Jena to Amsterdam by car - looking for a good town to stop en route for one night

In general this route is more comfortable by train.

Hope it is not a rental car because x-border drop-offs are very expensive.

The Ruhr area cities Dortmund and Essen are obviously on the way. With a little detour Düsseldorf can be an option. Before Ruhr area Bielefeld and Münster are options as well.

I'd opt for Münster (which isn't, however, exactly a small town), a lively university town with an nice historical center. Nearby Paderborn may be an option too.

Munster is a good idea. I'd mention Bad Camberg and Aschaffenberg, not because they are must-sees (I liked them fine), but because having a car might not be a burden, as it would be in much more important Cologne, Duesseldorf, Aachen. I didn't visit Limburg, which is more on the route, but you might research it. You are right about what a pain it is to take a car into a big city. Another option might be to return the car in pleasant Leuven, and take the Eurostar (if destination is the UK) to London from Brussels.

If the ferry is to the UK, there is also the issue of a wrong-side steering wheel being returned to a company that doesn't want it there. My personal view is that ferries are obsolete and over-rated.

It is way too close for the overnight, but I would not drive this route without visiting otherwise out-of-the-way Quedlinburg.

Hi,
Thanks for all your advice so far.

It's not a rental car. I will have driven from Scotland where we live, to get the ferry from Newcastle to Amsterdam, then to Jena, via the town of Verden (aller) where my husband used to live as a child. Then we are attending a Sommer Uni at the university in Jena for a week and returning home again via the Amsterdam - Newcastle ferry route. We are not concerned about the steering wheel being on the wrong side as we have taken our car to France many times.

We're just looking for a different route back and to take in a small, pleasant town for an overnight stop, although we know we could make it from Jena to Amsterdam in a day - we just don't want to!

Best wishes
Jacqui (Skyegirl)

We lived in Bielefeld (pop. 300,000) for 7 months and we’ve driven around this area quite a bit. Depending on if you want to go a southern, middle or northern approach I’d look at these towns/cities:

Southern: Aachen wonderful Charlemagne church
Middle: Soest pop. 50,000 and nice city center
Northern: Detmold historically wonderful town with great open air museum of buildings in a beautiful setting , Osnabruck bustling manageable city with great churches and shopping

Thanks so much for all your advice ! I think we might aim for Soest this time.

historical/scenic town centre

Just for management of own expectation the info that around 60% of the old town buildings (churches, houses, ...) of Soest were destroyed or damaged by several severe bomber attacks in WWII. So, what you will see is scenic but partly historical. This press article of a Soest newspaper in German about the worst bomber attack in Dec. 1944 contains pictures of the destruction and names destruction ratio of 65%.

Have a good journey.

Hi,
I would suggest also Münster/Westf. and Minden. Between Paderborn and Münster, I liked Münster more. In 2007 I did a day trip to Paderborn, had never gotten around to see the place until '07.

Geographically, Münster may be better suited for you.

Minden an der Weser fits the category of pleasant, peaceful and lovely town especially the Zentrum. How about Soest or Hameln?

Hi,

Part 2 here...I didn't see your choice of Soest, a very nice and peaceful place, interesting Zentrum

It's the oldest town in Westphalia, have been there several times over the years, a little inconvenient by train depending on the route and dep time since it is off the main trunk lines. For that one has to transfer in Hamm or Dortmund....just depends on the summer schedule. Since you have a car, you'll have more flexibility, such as go out to Höxten to see the Schloss (chateau) or Warburg.