THE GERMAN STELLPLATZ

Don Madge

Thanks to veteran motorhomer and MMM Travel Consultant, Don Madge, who wrote the following useful notes for other motorhomers travelling in Germany and looking for free or inexpensive safe places for the night, outside of a campsite.

The image on the left shows Don and Maureen's Timberland next to our Four Winds motorhome waiting in Brindisi to board the ferry for Greece. On the right, we are in  Igoumenitsa, having just landed in Greece at the beginning of 2006. The Madges were again heading for Turkey

Don writes:

We have just completed a 30-day tour of Germany. We started at Trier on the Mosel with three nights on the Messepark car park. We arrived after dark and when we saw all the vans we assumed it was the Stellplatz, though in the morning we realised it was the Messepark, which is free. It's right next door to the Stellplatz, which charges €5 per night. There were about 50 campers on the Messepark and about 30 on the Stellplatz. We were amazed at the number of campers about for the time of year. We pottered along the Mosel to Koblenz, using the many Stellplatz in the area. Some were free and at two we paid €6 per night.

From Koblenz we moved down the Rhine to Bingen, with one night at Oberwesel and two at Bacharach, both very pleasant places to watch the Rhine traffic. Like the Mosel, little had changed since we were last there 10 years ago. We then moved on to tour the Odenwald, slowly moving down the River Neckar from Heidelberg to Heilbronn. After that it was the turn of the Black Forest - it was 19 years since we last toured the area. We had two nights at Oberkirch, two nights at Freiburg, then across the river into France for a couple of nights at Chalampe. Then it was a quick trip into Switzerland for a look at the Rhine Falls at Scaffhausen and back into the Black Forest for two nights at Unterkirnach and one night at Buhl. The forested sides of the valleys are beautiful, full of autumn colours and so far the weather has been very kind to us.

We spent a night at Bad Bergzabern before moving north on the Deutsche Weinstrasse, then it was back along the Rhine and Mosel to Trier.

For those who are not familiar with the German Stellplatz, here are a few personal observations on the ones we have used so far on this trip.

We used the ADAC (German AA) Stellplatz Guide, the 2005 edition (ISBN 3-89905-213-7), which cost us €12.90 from the ADAC office in Freiburg.

Stellplatz are found in many cities/towns/villages and come in all shapes and sizes (from 4 to 200 pitches). They can be found in town/village car parks with Motorhome designated parking bays, swimming pool/sports centre car parks, specially built landscaped areas usually maintained by the local authority, on river banks and quayside car parks, attached to and sometimes even inside campsites. They can also be found at restaurants, where it's obligatory to eat in the restaurant. We have also come across them attached to the Wine Caves but have never stayed the night. These are a few examples of where Stellplatz can be found. After talking to the locals, I'm led to believe that there are now 2,000+ Stellplatz available in Germany, with more opening each month. We found three new ones that were not listed in the 2005 guide. We never came across any indication of length of stay restrictions.

Costs vary from place to place: expect to pay more in the popular tourist areas. On this trip so far we have paid €50 for 23 nights. The most we paid was €7 for the night at the Rhine Falls. The average for the areas we visited was €5 per night. Out of the 23 night stops we have had so far, 13 were free. Many night fees are collected by machine and the ones we encountered only took coins, so if you are planning to use the Stellplatz make sure you have a ready supply of one and two Euro coins and 50 cent pieces for the electricity box. Some sites require you to visit the tourist office or Rathaus (Town Hall/Council Office).

Facilities also varied considerably. Many had a service point (named Sani Station or Holiday Clean) or directions to the nearest one. Charges were usually one or two Euros for fresh water (80 to 120 litres), emptying toilet and waste tanks. On many sites we used, an 8+ metre motorhome would have problems trying to dump waste. Unlike France, we have yet to come across an unserviceable Sani Station/Holiday Clean in Germany.

Electricity is available on some sites, usually metered. The only one we used cost 50 Euro cents for 1 Kilowatt. The Stellplatz at Unterkirnach was €6 per night, which included electricity and free use of the Sani Station, a very good bargain. On the 1 & 2 November, the Stellplatz was full (14 places).

Mosel

We toured both banks of the river between Trier and Koblenz in glorious sunshine (well, most of the time). There are many Stellplatz on either bank - almost every other village has one. We found the Sani Stations were not so frequent. If you have an 8+ metre van you might find it difficult emptying waste tanks. In one or two places it was fairly tight with our Timberland. The popular places like Cochem and Bernkastel Kues we found were very crowded and the Stellplatz in both towns were small, sloping and close to the main road. We tended to use the ones in the smaller quieter villages.

Rhine

We also toured both banks of the Rhine between Koblenz and Rudesheim. The road on the west bank (road 9) has more stopping places than road 42 on the east bank. There are a few small ferries that connect either bank - we paid €5 for the Timberland plus two passengers for a single crossing. On the west bank we only found two Sani Stations, at Bacharach and Bingen, and we did not spot one on the east bank.

We checked the camp site at Oberwesel and they were offering overnight parking only for €6, plus €2 extra for water and dumping, and if you wished to use the site facilities there was an extra charge (€4 per person). I believe other sites in the area were offering similar services.

If you plan an overnight stop in Luxembourg, the Aire de Capellen is an ideal location, situated between junctions 1 & 2 either side of the A4/E25 motorway as you enter Luxembourg from Belgium. The area on the north side is laid out better for overnight parking than the south side. On both areas, if you keep to the far right as you approach the fuel pumps you can refuel the vehicle and your LPG tank at almost the same spot. On the 11th November we paid 89 Euro cents per litre of diesel - this was down 4.5 cents from the previous month (14 Oct).

We used Norfolk Line for the first time and stayed overnight both ways in the car park at the front of the terminal building. No problems at all, you're well away from the trucks and there was minimal noise from the ferries. If you are looking for an overnight stop away from the port area, there is an ideal spot 40 miles from the port situated just off junction 10 on theA25 (direction Lille) motorway. It's a Leclerc Hypermarket with a large parking area. We paid 99 cents per litre of diesel on the 11th November.

Safe travelling

Don