BeemerLover Posted August 23, 2009 Share Posted August 23, 2009 Four of us will be traveling to Munich to rent bikes and ride Switzerland, the Dolomites, northern Slovenia and return through Austria. We will arrive in Munich on Saturday, September 12 and will stay close to the old town Marienplatz area. We will spend Sunday enjoying Munich and getting over jet lag. Was wondering if anyone would like to meet us somewhere for dinner on Sunday the 13th? We really enjoy meeting and talking with the locals wherever we go. Any interest? Link to comment
Francois_Dumas Posted August 26, 2009 Share Posted August 26, 2009 Not many it seems... sorry ! We'll be riding through Switzerland and the Dolomites (planned) the week prior to your visit and heading back north on Sept 11th I'm afraid..... next time ! Link to comment
SweetP Posted August 26, 2009 Share Posted August 26, 2009 Gael, Do you have a tentative route/schedule? I'm planning to be in your general area from Sept. 21-25, have to be in Francfort for the auto show on the 26th. Maybe, just maybe, we could meet somewhere along the way. François, any chance of changing your plans? Link to comment
Francois_Dumas Posted August 27, 2009 Share Posted August 27, 2009 Hi Paul, am afraid not. We have to be on a ferry to the UK on the 17th and have to service our customers before that, so the 11th is a real deadline for us :-) We're currently back in Les Allues (Savoie) and plan on riding to the Dolomites on Sept 1st, back here 6 days later or so. Link to comment
BeemerLover Posted August 27, 2009 Author Share Posted August 27, 2009 Thanks, Francois and SweetP! As it turns out I also posted on the BMW-Europe site and Manfred Handschuher ("Handi" - one of the moderators) will meet us in the Old Town area of Munich to show us some of the sights. Another fellow got us in touch with an American in Italy who puts 20,000 km/yr on is bike riding the Alps. He gave us great tips about routes, using Visa vs cash, where the tourists are, where to stay, where not to stay, etc. Thanks again Francois! The information you provided was extremely helpful. Link to comment
Nice n Easy Rider Posted August 27, 2009 Share Posted August 27, 2009 Thanks, Francois and SweetP! As it turns out I also posted on the BMW-Europe site and Manfred Handschuher ("Handi" - one of the moderators) will meet us in the Old Town area of Munich to show us some of the sights. Another fellow got us in touch with an American in Italy who puts 20,000 km/yr on is bike riding the Alps. He gave us great tips about routes, using Visa vs cash, where the tourists are, where to stay, where not to stay, etc. Thanks again Francois! The information you provided was extremely helpful. That's what I love about this Board. No matter what the problem/question/issue there is almost always someone there to help. Link to comment
Francois_Dumas Posted August 28, 2009 Share Posted August 28, 2009 As it turns out I also posted on the BMW-Europe site and Manfred Handschuher ("Handi" - one of the moderators) will meet us in the Old Town area of Munich to show us some of the sights. Another fellow got us in touch with an American in Italy who puts 20,000 km/yr on is bike riding the Alps. He gave us great tips about routes, using Visa vs cash, where the tourists are, where to stay, where not to stay, etc. Excellent, we'll leave some of the asphalt and some of the food for ya !! ;-) Have a great trip too !!! Link to comment
BeemerLover Posted August 28, 2009 Author Share Posted August 28, 2009 Thanks, we are all really pumped about this trip! If I could leave now I would! Link to comment
SockMonkey Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 would love to pick your brain about your trip when you get back. I am planning on a guided trip sometime during the next 2 years. I'm going solo so the group thing appeals to me. Enjoy your time in Munich, we were there 2 years ago and had a terrific time. Things I'd like to know *weather *condition of roads *petrol prices *any other tidbits that u find to be important have a great time!!!!! Link to comment
BeemerLover Posted October 6, 2009 Author Share Posted October 6, 2009 Hello, everyone! We are back and had an outstanding time! The suggestions you made (Special thanks to Francois for his kind help!) were right on target and helped make the trip a great one. We flew into Munich and the next day was treated to a full blown tour hosted by Manfred Handschuher who is a moderator of the BMW-Europe website. Great guy, great tour, had dinner in a restaurant the locals prefer, which was outstanding. Got the bikes from All Around rental the next day. Took off for Lindau, Germany in the pouring rain. Weather cleared by the time we got there. Lindau is one of the most picturesque towns I have ever visited. Old town on a lake with a marina. The next day we went through Lichtenstein, then into Switzerland and followed the GPS past Geneva, Thun and then to Grindelwald, Switzerland where we spent three nights. Went up to the Jungfraujoch and rode local roads. Still rainy but the last day dawned clear. From Grindelwald went over the Furka/Grimsel Passes to Andermatt. Stayed two nights there, rode the Susten Pass and others too. Went from Andermatt to Castelrotto, Italy (near Bolzano) which is such a picturesque place. On the way we went over the Ofen, Umbrail and Stelvio passes. The Stelvio was the most challenging with many extreme switch backs. Couldn't believe the number of sport bikes going othrough these passes at high speeds. Spent two nights in Castelrotto, rode the Dolomites from there, enjoyed the town, left for Mittenwald, Germany which is another small "Old" town with cobbelstone streets good restaurants. Left Mittenwald and turned in the bikes at the rental agency about noon. Took a cab to Erding which is north of Munich, on the train line and near the airport. Stayed there at an inexpensive pension as the room rates in downtown Munich are through the roof due to Oktoberfest. Took the train to Oktoberfest. Manfred met us there and made sure we got into the Augustiner tent which is the best one. Sat at a table with some people who worked for the BMW plant assembling cars. Instant friendship when they found we owned BMW bikes. It was a great trip; look forward to going back. Info for Steve: I have found that the fall weather is the least rainy in that area of the country. The roads were outstaning in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. No gravel, no potholes just great roads. Italy was a different story. Lots of potholes. Petrol... 1.12 Euros per litre. This equates to $6.35 per gal at $1.50 per Euro which was the real world conversion rate. On the way out I got $1.30 per Euro at the Airport. Tidbits: Frogg toggs were outstanding. Always order the local beer. Coop brand grocery stores are great and are in most small cities. Good bread, sausages and cheese. It has the best quality souveniers at the best price. Don't worry about finding hotel or pension rooms in the fall. The tourists are gone and ski season hasn't started yet. All rooms are squeaky clean and breakfast (meats, cheeses, breads, granola, and soft boiled eggs) is normally included in the room rate. When you go through small towns look to see if they are having a festival. Fall is the time for that. Take a netbook with Skype but plan to pay for wifi everywhere even in hotels (1 Euro for an hour). Phones are not essential but costly if you use your US provider. Cheapest to take an unlocked quad band phone with you and buy a sim card there. You don't need to take a formal tour to see Europe. A little time on the Internet will clue you in to what to see. Things are VERY similar to the US. It's not like going to some small town in Mongolia. Language was no problem, we simply asked if they spoke English in their language and they would ususlly start talking with us in English or call someone over who spoke English (usually a child or teenager). BTW, the Zumo we rented was just OK. Paper maps + the Zumo worked great. Many times the Zumo doesn't want to do the logical thing after you put in waypoints. So instead of creating routes, we just turned the route into a series of favorites and went from favorite to favorite. Worked a lot better with no hassles. Anyway, thanks for the interest and tips! PM me if you want more info. Link to comment
Francois_Dumas Posted October 6, 2009 Share Posted October 6, 2009 Hi Gael, cool !!! Glad to see you had a good time and saw many of the places we discussed Too bad our itineraries couldn't synch.... we been in many of those places too this Summer .... still need to make ride tales myself.... I think together we'll have one heck of a photo story, right !?? Link to comment
r77toy Posted October 7, 2009 Share Posted October 7, 2009 Any problems crossing borders on rental bikes? Link to comment
Francois_Dumas Posted October 7, 2009 Share Posted October 7, 2009 Apart from Switzerland (sometimes) there ARE no borders in Europe anymore. And even the Swiss are letting go of it... we passed from France to Switzerland to Italy and back a few times this Summer and did not once get stopped. In addition, all good rental agencies provide their cars and bikes complete with a 'green card' (and in Europe that means international insurance, not immigration ) Link to comment
BeemerLover Posted October 7, 2009 Author Share Posted October 7, 2009 Francois is right, going from country to country is seamless. Didn't matter that we had rental bikes. But, going into Leichtenstein one of our guys was stopped at the border crossing and paid a fine for not having a helmet that met certain standards (it must cover the ears.) Other things to watch are the stickers you must buy if you want to use the Austrian or Swiss autobahns/motorways (=interstates). You don't need to purchase these if you are using local roads only. We didn't use the autobahns in these countries so we didn't buy them. Francois, got photos! Probably too many. Let me know if you need some for a particular place. Didn't get a chance to drive up to Beaterberg but it looks to be a really pretty drive. Link to comment
Francois_Dumas Posted October 7, 2009 Share Posted October 7, 2009 I'd love to see/use some of your pictures around Lake Thun/Brienz ... haven't been to that area for a while myself now... Link to comment
Francois_Dumas Posted October 7, 2009 Share Posted October 7, 2009 That's ONE thing where a guide would have made a difference.... I would have known and told the person that his helmet would not do Link to comment
BeemerLover Posted October 9, 2009 Author Share Posted October 9, 2009 Francois, I'll send you some over the weekend... Took pics in old town Thun. Yeah, we got waived through at the border checkpoint at the northern end of Leichetnstein but they stopped him. Cost him $45. Looked at the map and found a crossing point across the border into Switzerland that did not have a crossing. No problems after that! Link to comment
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