale Road Through fairytale country, on the trail of the Brothers Grimm. Travel trough the Land of Fairytales, on the German Fairytale Road, from Bremen to Hanau. It’s one of the oldest German holiday routes, and it passes through more than 70 towns, municipalities and counties, all of which have important ties to the lives of the Brothers Grimm, and their collection of fantastic tales based in folklore, myth, legends and sagas – in short, a fabulous travel route. The Adventure paradise leads us to places, where childhood dreams come alive again, where, behind the seven mountains, live seven dwarves along with a princess. Where you’re enchanted by fairies, lured away by pied pipers, or meet Little Red Riding Hood, in the middle of the woods.
Here, between the River Main and the sea, everyday life seems further away than the moon. The German Fairytale Road lead through a landscape full of poetry, to the romantic marketplace with the Bremer City Musicians, to the historic castles, where Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella come from, to the picturesque timbered town, where Max and Moritz, Wilhelm Busch’s precursors to the Katzenjammer Kids, came up with pranks, or the enchanted castle, where Rapunzel let down her hair.
Along the road you’ll find tons of art and culture, no less than eight nature reserves, and lovely mountains and river basins. Around here, the quaint timbered villages come at you, one after one, like pearls on a string. Delve into the lush, flourishing landscape, and enjoy the hospitality of one of Europe’s oldest and most popular holiday routes.
The Castle Trendelburg, where you are able to enter “Rapunzel Tower”, from where a wonderful view of all of the great forest Reinhardwald, can be seen. Or Castle Sababurg, where the Prince awoke Sleeping Beauty with a kiss. In the Mill Museum in Ebergötzen, you get a chance to see the seven world famous pranks, concocted by Max and Moritz. In the lovely landscape Schwalm, you’re reminded of Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf, and in Hameln, you meet the tale of the Pied Piper. In the town of Polle, you can even follow in the footsteps of Cinderella.
In some towns, visitors are even welcomed by living characters from the tales. Feasts and menus from the fables, with Stable fests, Princely banquets, and the ever-popular, medieval table settings, offer rich opportunity to indulge yourself, on your holiday. Along the Road of Adventures, you’ll find copious amounts of art and history, and the phrase “look at that“, will be exclaimed time and time again, on your journey along this German Fairytale Road.
HOTEL FOR STAGE 1 – SATURDAY-SUNDAY
Hohlebach Mühle – Ziegenhainer Strasse 51 – 34576 Homberg (Efze)
Expect to pay between €50-60 pr. room per person.
www.hohlebachmuehle.de
For more than 50 years, natural environment, culture and hospitality have been the trademark of the “Romantic Road”, the most famous and popular German turist route. 350 romantic kilometres lead to a varied cultural landscape along the “Romantische Strasse” from Main, through the Frankish wine country, to the Alps! This route of dreams from Würzburg to Füssen presents the traveller with historic hamlets, full of impressive buildings, and villages with long and colourful histories, which until today have kept their original splendour and appearance. The route goes through the lovely valley of Taubertal, Nördlingen im Ries, which lies in the middle of a volcanic crater with some very fertile soil, then through the picturesque Lechfeld, Pfaffenwinkel – Land of peasants, artists and monks, in the highlands before the Alps – and finally reaches the famous fairytale castles.
The name Romantische Strasse, expresses the feeling many domestic and foreign visitors get, while in this backdrop of wealth, western history, art and culture: Fascination and retrospection. But a journey on the Romantische Strasse is more than just pretty landscapes culinary treats. Great names accompany the route: Balthasar Neumann, who created Würzburger Residenz, Tilmann Riemenschneider in the lovely Taubertal Valley, and Carl Spitzweg, who was all about Rothenburg and Dinkelsbühl. Exciting geological occurrences are found in the Ries area. In Augsburg, you’ll bump into the Romans, and with ‘Fuggerei’, the world’s first housing project from the 1500’s. Wieskirche (UNESCO-world heritage), one of the most famous works of art from the Rococo-period, is in Pfaffenwinkel. Schwangau, “The Village of the Castles of the Kings”, is framed by four lakes, with the reservation ‘Ammergebirge’ as a backdrop.
