Opinions Needed-Porsche Tours/ Germany

I want to take my son to Germany this spring or summer for a father/son only vacation. He wants to go directly to the autobahn, which we may, but I also want to get in a little sightseeing. I'm thinking of renting a 911 and "just go" for a week, but I'm also thinking about taking one of the Porsche weekend tours. Has anyone taken a tour and what were your impressions? Has anyone just toured the country, and what were your impressions?

Don't know about the Porsche tours but I'd recommend taking a trip to the Nurburgring. Check it out at www.nurburgring.org . Even if you didn't drive it yourself it' be worth checking out. TIm

I've been there a number of times, having been born there & raised here. A few quick thoughts: Much of the autobahn is like the highways here...overcrowded & congested. You can't run WOT that much anymore. It's not like doing laps at a track. You could always stop by the Nurburgring and do some laps there... The factory tour is great. Keep in mind that the factory is closed the last week of July and all of August. Sign up for the tour way ahead of time, contact your local dealer and they'll tell you how to arrange it. The museum is small, but fun too (they're building a new one soon). There's a huge (I believe factory owned) dealership across the street that's fun to visit because they have tons of cars to look at in an enormous multi-level showroom. Also, near where you park is the where the factory sells all its used cars and you can check out tons of recent models in all sorts of funky colors and unusual options (and along that road is where the factory test drivers start out, one every few minutes). Across the street from that is the lot where the new cars get shipped from (saw some GT3 RS's there). All very cool. Plan to spend some time taking it all in. Check out Hockenheim too. The track is right off the Autobahn and we just dropped in. It's a great spectator track. The BMW driving school was there that day and we were kicking ourselves for not thinking of signing up ahead of time as we watched the groups of M3's and 7 series' doing laps. They've got a good museum there too, but it's mostly motorcycles. Just a few thoughts...

"Treffen" is the German word for "getting together." The word was chosen in the 1960's when the fledgling Porsche Club of America arranged charter flights for its members to Germany. When the PCA members arrived at the Stuttgart airport, PORSCHE A.G. had dozens of 356's lined up waiting for their new owners. Today, Treffen� tours are designed to provide PCA members with a total Porsche experience in Germany: Exclusive tours of the Porsche Museum and Factory in Zuffenhausen "Hot Laps" at the Weissach test track 2-day Porsche rental including taxes, maps, gasoline, roadbook, and insurance Driving on the "no-speed-limit" Autobahn 4 nights accommodations in 5-star hotels All meals, beer, wine & champagne All taxes, transfers and gratuities

If you feel up to it, you can just rent the Porsche and make your own trip. Sounds like you already know where you want to go, so maybe its worth a try. http://www.turtlerent.de/autovermietung_index.html Chris

I think Turtlerent's terms and conditions prohibit driving on the Ring. Just something to be aware of if you wanted to check it out. Tim

Thanks for the replies. There are a quite a few ideas that I will investigate, and hopefully try.

Have a great trip! Be sure to stay a couple of nights in Munich. Munich is a great city and the Bavarians in my opinion are the friendliest people in Germany. From Munich you can take a day trip to the Bavarian Alps (check out Schloss Herrenchiemsee) and Austrian Alps. You can also drive to Salzburg or other cities in Austria a couple of hours away.

Treffen� tours sounds like my type of vacation.

My wife and I visited the Porsche and Mercedes Museums this past October. Both are walk-ins with Mercedes being much bigger. Factory tours require a reservation: Werksfuhrungen factory tours - Porsche (+49)[phone removed] [email removed] We drove some 2000 miles in only a week. We found the mountainous area near Austria, south of Munich very beautiful driving with many interesting attractions. We made good use of our European City Select maps on a little Garmin handheld GPS. 7:00pm, dark and rainy, when the reserve tank light goes on. A few clicks on the GPS finds the nearest gas station less than 2 km off the highway and then a nice resturant too. I understand there is a fine if you run out of fuel on the highway. Many highways (Autobahns) have traffic and/or speed limits, but I'm sure you can find a few spots to get some speed. You might want to get a map with the various traffic signs explained, but you should not have any problems with a US license. You can survive quite well with English, but learning a few words will be helpful. A tour fitting you interests is really a great way to go, as booking multiple hotels at various convenient locations with the logistics of navigating, parking, and moving luggage can be a bit difficult and distract from the fun things. I'm sure you will have a great time.

Check out Regensburg, famouis old city in the Bayern,( my Mom's home town ) you gotta eat at the old stone bridge, been there for 700 yrs!

I've been reading Frommers guide to Germany and I believe Regensberg was a town I highlighted. For my first trip I 'm leaning towards flying to Munich, renting a car,and visit the people as well as the sights. Sometime later I think a structured tour will be in the works, like Treffen or a Porsche weekend. Germany ,Austria,and Holland have always facinated me, and there is so much to take in, that I will not attempt it all in one tour. I'm sure there are many yearly trips ahead for us. I will of course, bring back pics , but that is a little ahead of me. Thanks again for the insights.

I can't recommend Peter Sontag's Treffen highly enough. I've done it twice! Peter is a great host. He gets you in on the special tours that go beyond the usual factory tour including Weissach and test track rides. You drive Porsches on the tour! At Autobahn speeds. Check out: https://www.pca.org/news/2005_treffen.html

I took the Porsche Switzerland Vacation and it was a blast. They provided us with either a Boxster S or a Carrera Coupe so we took the convertible. Arrived in Stuttgart a couple of days before to visit the Mercedes and Porsche museums and took off for Switzerland in a convoy of 10 cars - 4 couples and the tour guide who led us through the Autobahn and the winding roads of the Swiss Alps. All accomodations and meals were included and they did a good job in selecting smaller local hotels that were still quite luxurious. I would do it again in a heartbeat! Here's the view from our Boxster: