Hi, We are docking in Mannheim with a Viking river cruise. Thought it might be a fun idea to get over to Luxemberg. Is it a doable drive? How long would it take? Is there much to see on the way? Thanks for any information that you can provide, Janet
Posted by
Green Bay
20201 posts
viamichelin says 2 1/2 hours, and that does not factor in stau (traffic jambs) and wrong turns. Then factor in time to rent the car, time to turn the car in, getting to/from the dock and the rental location. Then parking in Luxembourg.
How long is the boat docked in Mannheim?
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
32847 posts
That's quite a day trip.
With just a day to get there and back you won't have time to do anything but get there and back. There is a scenic forest on the way there but it will mean leaving the autobahn and going via Pirmasens and you won't have time to stop.
So the autobahn it will have to be. It will look much like other motorways around the world with added fun of German constructions and stau. The area around Mannheim is very industrial and there is huge traffic. Once you are on the A6 you will pass Ramstein and Kaiserslautern so you will see lots of signs for US airbase and installation, right where a lot of the construction is. After you pass by the A1 it lightens up a bit for the run via Neuenkirchen - where huge blast furnaces and steel plants have been turned into an entertainment centre - and north of Saarbrucken for the run to the border at Schengen. Please slow down to 80 kph or as marked for the tunnels. Tunnels are safe when everybody follows the rules and speed is a highly policed rule in the tunnels, supported by radar cameras. Also on the bridge approaching Schengen is a speed restriction. Shortly after Schengen you will pass Mondorf-les-Bains https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondorf-les-Bains which is a neat little resort community with a lovely public park, free parking with a parking clock, a spa and all sorts. Good if you have time to stop, but it would put a kink in seeing the city of Luxembourg.
Luxembourg the country is very rural and very neat and clean. Other than Monaco, probably the cleanest place I've visited.
Luxembourg the town is also clean and neat, and has lots of lovely pastel colours. Very 3 dimensional, with elevators between some parts of the town, also ramps and stairs. Some of the most beautiful parts of the town are visible easily by the Bock Casemates (worthy of a visit on their own) and looking down to the lowest level under the railway viaduct is photogenic. Lowest level back up is also pretty fine.
Street parking outside the centre is possible, either paying at a machine or using a clock, and is highly controlled and patrolled.
If that's what you want to do with the day, go for it. Be absolutely sure to leave plenty of time to get back to the boat as you can pick up all sorts of delays on the A6, the A61 and around all the construction in and out of Mannheim on the A650.
If you eventually decide against the drive, there are buckets of things to do in the near vicinity of Mannheim. In no particular order, the chessboard of Mannheim streets, Heidelberg, Speyer - a particular fav of mine, and its huge cathedral and other areas including Jewish, the German Wine Route (Deutsches Weinstrasse) with my particular fav of Deidesheim in the Pfalz, and for sports fans Hockenheim with the magic Hockenheimring, and a quick drive east takes you to Bad Wimpfen after the spa at Sinsheim (if you can pull yourself away). Then of course is all the area northeast, the Neckar valley and Odenwald.
Can you tell that that is one of my favourite areas in Germany?