The route is bent around three things: Autostadt on the Tuesday, an Industry Pool day at the Nürburgring on the Wednesday — prototypes on test, nobody in the crew driving — and the opening Saturday of the 191st Oktoberfest. Everything else is the drive between them.
€21 a head.
Volkswagen's car city, built beside the plant that makes them. The ZeitHaus is the real draw — a marque-agnostic automotive museum with the cars that actually mattered, not just VWs. Outside it, the two 48-metre glass delivery towers hold 400 finished cars and hand them to their owners by robot. Brand pavilions for Porsche, Lamborghini, Bugatti and Audi. Book online ahead for a party of eight. Directions
A7 → A39 out of Hamburg, about 2h20. One sober DD per wagon. Arrive Wolfsburg late morning.
Three to four hours covers the ZeitHaus, the car towers, the pavilions and lunch on site. €21 adult, €11 under 18.
A2 → A44/A1, about 3h50. Into the Cologne Altstadt around 19:00 — a real evening, unlike the old midnight arrival.
The crew is not doing Touristenfahrten, so there is no track-car booking and no lap fee. What Wednesday 16 Sep gives you instead is the Industry Pool: the Nordschleife is closed to the public and belongs to the manufacturers from 09:00 to 18:00. Everything that comes past is a camouflaged prototype on test — the cars that are not out yet. Free, from the public banks, 96 km from Cologne. Two caveats, stated plainly: the I-Pool is not a spectator event, and photography is officially not permitted. The viewing spots below are informal, on public land, and the track cannot be sealed off.
20.832 km per lap.
Seventy-three corners and three hundred metres of elevation through the Eifel forest. You hear them coming long before you see them. Park at ring°boulevard, walk out to Brünnchen, and give it a couple of hours — then Burg Nürburg, the 12th-century castle the whole track is named after, straight up the hill with the best view in the Eifel. Directions
The motorsport museum at the ring shut on 2 February 2026 for a full rebuild, and no reopening date has been announced — the hall is being turned over to automotive-industry partners. It will not be open when we are there. Burg Nürburg is the substitute worth making: the castle above the track, small entry fee, and the view is the point.
| Corner | Why | Walk in | Best light | Map |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brünnchen | The one everybody knows · double-right, cars get loose · easiest walk | 5 min | PM | Go |
| Pflanzgarten | Yumps · prototypes get airborne and you see the suspension work | 10 min | Mid-day | Go |
| Adenauer Forst | Tight chicane · hard braking · deep forest, quietest spot | 15 min | AM | Go |
| Caracciola-Karussell | The banked concrete bowl · slow enough to actually read the camo | 8 min | PM | Go |
Kirchweg 4, 53520 Nürburg — +49 2691 30188. Racing-memorabilia walls, Sabine Schmitz on them, and a steak you cook yourself on a hot stone. It was the post-Ring dinner; with the Ring moved to Wednesday midday and the winery taking Wednesday evening, it is lunch at 12:00 on Wed 16 Sep. Table for eight — they book two months out. Directions
Sachsenhausen was a Nazi concentration camp 1936–1945 and a Soviet special camp 1945–1950. It's now a memorial and history museum 35 km north of Berlin. Free entry, plan for ~3 hours on-site. Heavy visit — decide as a group.
Doesn't fit Sunday 13 Sep. That day is a full Berlin walking loop ending at the 17:34 train. Sachsenhausen sits 35 km north — ~3h on-site plus ~50 min each way on the S1 — no room in the Sunday plan.
| Detail | Note |
|---|---|
| Address | Straße der Nationen 22, 16515 Oranienburg |
| Getting there | S1 from Berlin Hbf → Oranienburg (50 min) · 20-min walk to the memorial (or bus 804) |
| Hours | Mar–Oct 08:30–18:00 daily · Nov–Feb 08:30–16:30 |
| Cost | Free entry · audio guide €3 · English guided tour €16 (mornings only, book ahead) |
| Time needed | 3 hours minimum · audio guide covers Appellplatz, prisoner barracks, infirmary, Station Z, Pathology |
| Confirm | stiftung-bg.de |
No photography in the Pathology building. Quiet voices throughout. Don't shop the camp gift area — leave the trip souvenirs for Cologne.
UNESCO red-brick warehouse district on the water. Walk it from the Elbphilharmonie south through the canals. Free, ~90 min loop.
Public deck on level 8, harbour views in every direction. Free entry with a Plaza ticket — reserve online ahead, walk-up sometimes works off-peak.
Biggest model railway on earth, repeatedly ranked the top museum worldwide on TripAdvisor. €20, in the Speicherstadt. Book a timed slot.
Indra Club (Beatles basement, 1960) · Mojo Club (jazz/funk, book table) · Molotow (indie/rock) · Hamburger Berg street pub crawl · 4 AM Davidwache curry sausage to close.
850-year-old hereditary castle on a wooded knoll above a Moselle tributary, never destroyed. The "500 DM banknote" view. Park at Wierschem and walk in (20 min downhill, 30 back up), or use the shuttle bus from the lot. 40-min interior tours run through the afternoon — tickets on the day, no advance booking needed.
