I’ll be in Paderborn, Germany for the next 2 weeks (I’m leaving tomorrow). Does anyone know if it would be possible to day trip to Amsterdam during that time? It doesn’t look too far and I’ll have a rental car (although I’d rather take a train).
I may go to Berlin instead if Amsterdam is out of the question.
Your are talking about Paderborn in North Rhine-Westphalia, right? It’s an easy drive from Kassel to Amsterdam, but it would be a lot easier just to take the train. Leave late at night, sleep on the train, stay into the night and sleep on the way back. Unless you are use to German drivers and the autobahn, driving can be an unnerving experience.
Great spelling. I hope you get hit on the Autobahn.
Apologize, please!
Quasi
That was rather horrible, clayton.
I hope you never move to Texas.
tevya,
Be forwarned that sometimes traffic in Holland can get really bad. It’s happened to me many times while driving towards Amsterdam.
According to http://www.shellgeostar.com, it’s about a 3hr15m drive - and if you’re in Germany with a car for two weeks, I guess the Autobahn shouldn’t be a problem.
There are trains (www.db.de), but it looks as if the connections aren’t all that great - it takes 4-5 hours, depending on the connection. I’d drive.
Have fun!
S. Norman
Thank you all.
I will have the car with me anyway as it is a business trip and my company is renting one for me whether I want one or not. It sounds like driving will be the best bet. I’m a little nervous about the Autobahn but I think I’ll be OK because I tend to have a bit of a lead foot.
Spiny, you are correct. I will be in the North Rhine - Westphalia region of Germany. I’m pretty excited to go as this is my first trip to Germany.
Who knows? Perhaps I can be a part of a mini-Amsterdope! I’ll try to read the boards and post occasionally from the hotel room.
ITR, thanks for the traffic warning. I will be extra careful as I near Holland.
Great joke. I hope you won’t try anything like that again. Understood?
Something to keep in mind about the Autobahn is that there are many construction sites and sometimes there’s not a lot of room in between you and the car in the next lane, so be careful. Also, if you speak German listen for the “Stau” reports (“stau”=traffic jam/congested areas) on your car’s radio. The Autobahn is woefully inadequate to handle the volume of traffic and you can sit for a while waiting to move even 1 kilometer. Staus can happen any time of the day, so it doesn’t matter when you travel.
Finally, those cars coming up behind you in your mirror are travelling very fast and they want you out of their way. The right-hand lane is always your best bet. Contrary to popular belief, parts of the Autobahn do have speed limits and those are normally shown over the highway itself.
Ich wünsche Dir eine schöne Reise! (I wish you a good trip!)
Quasi