No kidding. We had no idea (this was back in April 2000), and next thing I know we are being waived over for speeding. "Where is your toll sticker?" Eh? What is that?

$20US for the speeding ticket
$6US for the sticker
$96US for not having the sticker

Oh and the best? You pay on the spot. Me: "I don't think I have enough cash, sir." Him: "I will follow you to an ATM then."

 

You guys are cracking me up, Ring is fun but you do know that the Autobahn at the Ring is unrestricted and you will hit higher speeds there than on the Ring.

 

you only need it if you use the highway. If you go across the border to do some nice driving on back roads you do not need it. Just do not get caught on the highway.

 

You already got the best answers and inside knowledge from ECB. Germany is NOT a vacation country, except for the few and far inbetween Amis (as US visitors are called in a friendly way).

Plus +1 on Avis for larfge rental company and best cars election whithout going with a shadey, small exotics rental place.

Traffic in the summer however can be a nightmare in germany. Germany is stretched North to South and presents for most bordering countries the fastest route South. So not only do you have ze Germanies rushing to leave the homeland (Germans are the largest visiting group in Italy, Spain, France, Austria and Switzerland) during July/August but also our fine neighbors in the Netherlands, Belgium, ze Norse countries and now the Eastern Eaurpean countries who try to make their way South through Germany. Traffic jams of 30-40 miles are not "unheard off"


Unless you have a clear plan on where to go North of Baden Wuerttemberg and Bayern, the two souther staes, DON'T DO IT. You got all what you want to see for a vacation trip in the SOuth and much closer by. If you start heading North you will waste a lot of time travelling from place to place.

Black Forest used to be great for spirited driving but especially on the weekend cannot be recommended anymore. Many fu roads either closed or heavily patroled by Police, not recommended for the "visitor". Unless you just cruise and take in the sights, only hit it during the week to avoid the pesky Polizei.

Don't know for sure how long you plan to stay. My recommendation for a nice loop of the South starting Stuttgart:
Baden-Baden
then heading South through the Black Forest (use all back roads)
to
Singen (Auto-Salon)
Konstanz, take car ferry to
Meersburg, have lunch there.
drive along Bodensee (Lake of Constance) to
Bregenz (Austria) from there go to
Appenzell (most rustic and authentic Kanton/Caounty of Switzerland) and have some cheese fondue or Racquelette (Cheese molten at a wood fire).
Then go to Thusis to enter Via Mala (translation "Bad Road" built by the Romans throught he Alps). You can do some sightseeing there.
then take the
San Bernardino pass to go to the
Italian Lake country of Lago Maggiore, Lago di Como etc, your pick, can't go wrong with either, best food you will ever eat.
From there head to
Chamonix and the Mont Blanc (you have to drive though the tunnel, amazing, hand cut through the rock, was for a very long time the longest tunnel in the world).
Start your loop back through Lausanne/ Lake of Geneva to
Bern and then Basel to enter back into the South of Germany.
I would take the Autobahn from Stuttgart to Baden-Baden, so you can check that off your list and then stay on county roads, which there should be one almost everywhere parallel to the highway. then when you come back get on the Autobahn in Singen and abck to Stuttgart, should all be unrestricted and fairly low traffic to blow out the end of your tour. Just distance wise you could probably do this whole tour in 3-4 days without sightseeing and stops.

 

These vignettes are no joke. The Austrian road network can be tricky in some places becuase you can accidentally drive onto the highway if you're not careful. The sticker is pretty cheap (although it can be nearly impossible to find a place to purchase it) but if you're heading south onto Lake Bodensee around the Lindau area, which is what most tourists are, you are technically buying a ten day pass to use for about 3 minutes ... until you enter Switzerland ..... where you have to buy yet another one.

It's even stupider there. You have to buy the same freaking sticker the natives have, for an entire year. And it's six times more expensive . . .

 

A few more tips out of the blue:

In the south the area around Chiemsee is stunning and well worth the visit. If you're lucky and hit asparagus season (not sure when you're going) you'll eat like a king. Bayern in general is my favorite area - given the scenery, food and atmosphere.

The north coast can be a surprisingly nice area too. If you're looking for tranquility, spa's and something off the tourist tracks check out Mecklenburg and villages like Gut Brook. There's also the island of Rügen, which could be nice if you're in holiday mood.

Rothenburg o.d. Tauber is a quaint place in the middle of everything. Someone definitely went medieval on it's ass - worth a visit. Close to Nürnberg too if history interests you.

Also, there's a nice little village called Nürburg in central Germany. It's known for it's hospitality, food and beautiful surroundings. There's also an old castle close by too. Apparently there's some sort of race track surrounding the village - but I'm sure it's nothing that'll disturb you. Might be worth a quick glance though while you're there

 

tru dat, tru dat, may have ended back on the highway. You should be able to buy the vignettes at every custom station when crossing into the county.
My first gf had a senior school trip to Italy. To save money they wanted to skip the vignettes and the highway and take the scenic route through Austria to Italy. Back then no GPS but the good old road map or in Germany the Aral Atlas. They constantly ended back on the highway, c#&^ing at the co-pilot with the map until they remembered that they gave the map to the one guy in the class who was color blind. true story ...

 

Hehe same thing happened to us in Slovenia this year; we had driven through the entire country once already without any fuss. Then on our way back they stopped us at this massive checkpoint literally 500 yards from the Austrian border.

This huuuge female cop (?) came up to the car and the conversation basically went like this:

Slovenizilla: Papers!
Us: hello officer, did we do anything wrong?
Slovenizilla: You did not see sign on motorway?
Us: well yes actually but we're from Holland you see and oddly enough can't read Slovenia-speak. (there are some signs about 'vignettas' along the highway but not a single one is in English/German or whatever)
Slovenizilla: That is your problem, you must pay fine now, 300 Euros!

So we actually haggled them down to 150 (deal!) but the whole thing was very unnerving. You have to fill out a bunch of forms which are all in Slovenian or whatever their language is and they take pics of your car from every angle possible. To top it off, all this is done by some kind of private security company, not a government agency.

There was this German bloke next to us who got pulled over for not having a vignette too. But when he was at the van where you have to pay the fine (in cash, otherwise biiiiiiiiiiiig problem mister) they also showed him a bunch of pics of him speeding in Slovenia that day. He had to pay over €1k.

In the vid you can see the unlucky German's Zafira and notice the line of people at the white van in the background, all paying at least a couple of hundred €€€'s. Ka-ching!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WB-vBhDuQ7M

 

I thought about recommending the Northern shores too, it's really a nice place and pretty quiet compared to the Mediterranean hotspots. Very un-German. Love the area around Laboe.

Lol that's hysterical!

 

Which Hertz location has Porsche?