Tuesday runs ~600 km — Hamburg → Autostadt → Cologne. Wednesday: late brunch in Cologne, 96 km south to the Nürburgring for Industry Pool spectating and a Pistenklause lunch, then Burg Eltz and on to Weingut Gehlen-Cornelius in Brauneberg (~18:30). Riesling tasting, dinner on-site, sleep at the winery — no DD needed. The Nordschleife being closed to the public that day is the point, not a problem: Industry Pool testing sits between the Sep 12–13 NLS and Sep 18–20 ADAC 1000km race weekends.
850-year-old hereditary castle on a wooded knoll above a Moselle tributary. The "500 DM banknote" view. Park at Wierschem, walk down, 40-min tour, photo loop, back to the cars by ~17:30.
Riesling tasting at Weingut Gehlen-Cornelius, Brauneberg — the Wednesday winery stay; taste through the range, walk into the vines.
Arrive Weingut Gehlen-Cornelius ~18:30 — guest rooms with balconies, in-room wine fridge. Walk up into the Brauneberger vineyard slopes above the Moselle. Vines all the way, golden hour on the river.
Dinner at Weingut Gehlen-Cornelius, Brauneberg — Mosel Riesling with the estate's own bottles. Dinner on-site, nobody drives. Reserve a table for 8 for the Wed evening.
If the winery rooms fall through, sleep in Bernkastel-Kues (~15 min) or Wittlich. A DD drives back to Brauneberg-area beds after dinner.
Crew sleeps at Weingut Gehlen-Cornelius — balconies, in-room wine fridge. No DD needed after dinner. Early Thursday start for München.
No timed ticket needed — the interior tour is skipped. Depart Brauneberg 06:30, reach Hohenschwangau ~12:30. Shuttle (or walk 30 min) up to the castle, cross to the Marienbrücke for the classic exterior photo, see the courtyard, then back to the cars by ~14:30. Munich by ~17:00. Alex lands MUC 14:10 and simply waits ~3h for the crew — he's not on the castle stop.
| Detail | Note |
|---|---|
| Where | Hohenschwangau village (the parking lot at the base) — shuttle bus or 30-min uphill walk to the castle |
| Cost | Exterior only — no interior tour, no ticket. Shuttle up if you skip the walk (—). |
| Photo | Marienbrücke footbridge for the iconic exterior — 5-min walk past the castle |
| Info | hohenschwangau.de — shuttle + walking times, no booking needed |
KZ Dachau opened March 1933, weeks after Hitler took power — the first Nazi concentration camp and the SS training template for every camp that followed. 200,000 prisoners registered, at least 41,500 murdered. The site is now a memorial and history museum 25 minutes northwest of Munich. Free entry. Plan a 3.5-hour visit including the 11:00 English guided tour.
| Detail | Note |
|---|---|
| Getting there | S2 from München Hbf → Dachau station (~25 min, €10 pp round-trip) · Bus 726 or 15-min walk from station to the memorial |
| Hours | Daily 09:00–17:00 · Documentation Center + intro film + audioguides at the entrance |
| Cost | Free entry · audio guides €3 · English guided tour €4, 2.5h — better than self-guided, 11:00 daily |
| Time on-site | Plan 3.5 h · Documentation Center → Jourhaus gate ("Arbeit macht frei") → Appellplatz → reconstructed barracks → crematorium |
| Confirm | kz-gedenkstaette-dachau.de |
No photography inside the barracks or crematorium. Quiet voices. Site is not a museum in the tourist sense — treat it as a memorial. Back at München Hbf by ~14:20 for Viktualienmarkt lunch and the Munich afternoon.
Welt is free (showroom + M Hall); the Museum next door is the real 250-car collection. Optional add-on for the Friday Munich day or Sunday morning before the airport. Directions
6 million litres.
The mayor taps the first keg at the Schottenhamel tent at noon. We won't be in that tent — pick one at 07:00 and hold the table all day. A party of 9 with no reservation is never guaranteed a table at any hour. Theresienwiese directions
Direct tent reservations for opening Saturday are effectively gone by April; resale runs 2–3× face. Default plan: queue at 07:00 for Hofbräu / Hacker / Augustiner free seating, then hold the table. Warning: a party of 9 with no reservation is not guaranteed a table at any hour.
| Tent | Brewery | Vibe | Seats |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hofbräu | Hofbräu | Tourist · English-speaking · loudest | 10,000 |
| Hacker | Hacker-Pschorr | Ceiling clouds · best ambience | 9,300 |
| Augustiner | Augustiner | Last wood-keg tent · locals' pick | 8,500 |
| Schottenhamel | Spaten | Mayor's tap · younger crowd | 10,000 |
~€15.30–17, up ~6% on 2025. Cash and card both work.
To Theresienwiese. Enter the Bavaria-Statue side; the Hofbräu side gets crushed.
Bavarian Outfitters, pickup near Hbf. Book online before you fly.
Built into the v5 itinerary — Thu 17 Sep · exterior only. See the dedicated section above.
Germany's highest peak. Cable car from Eibsee. Clear days only — check forecast morning of. Go
Cross to Austria for Mozart + Festung. Easy half-day if no one's caught the Wiesn flu. Vignette required (€9.90). Go