The German Stellplatz (1 Viewer)

Don Madge

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The German Stellplatz.

In Oct/Nov 2005 we did 30 day tour of Germany. We started at Trier on the Mosel with three nights on the Messepark car park. We arrived after dark and when we saw all the vans we assumed it was the Stellplatz, in the morning we realised it was the Messepark which is free and it's right next door to the Stellplatz which charges €5 per night, there were about fifty campers on the Messepark and about 30 on the Stellplatz. We were amazed at the number of campers about for the time of year. We pottered along the Mosel to Koblenz using the many Stellplatz in the area. Some were free and at two we paid €6 per night.

From Koblenz we moved down the Rhine to Bingen, we had one night at Oberwesel and two at Bacharach, both very pleasant places to watch the Rhine traffic, like the Mosel little had changed since we were last here ten years ago. We then moved on to tour the Odenwald slowly moving down the River Neckar from Heidelberg to Heilbronn. After that it was the turn of the Black Forest, it was nineteen years since we last toured the area. We had two nights at Oberkirch, two nights at Freiburg then across the river into France for a couple of nights at Chalampe. Then it was a quick trip into Switzerland for a look at the Rhine falls at Scaffhausen and then back into the Black Forest for two nights at Unterkirnach and one night at Buhl. The forested sides of the valleys are beautiful, full of autumn colours and so far the weather has been very kind to us..

We spent a night at Bad Bergzabern before moving north on the Deutsche Weinstrasse then it was back back along the Rhine and Mosel to Trier.

For those who are not familiar with the German Stellplatz here are a few personal observations on the ones we have used so far on this trip.

We used the ADAC (German AA) Stellplatz Guide, the 2005 edition (ISBN 3-89905-213-7) cost us €12.90 from the ADAC office in Freiburg.

Stellplatz are found in many cities/towns/villages and come in all shapes and sizes (4 to 200 pitches). They can be found in town/village car parks with Motorhome designated parking bays, swimming pool/sport centre car parks, specially built landscaped areas usually maintained by the local authority, on river bank and quayside car parks, attached to and sometimes even inside campsites. They can also be found at restaurants where it's obligatory to eat in the restaurant. We have also come across them attached to the Wine Caves but have never stayed the night. This is a few examples of where Stellplatz can be found. After talking to the locals I'm led to believe that there are now 2000+ Stellplatz available in Germany with more opening each month. We found three new ones that were not listed in the 2005 guide. We never came across any indications of length of stay restrictions.

Cost vary from place to place, expect to pay more in the popular tourist areas. On this trip so far we have paid €50 for 23 nights. The most we paid was €7 for the night at the Rhine Falls. The average for the areas we visited was €5 per night. Out of the 23 night stops we have had so far 13 were free. Many night fees are collected by machine and the ones we encountered only took coins. So if you are planning to use the Stellplatz make sure you have a ready supply of one and two Euro coins and 50 cent pieces for the electricity box. Some sites require you to visit the tourist office or Rathaus (Town Hall/Council Office)

Facilities also varied considerably, many had a service point (named Sani Station & Holiday Clean) or directions to the nearest one. Charges were usually one or two Euros for fresh water (80 to 120 litres), emptying toilet and waste tanks. On many sites we used a 8+ metre motorhome would have problems trying to dump waste. Unlike France we have yet to come across an unserviceable Sani Station/Holiday Clean.

Electricity is available on some sites, usually metered. The only one we used cost 50 Euro cents for 1 Kilowatt. The Stellplatz at Unterkirnach was €6 per night which included electricity and free use of the Sani Station, a very good bargain, on the 1 & 2 November the Stellplatz was full (14) places.

Just some observations that some one might find useful.

Mosel.

We toured both banks of the river between Trier and Koblenz in glorious sunshine (well most of the time), there are many Stellplatz on either bank, almost every other village has one. We found the Sani stations were not so frequent. If you have a 8+ metre van you might find it difficult emptying waste tanks. In one or two places it was fairly tight with the Timberland. The popular places like Cochem and Bernkastel Kues we found were very crowded and the Stellplatz in both towns were small, sloping and close to the main road. We tended to use the ones in the smaller quieter villages.

Rhine.

We also toured both banks of the Rhine between Koblenz and Rudishiem. The road on the west bank (road 9) has more stopping places than road 42 on the east bank. There are a few small ferries that connect either bank, we paid €5 for the Timberland plus two passengers for a single crossing. One the west bank we only found two sani stations, at Bacharach and Bingen and we did not spot one one the east bank.

We checked the camp site at Oberwesel and they were offering overnight parking only for €6, €2 for water and dumping and if you wished to use the site facilities there was an extra charge (€4 per person) I believe other sites in the area were offering similar services.

