Strasbourg to Ulm drive suggestions

Welcome to the forum.

It would help to know your interests.

Be aware of the need for an IDP for every driver. Regulation:
https://www.bmv.de/SharedDocs/EN/Articles/StV/Roadtraffic/validity-foreign-driving-licences-in-germany.html

Are you familiar with driving in Germany?

And be careful with spelling names of destinations: "Rothenberg au Taber" is "Rothenburg ob der Tauber". In this case a smaller issue.

There are a couple of geological and archaeological sites on the „Schwaebische Alb“ mountain range: A lot of caves (some with Stone Age traces, water runs or megafauna remains) See here, also the general size for more information (English mode did not work for me, but it might be a me problem)
https://www.schwaebischealb.de/kultur/hoehlen-der-schwaebischen-alb/schauhoehlen-der-schwaebischen-alb
https://www.schwaebischealb.de/naturerlebnisse
There are also quite a couple of Jurassic sites, in particular sea related - so offer searching for fossils yourself
https://www.schwaebischealb.de/freizeittipps/fossilienfundstellen

Thanks for the spelling correction Mark! I have not driven in Germany yet, but I have in Spain and Ireland. I can certainly get an IDP! Are short term visitors not allowed to drive in Germany without any specific requirements (other than the IDP)? I am well over 30 and have been driving for over 20 yrs? I have no intention of speeding. Just moving from one place to another and in the process, do some stops along the way. Will be driving at the most 5 days (total stay is 14 days, the rest of the days we will move around using trains). I think driving is the more efficient way to move around Bavaria and visit smaller towns. My brother lived in Ulm for 4 yrs and I have visited, so I am a bit familiar with it and it is centric to the area.

Are short term visitors not allowed to drive in Germany without any specific requirements (other than the IDP)?

Yes, if you have a valid home driving license as well as proof such as IDP, you can drive in Germany and the EU. German traffic laws are different, you would do well to learn them.

If you hire the car in Offenburg you can drive it into France and around most of Alsace. It won't have a French Crit'Air sticker so because of environmental laws in Strasbourg you can't drive it in Strasbourg.

I'd drive through the Black Forest and take a slight detour to Tubingen, a university town with an attractive old core and riverfront.

If you pop into Bebenhausen Abbey and Palace up the road first, your day will be covered.

if you follow the above reference to Tübingen (with which I concur) you will be near Stuttgart. And if you are near Stuttgart there is Esslingen with its very interesting centre and wall (watch out for the man on a plank - look up) and you are very close to the Ritter Sport factory. Anybody for chocolate? You can't go in the factory for hygiene reasons, but they have a nice café and a huge outlet store out in the countryside. I go there for bags of seconds and all the flavours we don't get in England or at many stores even in Germany. This is where the experiments happen. ooooo.

Nigel: Can I park a car in the park car at the Strassbourg train station and then take the tram into the city or the parking by the train station also requires de special environmental sticker?

When we drive from Strasbourg to Ulm, What stops do you suggest we make? I was thinking we could do some stops in the Black Forest. We have an entire day for that day trip. Trip is scheduled for the first week of June.

That is really not very much time. We took 3 days to drive from Geislingen an der Steige (between Stuttgart and Ulm) to Freiburg. Stops included

• Mercedes Benz Factory in Stuttgart
• One night in Tubingen, which was a charming small city with an interesting museum with Neolithic artifacts, as well as ancient Egyptian and Greek artifacts.
• Hohenzollern Castle, which I would not suggest to you due to your limited time, unless you have a strong interest in the 19th century Kaisers.
• Black Forest drive with a one night stay near Schiltach and sights that included the Black Forest Open Air Museum and a lovely little hike in the Ravenna Gorge.

I am guessing our drive time from Geislingen to Freiburg was around 6 hours, but our route to the Hohenzollern Castle took us onto some slow roads from there to Schiltach.

People on this forum like Gengenbach which is near Offenburg. Perhaps you could plot a journey that goes through Gengenbach and a stop at the Open Air Museum.

Google Maps shows that as about 3 hours 40 minutes, as opposed to 2 hours 40 minutes to Ulm, via Karlsruhe, but many on this forum suggest that Google map drive times are not reliable. In any event, “doable” in a day.