At the foot of the mountains, are the two castles of Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau, two exciting castles from the 1800’s. These world famous castles were built by the Bavarian fairy-tale King Ludwig II and Crown Prince Maximilian, and are dreams of times past, built in stone. They tie up the end of the Romantische Strasse at the base of the Bavarian Alps. At the edge of the Alps, and on the border of Tyrol, lies the highest town in Bavaria, Füssen, at 800-1200 metres above sea level. The completely preserved medieval town centre, holds many art treasures and historic buildings. High above the town, the church and monastery of St. Mang, and Hohes Schloss – the former summer residence of the Prince Bishops of Augsburg – make up a remarkable ensemble. From here, a trip to Germany’s highest mountain – Zugspitze (2.964 m) – is highly recommended. There is an unforgettable view of countless mountaintops in Germany, Austria, Italy and Switzerland.
But to see and experience it all, you ought to go by this route. The many hospitable restaurants along the route, from Main to the Alps, tempt you with their culinary offerings. Motorists, bus tourists, campers, festival guests, and connoisseurs go exploring on the Romantische Strasse. On the trip, you’ll experience geology, 2000-year-old cultures and, of course romance. You’ll have to experience the many castles and monasteries, to remind you of the feudal ages at least once. Just take your bike and get going.
HOTEL FOR STAGE 2 – SUNDAY-MONDAY
Hotel Post – Haupstrasse 25 – 87484 Nesselwang
Expect to pay around €60.00 per room, per person
www.hotel-post-nesselwang.de
The German Alpine Road – a drive-in movie theatre of the highest quality! In 2002, it celebrated it’s 75th anniversary, and is one of the oldest German tourist roads. Lots of curvaceous kilometres, from Lindau by Lake Boden, to Berchtesgaden by Lake Königssee near the Austrian border, enchant the visitors. The fascinating part of this route is the variation, the constant changes between Alpine meadows, soft rolling hills and steep mountainsides, green forests, romantic valleys and sparkling lakes. Embedded in the backdrop of the Bavarian Alps, are ancient villages, and over 25 glorious castles and monasteries invite you to stop.
The more than 20 crystal clear mountain lakes are not only a delightful sight, but also offer many recreational opportunities. Also, well known historic spas and cultural monuments give an occasional urge to take a break. Here you drive through sharp turns through beautiful countryside with its unique richness of nature and culture on the edge of Allgäu and the Bavarian Alps. One needs only an open mind to the beauty of nature, its wonders and secrets – and for the people who live there.
It is a region where the old customs, often religious in origin, are still maintained. Here you can still experience increasingly cosy lifestyle, happy peasant weddings and fairgrounds, but also folk music, sitar and horn music, at home. The many lakes, national parks and countless nature conservation areas, make the area a paradise for practitioners of outdoor sports, and recreation seekers. Each season presents itself here with a different picture – in the spring, when deciduous trees are rays of fresh green colour, in summer, when the mountain meadows bloom, in autumn, when the sun makes the leaves more colourful, and in winter, when the whole country is covered by a white and glistening blanket of snow – everything looks like scenes that are straight out of a painting.
In winter, the German Alpine Road, with it’s snowy landscape no less interesting. There is a wide choice of resorts of all sizes and with different degrees of difficulty available. Lake Constance, with its mild climate, angled alleys and narrow gabled houses are waiting for visitors in Lindau. Oberstaufen, Germany’s sole Schroth-spa resort, Garmisch-Partenkirchen and the Zugspitze, Linderhof Palace – a white dream of colourful scenery.
If visiting the monastery Ettal, you must definitely taste the famous monastery liqueur. Other places worth visiting, are the little violin builders town, Mittenwald by Karwendel, or Füssen and Neuschwanstein Castle, or the picturesque town of Berchtesgaden presents itself, with Königssee and Watzmann massif, to mention only a few.
Restaurants can be found everywhere, along this panoramic route. Taste the delicious Bavarian specialties – juicy roast pork with “Knödel” (a kind of dumpling), veal shank fresh from the oven, savoury kale dishes and not least the “large beers”- perhaps in the fresh open air, in one of the beautiful outdoor pubs, or one of those old-fashioned pubs. This will make a bike trip in the world of spectacular peaks, an unforgettable experience for everyone.