Luxembourg

If you plan an overnight stop in Luxembourg the Aire de Capellen is an ideal location, they are situated between junctions 1 & 2 either side of the A4/E25 motorway as you enter Luxembourg from Belgium. The area on the north side is laid out better for overnight parking than the south side. On both areas if you keep to the far right as you approach the fuel pumps you can refuel the vehicle and your LPG tank at almost the same spot. On the 11th November we paid 89 Euro cents for a litre of diesel this was down 4.5 cents from the previous month (14 Oct).

Dunkirk

We used Norfolk Line for the first time and stayed overnight both ways in the car park at the front of the terminal building. No problems at all, you're well away from the trucks and there was minimal noise from the ferries. If you are looking for an overnight stop away from the port area there is an ideal spot 40 miles from the port situated just off junction 10 on the A25 (direction Lille) motorway. It's a Leclerc Hypermarket with a large parking area. We paid 99 cents for a litre of diesel on the 11th Nov.

Safe travelling

Don
 

Frank and Anne

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thanks Don for the informative ifo on Stellplatz , we are just in process of booking our ferry. going to Brugge first then Vallkenburg outside Mastreich then on to Trier and surrounding area , never been in this direction before always been to France orSpain. :thumb:
 
Jul 28, 2008
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Thats resurected an old post!

Try buying Board Atlas - the german stelplaz guide is huge and worth it. (The one for rest of Europe is okay but not as detailed)

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Bulletguy

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Try buying Board Atlas - the german stelplaz guide is huge and worth it. (The one for rest of Europe is okay but not as detailed)
Think you mean BORD?

Just found the 2008 atlas came with a cd rom with all GPS co-ords, but the cd is no longer available and wasn't issued with the 2009. However, if you are a member of the 'other' motorhome forum.....you can get a freebie download there!!
 
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scotjimland

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I have uploaded the Stelplatz POIs to a Google map

Stelplatz - Google Maps

be aware, there are several pages to browse..

From each POI you can find the GPS by right clicking on the marker then clicking 'what's here' the co ordinates will go into the Google search box. and of course you can look at the location with the satellite view..

hth

jim
 
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Xmas here we come

thanks Don for the informative ifo on Stellplatz , we are just in process of booking our ferry. going to Brugge first then Vallkenburg outside Mastreich then on to Trier and surrounding area , never been in this direction before always been to France orSpain. :thumb:

If you are a member of the Caravan Club try them for a quote we got Hull to Rotterdam for just over £200 with ITX fares you have to buy 7 camping cheques but they work out free when you compare the fares

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keith

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Thats resurected an old post!

Try buying Board Atlas - the german stelplaz guide is huge and worth it. (The one for rest of Europe is okay but not as detailed)

Talk of Don Madge makes me wonder if anyone has heard from him lately?

To anyone who is new to motor homing, Don is a very long time traveller who has lots of experience from his travels. Are you out there Don? ::bigsmile:
 

bobandjanie

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We are on our 4th trip to Germany, love it. Just starting our 7th week out of our 8 on the Mosel, 2nd time this way. Used ACSI campsites for two nights to get the washing done (well not true as at one we parked on their stellplatze outside the gates of one) and 'proper' stellplatzes the rest of the time. Found more this time NOT to stay at, lots of evidence of unsociable or criminal activity in the area. We had one stressful night at Quedlingburg, beautful old town, nice stellplatze, admittedly they did not touch the van but yobs did try smashing into the ticket machine and had a little play with the sani station (nice) so for nearly 5 hours from midnight it was a bit tense, worse because to move would have meant getting out of the van and validating and paying for our ticket before we could move. So though the barrier was a disinclination to joyriding round the car park which was good, though we did see one man in a nice car drive up to the in gate and raise the barrier leaving it so his lady friend could drive her car out without paying! :Doh: Wish I had thought of that:Smile:
Another night, Frankenburg I think, lovely well laid out stellplatze, the electric machine 10 feet from my head was robbed in the night, two padlocks and the main lock were removed. We did not hear a thing but curiously they left the two other machines and the sani station alone... was this because Bob had woken in the wee small hours, as he does, and on his way back to bed (with a short detour) 'crept' under my pull down bed to turn the radio right off as it's lights were flashing and I jokingly said 'Who's That?' and I am not that quiet!:ROFLMAO:
We stayed at other lovely places (Tangermunde springs to mind) where I have been told by Germans since has seen a fair bit of trouble and all has been well while we were there. There does seem to be a change in the counrty, do not believe it when they say ...in 'Europe' (the other bit from ours) they do not have a problem with excess or under age drinking. Wrong, the times they are a changing.
We have learnt one (more, always learning) :RollEyes:thing..... if in doubt, move on, because at least you cannot kick yourself or each other later if something happens.