Or, also “doable” would be the quicker drive via Karlsruhe and a stop at the MB Museum.

FWIW, our TR is here

you can park at a remote tram station and take the tram or train in. You can't drive in.

This is a good guide (for English folks) and gives all the areas of enforcement, even while court cases continue

https://www.leshuttle.com/uk-en/discover/traveller-guides/emissions#:~:text=A%20Crit'%20Air%20sticker%20is,level%20of%20emissions%20it%20produces.

This, from Strasbourg itself, a couple of years old webpage, has a map showing the extent of the Zone, and shows the sort of sign you will see.

https://www.strasbourg.eu/documents/976405/97677470/Low+Emission+Zone+%28ZFE%29A5GuidepedagogiqueEN.pdf/1d6c50da-ad6e-dfe0-ceab-42d476f3c004?t=1645086837561

solutions suggested by the city, including links to the Park and Ride locations are provided here

https://www.strasbourg.eu/comment-faire-evoluer-mes-deplacements

Use google or other translator and scroll down to "Car"

I would not use Strasbourg as a base to do Heidelberg.

Also, Ulm is a nice smaller city, but nearby Augsburg is amazing and in my opinion better than Ulm.

Augsburg is very historical, founded over 2000 years ago. It has an ancient cathedral with the oldest stain glass in the World. The Rathaus is amazing. Also, the Fuggeri, a 350 year old settlement for the poor is a must see.

The Romantic Road is great, but runs north-south and your movement plans are east-west.

If you plan to visit Stuttgart to see the Mercedes Museum, then do Heidelberg before you do Stuttgart then move down to Ulm or Augsburg.

The Black Forest is great, consider Friberg, Titisee and Triberg.

Staying at Ulm because I have free stay for three days. We’re not interested in Mercedes or BMW car museums. I have plans for going to Füssen (from Ulm) and back for one full day. We have another with plans to go to Rothenburg (most likely via train) and back, and another day with nothing planned yet.

If your in Offenburg there is no need to rent a car to go to Strasbourg. Jump the train for 8 euro round trip. Takes 30 minutes. Walk out the door of the station and your headed to the main parts of the city. Stay in Offenburg. There is a Holiday Inn Express two long blocks to the train station. You will save a ton of money on hotels.

I’m planning on going to Offenburg (via train from Strasbourg) just for the car rental because I will eventually drop the car off at Munich (when we get there) and I don’t want to rent in France and return in Germany due to the significant extra fee. We can park it at Khel and take the tram into Strasbourg for our last night in Strasbourg (since it seems we cannot park it by the train station at Strasbourg).

I’m planning on going to Offenburg (via train from Strasbourg) just for the car rental because I will eventually drop the car off at Munich (when we get there) and I don’t want to rent in France and return in Germany due to the significant extra fee. We can park it at Khel and take the tram into Strasbourg for our last night in Strasbourg (since it seems we cannot park it by the train station at Strasbourg).

Hmmmmhhmm…

Why not scratch the Heidelberg day-trip and just spend your first few days in Strasbourg and Alsace? Then, once you get the car, spend a night in or near the BF (Gengenbach, Freiburg, Wolfach? Baden-Baden?) - or Tubingen - on your way to Ulm?

That will increase your time between Strasbourg and Ulm from roughly 12 hours to more like 36. Once you pick up the car, you’re moving ahead with your vacation rather than backtracking/commuting.

Good that you have some time in Ulm.

One of Germany's largest and famous cathedrals is located there, this site makes Ulm famous, "das Ulmer Münster"....worth visiting.

Yes. I’ve seen the cathedral at Ulm. I haven’t entered it though. I understand you can go up for a view too. My daughter has not been to Ulm. She is the other traveler. They also have nice farmers markets twice a week and I remember the bakeries and the river. The day at Heidelberg is not set in stone. It’s supposed to be a day trip to see the Heidelberg castle. We are spending about 3 nights at Strasbourg, I just don’t want to bring the car into France or rent in France to drop it off when we arrive in Munich as that would be way more expensive. Offenburg is the closest place (to Strasbourg) where we can rent a car that’s in Germany, Kehl is very close but doesn’t have many rental options. We plan to visit Colmar from Strasbourg (train).