Travelling to Germany, Rhine area in October
I would love to hear from others who have experienced this area in October and using the stellplatz system. We are using the tunnel and want to try Germany for a first time.
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No you do not, we returned last week and so long as you do not stop and "mingle" in a transit country you do not have to quarantine. We left Aachen at 08:10am and got the 13:50 Chunnel train with plenty of time to spare.
As for Mosel or Rhine I would say the Mosel is prettier but we like both, if doing the Mosel start at Trier and work your way along to Koblenz (good SP at Landstein) virtually every village will have a SP so no need to rush, take bikes as Germany there are literally bike lanes/paths everywhere and stop and cycle your way along. This year we got down to the Alps and up to a glacier which was brilliant so depends on how much time you have, if just a week do the Mosel, if a month then up to you how far you go.
We have now been to Germany 3 times and love it, as said above the people are friendly, loads to do and see and the virus situation is so much well managed compared to here.
October is a great month to go especially around Halloween as they love a pumpkin there, we have been lucky with weather but like here at that time of year it may be variable but as they are still harvesting grapes i would think you have a good chance of reasonable weather.
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Yes but mostly better and very few free ones!!!
No you cannot book a SP, most have EHU but you pay for everything, EHU ranges from €1.50 a night upwards but a lot charge by the kw and you have to feed the meter, we only used EHU at a couple where it was all inclusive price, one was €2 a night the other charged €5 per night including pitch, EHU, and fresh/waste water. You will generally always pay for water (normally €1/100l) and one or 2 for emptying toilet. If you have refillable gas (freely available) and a solar panel you should not need EHU.
Cant say about camp sites as hardly use them except when we need to do washing. Would highly recommend you get Search for sites app (you can use web site for free) for £5.99 a year then just look on there.
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Yes Michael, I knew that but it is no mingling or mixing whilst in transit through France/Belgium - see the FCO web site on returning to UK from France. As the OP is in a motorhome he should be ok so long as he has enough fuel to do the transit!
Muffinn. If you arrive UK with an empty tank there is Tesco near J10 of he M20, useful for filling up on way out too.
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There's another Tesco fuel stop at J12 just east of Folkestone or a Sainsburys at J8 near Ashford.
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No you do not, we returned last week and so long as you do not stop and "mingle" in a transit country you do not have to quarantine. We left Aachen at 08:10am and got the 13:50 Chunnel train with plenty of time to spare.
MichaelT, we have been looking at going over in the next week, the thing that has put me off is that according to the UK.Gov site when you look at the advice for travelling to Germany, the link to the German site states that Belgium and The Netherlands are on Germany's list of 'high risk' along with France and as such you may be required to quarantine on arrival in Germany. I know that Germany are doing tests on folk arriving from these areas, we are not worried about that but would not like to have to quarantine on arrival for 2 weeks. It isn't clear on the website if 'transiting' through Belgium from the UK and not stopping would be considered as 'staying' in the country. I know that coming back we won't have to as like you we planned to stay at Aachen.
If you have any info on that at all I'd be grateful.
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As far as I can see the UK is not regarded by the German government as a high risk area at the moment, and so visitors from the UK can enter Germany, but with UK infection rates soaring it seems likely that will soon change. Only the German government can give you an authoritive up to date answer .
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Thanks ET but it was the German Government site I was on.
According to that it states that coming from UK there are no restrictions (yet) but having to drive through a bit of France then Belgium to get to Germany might, as both France and Belgium are one the 'high risk' list for entering Germany. While the borders are not closed there are restrictions in place. It's just not clear if driving through without coming into contact with others would be permitted as is the case currently in place when returning to the UK.
I don't think we will be going, as you say the infection rates here are rising fast as is the case across Europe.
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TG We went over on 28th August and there were no checks at borders anywhere, we travelled through France/Belgium/Luxembourg, same coming back did not see any border checks. On other forums many people going over and no checks and no need to quarantine at the moment so I would say apart from the risk of no insurance in the transit countries you should be fine and no need to quarantine.
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yes just go to Gravelines 20 minutes up the road (and on the way to Germany) and park for the night then continue next day. So long as you do not get out and mingle and spend 14 days in Germany there is no problem. When we went end of August only us and another van there so plenty of social distancing and its free
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Germany has this week (23.9.2020) announced restrictions on visitors from Dublin but not yet for visitors from UK.
Visitors from Dublin must EITHER bring with them a negative Covid test report no more than two days old, OR must take a compulsory test on arrival in Germany and isolate at a named address until a negative result comes through.
If certain places in the UK go on to the high risk list for Germany this procedure gives an idea of how the rules might be applied in our case too.
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We have been over there the last couple of years in October and early November and it has been great so well worth going, we would be back tomorrow if we did not have to work
. We are due to go to Christmas markets late November early December but playing that by ear at the moment due to the situation and not sure the will go ahead this year even though they are outside.0 -
I hope that's no longer true, Lutz.
I just looked up travel advice and it says:
There are now no general COVID-19-related restrictions on entry into Germany from elsewhere in the EU, the UK, Iceland, Liechtenstein or Norway. Entry restrictions and heightened checks on Germany’s borders for those arriving by land or air from these countries expired on 15 June. For Spain, the restrictions on entry (by air) were lifted on 21 June.
The German Interior Ministry has confirmed that travellers from the UK are no longer required to demonstrate a valid reason in order to enter Germany. Standard German entry and immigration rules in place before the COVID-19 outbreak apply.
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Yes I saw that to but you also need to follow the link to the German entry advise which states that if arriving from any area that is deemed at risk then a test and isolate may be required.
Belgium, France and most of the Netherlands are on Germany's list of 'at risk' what I couldn't get clarification on was IF we don't stop or come into contact with others would we still we subject to test and isolation.
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It is true that entry into Germany from France, Belgium and most of the Netherlands will not be denied and you do not have to provide a valid reason for entering the country, but there is a need to register with the local health department upon arrival if you have entered from any of those countries and you do need to be able to produce a negative Covid-19 test that is not older than 48 hours and to self isolate for 14 days.
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