Jane ::bigsmile:

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Hi BG if you change the page you will find then, go to the bottom of the list on the left hand side. Its an annoying thing that maps does with large amounts of Poi's, stick them earth and it displays them all in one go.

Olley
 
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Think you mean BORD?

Just found the 2008 atlas came with a cd rom with all GPS co-ords, but the cd is no longer available and wasn't issued with the 2009. However, if you are a member of the 'other' motorhome forum.....you can get a freebie download there!!


There is a autoroute version on my website tips (linked below) with Bord Atlas 2009 along with loads of others- and I did try and upload it here but there was a problem with uploads at the time. I don't claim copyright on it as I nicked it from everywhere.

aha - just googled and found the original bordatlas source - which is good as each POI tells you what page in the book to look
Link Removed

HTH

edit: My membership on the "other" site has expired so I'll be here full time now ;)
 
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Jul 28, 2008
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Uploaded my Autoroute set here as well as uploads seems to be working.

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Hope this helps someone.

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Don Madge

Don Madge

Deceased RIP
Aug 27, 2007
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Talk of Don Madge makes me wonder if anyone has heard from him lately?

To anyone who is new to motor homing, Don is a very long time traveller who has lots of experience from his travels. Are you out there Don? ::bigsmile:

Hi Keith,

I'm still around just.::bigsmile:

I've mailed you earlier in the year it must have got lost. :Sad:

I've sent another today. Look forward to chatting to you again.:Smile:

Regards to Jean.


Don
 

Zozzer

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We had one stressful night at Quedlingburg, beautful old town, nice stellplatze, admittedly they did not touch the van but yobs did try smashing into the ticket machine and had a little play with the sani station (nice) so for nearly 5 hours from midnight it was a bit tense, worse because to move would have meant getting out of the van and validating and paying for our ticket before we could move.
Jane ::bigsmile:

We had very similar experience in Quendlinburg on our 2nd visit to the Stellplatz in Marschlinger Hof that's just up from the market square. The teenagers seemed to make focus on our van, with intimidating looks at the electric up etc etc. As you say, after dark it got much worse then seemed to stop around 1:30am. We half expected
the hook up cable to be missing in the morning but it wasn't. Beautifull town, but been there, seen it, and survived.

Zozzer
 
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thanks Don for the informative ifo on Stellplatz , we are just in process of booking our ferry. going to Brugge first then Vallkenburg outside Mastreich then on to Trier and surrounding area , never been in this direction before always been to France orSpain. :thumb:

if only wish we were going with you,works a terrible thing.

See you soon

Pete & Sue:thumb::thumb:

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hilldweller

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Talk of Don Madge makes me wonder if anyone has heard from him lately?

I'm sure I saw a post this year saying he was not too well.

I hope he's better, he got us to souther Spain without any problems this year.
 

Zozzer

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thanks Don for the informative ifo on Stellplatz , we are just in process of booking our ferry. going to Brugge first then Vallkenburg outside Mastreich then on to Trier and surrounding area , never been in this direction before always been to France orSpain. :thumb:

We don't do Spain or France, for us all roads from Calais & Dunkerque head east to Belgium, The Netherland, Germany and much farther

Just make sure you arrive at a stellplatz with plenty loose change, €2, €1, €0.50 & €0.20 coins. Nothing worse than not being able to get change for a €50 note. I once had to force myself to go in the pub across the road from the P2 stellplatz in Rothenburg ob der Tauber.

Won't be long before we are on the stellplatz in Cologne for the Xmas markets, only going for ten days so can't go far. Possibly head down the Rhine towards Koblenz and to Trier on the Mosel.

Our only fear is the water being frozen at the service point, not being able to fill our 25litre bottle.
 
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Sep 26, 2010
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I have uploaded the Stelplatz POIs to a Google map

Stelplatz - Google Maps

be aware, there are several pages to browse..

From each POI you can find the GPS by right clicking on the marker then clicking 'what's here' the co ordinates will go into the Google search box. and of course you can look at the location with the satellite view..

hth

jim

Hi Jim,
Have the POI's been disabled? When I follow the link I just get a google map of Germany/France, but no POI's - or, more possibly am I doing something wrong?
Thanks
John

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AdgeRas

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Hi Jim,
Have the POI's been disabled? When I follow the link I just get a google map of Germany/France, but no POI's - or, more possibly am I doing something wrong?
Thanks
John

The link works for me, it just takes some time to load them all.

Rasmus
 
Sep 26, 2010
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The link works for me, it just takes some time to load them all.

Rasmus

Wow! Worked this time. Excellent - that must have taken some time.
big thanks, this will be a great help.
Planning to visit 'somewhere' in Germany in September (know it's probably busy but work dictates).

Thanks again
John
 

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