Driving In Germany in Winter

Tinders · 19 Sep 2017 at 10:26

Hi Guys,

I know a few of you are seasoned travellers across europe so im wondering if you could give me a bit of advice.

Im have a meeting over in Germany towards the end of November, and im considering driving over rather than taking a flight, just to have a bit of a change (i fly far too much!). But im not sure if i need to have winter tyres on the car or not, I will be heading just south of Frankfurt, to a place called Karlsruhe, so not particularly snowy ordinarily. Can i get away with just having snow chains in the boot?

Cheers for any advice

Invertigo · 19 Sep 2017 at 10:30

From what I understand, it's condition based in Germany now. If you're driving in "winter" conditions you have to by law have winter tyres. I was looking at heading over before easter, and it seems the typical thoughts of drivers there is October until Easter is winter tyre weather.

Yaayuh! · 19 Sep 2017 at 15:34

I love Karlsruhe, been there a few times. It can get very cold down there in the winter and hot in the summer too, its climate has quite a wide swing.

Do you usually fly into Baden-Baden?

Tinders · 19 Sep 2017 at 16:01

I'd love to fly to Baden Baden, but the flights only go from Standsted, and thats a hell of a trek, so i normally fly from Brum to Frankfurt and get the train down.

Havana_UK · 19 Sep 2017 at 17:13

I know Karlsruhe reasonably well (I used to work for a company based very close to there) and it CAN get cold. It's probably worth putting some winters on just in case.

mjt · 19 Sep 2017 at 21:27

Interesting you consider Stansted a 'hell of a trek' but are happy to drive all the way to Karlsruhe

Fly and drive would be my advice. Or drive to Luxembourg and rent a car? Sods law that it'll be snowing when you need to get there.

Tinders · 19 Sep 2017 at 21:58

I know what you are saying, but its a 3 or so hours drive to Stanstead and the flight times are rubbish, and i hate the A14 with a passion lol. I fancied the drive to Germany as it meant i could have a stopover in France on the way back for a day or 2.

Amp34 · 19 Sep 2017 at 22:27

Just to point out - legally you're perfectly fine with a pair of all seasons if they have a ********* symbol on them. You don't need to go for a full set of winters.

TBH you probably should be using an all season in winter in the UK as well so the tyres on your vehicle now may be just fine.

mjt · 19 Sep 2017 at 22:50

Tinders said:
I know what you are saying, but its a 3 or so hours drive to Stanstead and the flight times are rubbish, and i hate the A14 with a passion lol. I fancied the drive to Germany as it meant i could have a stopover in France on the way back for a day or 2.

In that case, just take your chance and rent a car at the border if the weather's crap using comparison sites and cashback.

[TW]Fox · 20 Sep 2017 at 11:07

Amp34 said:
TBH you probably should be using an all season in winter in the UK as well

There are hardly any on the market and are not really needed.

Amp34 · 21 Sep 2017 at 16:38

[TW]Fox said:
There are hardly any on the market and are not really needed.

That’s debatable, but we’ll leave that for another thread.

Point was it may be worth him just having a quick squint at his tyres to check if they have the symbol on before he think about anything else.

Tinders · 21 Sep 2017 at 17:55

Looks like the tyres i have do say M+S ie mud and snow, they are Pirelli all weather tyres. Ive decided against driving in any case, i'll plan something towards summer instead. 6AM flight from BHX here I come!