HOTEL FOR STAGE 3 – MONDAY-FRIDAY
Gasthof Waldheim – Talstrasse 1 – 6280 Zell am Ziller
Expect to pay between €25-30 per room, per person.
www.gasthof-waldheim.at
The German Avenue Road under trees from Rügen Island to the Boden Sea.
It is almost intoxicating, to ride through the avenue of green tunnels. Around 100-year-old trees intertwine their branches over the roads, and thus provide a protective roof, where sunlight only comes through in some places. From Arkona, on Rügen island of Reichenau in Lake Constance, the old trees form a green belt along the road. Just below this canopy runs Germany’s longest and greenest holiday road, with a length of 2,500 kilometres. It presents us with an inexhaustible variety of impressions. Is there a more evocative ride than through a stately avenue with an enclosed, shady canopy? Ancient forests, vast lake districts with crystal clear lakes – from bird’s eye view it sometimes seem as if a large mirror had fallen onto the ground, and gone in a thousand pieces – resulting in large and small lakes everywhere.
If you have a longing for lakes, you’ve come to the right place. Mighty old trees, picturesque images, but also pristine areas, with a unique animal and plant life can be discovered. You move through stunning landscapes, the roof of the foliage swishes in the wind, see birds build nests, inhale the fragrance of a meadow in bloom – it is simply “big” and a good camera must be included, so you can capture the perfect scenery. Between Rügen and Lake Constance, the Avenue Road runs all the way through a total of eight federal states. You experience glorious scenery, the beautiful sights on the left and right of the route, and above all: Avenues. The route first passes through Mecklenburg-Vorpommern to Rheinsberg and from there, either through Brandenburg and Saxony-Anhalt in Goslar, or via Dresden through Erzgebirge to Thuringia.
From Meinigen, the trip goes through Hesse, via Koblenz, Rhein-Taunus and the Palatinate Forest in Ettlingen, at Karlsruhe. Here, begins the eighth and final chapter, through Schwarzwald to Meersburg on Lake Constance, and the route’s end point on the island of Reichenau. This section, raises your awareness of the avenues, which can also direct you to regional attractions. The avenues run along main roads, and display the natural environment, as well as roads that are more in harmony with the many idyllic locations.
The tour opens up to magnificent landscapes, and it runs almost entirely in Lime, Oak, Maple, Chestnut and other magnificent old trees. Depending upon the season, you look through the trees out onto yellow flowering canola or corn fields, with red poppies and blue cornflowers. In the autumn nature, this transforms the green canopy into a stained explosion of colour, and the Avenue ceiling is set ablaze in a multitude of colours – It doesn’t get any more beautiful than that.
Small towns, with tall towers and picturesque villages, historical, classical buildings and places where the museums invite you to stay longer. The harmony between land and sea lends itself to swimming, and a typical example of this is the peninsula, Mönchgut. It’s a good idea to take your time to tour the German Avenue Road – a trip without haste, increases the joy of the country, people and culture. The German Avenue Road is highly recommended for motorcyclists. If distinctions were awarded among cruising roads, the German Avenue Road would surely be nominated.
A traveling Motorbike Journalist, Dave has a passion for the Great Outdoors, motorbike camping, finding new trails, as well as discovering the Great Indoors, in the form of Urban Exploration or URBEX.
This has led to many exciting experiences, cultural exchanges and interesting situations over the years, as Europe is littered with post-war, post-industrial, desolate, abandoned structures and cultural sites, usually far off the beaten track. Originally from Dublin, Ireland, Dave has spent the last 15 years in Denmark, which he uses as a base from which to explore the rest of Europe by motorbike, both onroad and offroad.
One of the founding partners of Motorbike Europe, with nearly 20 years experience in graphic production, over 12 years in webdesign and development, including 3 years in the design of floating structures and villages, Dave currently runs the website aka www.motorbikeeurope.com, where he covers the areas of Webdesigner, Road Writer, Photographer, Content Manager, Social Media Manager, manic networker, motorblogger, and handles any other interesting digital possibilities that might crop up.
