We are thinking of leaving Basel on Wednesday May 20th and drive the 7 hour drive to friends who live in The Hague/Den haag (not too far from Amsterdam). This would require us going through Germany. We planned on return to Basel by car on Sunday May 24th. Does anyone have any experience with driving this route? Would it be a nightmare during this weekend?
We drove in Germany in '06 and '07. The good news is that the trucks were kept off the highways by law on Sundays. I don't know if that's still the case or if it is the law in Netherlands. I'm familiar with the A5. It will not be a nightmare but there will be heavy traffic around Frankfurt and other large cities.
A5 via Freiburg, Heidelberg, Darmstadt and then A3 via Cologne, Düsseldorf is probably going to be jammed in the PM of that Wednesday. In that case there is an alternative route: Take the French toll-free freeway from Basel via Mulhouse, Strasbourg to Lauterburg, then cross into Germany and continute on the Autobahn from the Landau area via Mainz, Bingen, Koblenz until North of Cologne. From there you can get into the NL via Eindhoven rather than Arnheim which might be a bit less jammed. But do listen to traffic advisory on the radio. Google for AFN radio Europe to find the right channels.