Driving to the Frankfurt motor show

[thebullettrain]

I am looking at driving to the Frankfurt motor show in September. Any advice on driving times, channel crossings and visiting the motor show itself would be appreciated!

[sklar]

I'd fly - It's a near enough a 1000 miles return from London, whereas the airport is a couple of miles away from the exibition centre.

At 35mpg that's about £170 in fuel + ferry crossing and a 8+ hour drive. A return on BA/BMI/Lufthansa from LHR is £120 approx over the time of the motor show.

If it's more than 2 of you then I'd consider it, but it's still a long time in a car.

[sklar]

Hehe, I liked the idea so much I've just booked to go!

Fly out 10:45 Saturday 24th, it gets in to FRA at 13:20. The exibition centre is open till 19:00. Enjoy the evening in Frankfurt then fly back next morning at 11:20, gets back to LHR for 11:55.

Sweet, should be fun!

[thebullettrain]

Thanks for the advice. Agree a flight sounds better but I am going with a friend which is a good reason to take the car to the continent. As we are sharing it will be cheaper than booking flights.

Tickets are reasonable at £13, so I guess I now need to start looking at places to stay.

[Cockey]

I drove home via Frankfurt a couple of years ago.

Sailed Calais to Dover and booked the ticket online a couple of hours before departure. Only cost about £20 I think. Drove (briefly) through the Netherlands and then Belgium to get there and didn't take too long.

[gtidriver]

I do the European motor show every year. This'll be my third trip to frankfurt, its very easy to get to and is best to leave real early to get in on the opening time, weekends are very busy best go mid week. The first two days are press only then the next two days are trade, but the trade day isnt advertised so we had a bit of trouble getting in, all ok in the end and it was great as it was very quiet. It-ll take around 4-5hours to do the whole show.
We then did a slight diversion on the way home and went via the ring.
Its easy to do a return trip in a day. Looking to go the first wednesday with my 4 yearold lad.

[Garlick]

We did it and it was fantastic.

Didn't take too long and far preferable to a budget airline (IMO)

Link here: http://www.pistonheads.com/doc.asp?c=52&i=2070...

[chazola]

I've been to Germany a couple of times by car, Norfolkline (DFDS) to Dunkerque is (usually) the cheapest way to cross the channel, and drops you off a bit further towards Germany than Calais. I drove to Stuttgart from London in 1 day, it was pretty knackering but to Frankfurt would be ok.

[dcb]

chazola said:

I've been to Germany a couple of times by car, Norfolkline (DFDS) to Dunkerque is (usually) the cheapest way to cross the channel, and drops you off a bit further towards Germany than Calais.

A whole 30 miles or so closer, but yes the ferries are
in general cheaper than the tunnel.

chazola said:

I drove to Stuttgart from London in 1 day, it was pretty knackering but to Frankfurt would be ok.

Depends. I've done London - Munich more times
than I care to remember. I guess it would be pretty
harsh in a 1 litre city car, but in anything vaguely
reasonable, it's fine.

Calais to Frankfurt is about 370 miles, so not that far
for an experienced Continental driver.

[thebullettrain]

Thanks for the info. I've started getting list of prices together-hotel, ferry etc and then will book.

It does appear the ferry is much cheaper. Is the Dover to Calais a shorter route than Dunkirk?

Any recommendations on cheap hotels?

[dcb]

thebullettrain said:

It does appear the ferry is much cheaper. Is the Dover to Calais a shorter route than Dunkirk?

Yes and it takes less time too.

thebullettrain said:

Any recommendations on cheap hotels?

As far as the national chains are concerned,
I use the Ibis quite frequently. Usually 24 hour
bar and English speaking staff, which is good.

Other than that, it can be more exciting to
randomly select Frau Schmidt or Mrs Miggins
guesthouse off t'Internet. Your command
of the German lingo will need to cope.

Frankfurt isn't cheap however. You might be
better off staying somewhere smaller and
prettier like Darmstadt and then using the
most excellent S-Bahn public transport to get to
Frankfurt.

[SWH]

Tunnel, foot down through France/Belgium, stopped overnight in Maastricht when I went over there in 1996... then onto some Autobahn goodness, plan the route so you can take in a little of the Rhine Valley if you're after some scenery, or straight there.

7 up, with luggage for a week, in a new-ish 2.0 Espace... nothing goes like a hire car of course

We were exhibiting at Automechanika (the trade show) and heck, the Messe (assuming that's where it is) is on an epic scale, make sure you have good shoes!

Loads of good places to eat/drink, can't comment on the costs however... glad I wasn't signing off the expenses anyway.

[thebullettrain]

Thanks guys, and thanks for the link Garlic.

Will book this weekend-am planning Friday and Saturday night - any suggestions on cheap hotels would he appreciated. B

[thebullettrain]

Tickets, hotel, chunnel all booked!