Travel to home of Porsche

[Rick V]

Looking for help/input from fellow PFA'rs ....I'm heading to Europe next year (August) with wifey & 2 other couples.  Us three guys are all car nuts and Pcar owners and plan to get our Porsche fix whilst in Germany.

Appreciate that there are plenty of travel forums around, but we are planning on getting to the Porsche factory & museum + Mercedes, and day at Nurburgring.......specifically looking for any current/up to date advice from fellow Porschefiles.  

Can you do Porsche & Mercedes in one day?  Are there Porsche-related options at the ring? Eg hire a Porsche or fast-lap options.

Also has anyone hired Porsches to tour throughout Germany?

[TwoHeadsTas]

3 minutes ago, Rick V said:

Looking for help/input from fellow PFA'rs ....I'm heading to Europe next year (August) with wifey & 2 other couples.  Us three guys are all car nuts and Pcar owners and plan to get our Porsche fix whilst in Germany.

Appreciate that there are plenty of travel forums around, but we are planning on getting to the Porsche factory & museum + Mercedes, and day at Nurburgring.......specifically looking for any current/up to date advice from fellow Porschefiles.  

Can you do Porsche & Mercedes in one day?  Are there Porsche-related options at the ring? Eg hire a Porsche or fast-lap options.

Also has anyone hired Porsches to tour throughout Germany?

Rick, was over there year before last - Porsche Museum is a 1/2 day, we didn't do Merc Museum but that is reported to be similar time, but is on the other side of Stuttgart I believe.  If you want to do the Factory Tour get your dates sorted quick smart and start trying to book in now!!!  We tried 3 months out and no luck.  Also, they are closed some days (Mondays??) and there's a 2 week annual closure too I believe around that time.  If you're a member of a P club, take you membership card for discounted entry to the museum and discounts in the gift shop.

Worth it to try to get to UK for first weekend in September for Goodwood Revival!!

We didn;t hire a car, but the Porsche Experience is run out of the dealership next to the Museum, not sure about longer hires though...

[WGA]

Yes you can do the Porsche and Mercedes museums in one day no problems. Both are 1-2 hrs max.

And as stated above, you have to book factory tours a long way in advance to get in - at least 3-6 months.

Plenty of Porsche Taxi ride and car hire options at the ring - RSR and Apex just to name a couple.

You might consider going to Leipzig to the Porsche test track and do a two day driving course but that will  depend on whats available at the time that matches your skill level. e.g. No point doing a Precision if you are already a track day junkie.

Also Spa is less than 2hrs from the Ring. RSR have Porsche hire cars there too. Although again, it will depend on whether any track days are available that matches your timing.

Two things to highlight.

Firstly, if you go to the Ring for a TF day, you will not need a helmet. For any other track day you will so you may need to hire one somewhere. At Spa, you must where a helmet at all times and you must where long sleeve clothes, long pants and closed shoes so don't go under dressed because they will not let you on the track.

Secondly, to hire a Porsche to go on a track is seriously expensive. RSR charges 2-4,000 euro/day (depending on track mileage) for a bog standard Cayman S up to 4-7,000 euro/day (depending on track mileage)  for a GT3 RS. Then if you prang it....well....then it gets seriously, seriously expensive.

[Rick V]

13 hours ago, TwoHeadsTas said:

Worth it to try to get to UK for first weekend in September for Goodwood Revival!!

That sounds awesome, but reckon that’s a whole separate trip....will start planting that seed with the wife’s now for the following year!

 

8 hours ago, WGA said:

Yes you can do the Porsche and Mercedes museums in one day no problems. Both are 1-2 hrs max.

And as stated above, you have to book factory tours a long way in advance to get in - at least 3-6 months.

Plenty of Porsche Taxi ride and car hire options at the ring - RSR and Apex just to name a couple.

You might consider going to Leipzig to the Porsche test track and do a two day driving course.

Also Spa is less than 2hrs from the Ring. RSR have Porsche hire cars there too.

Thanks for the heads-up  - will book early for museums/factory.  The discounts are another reason for me to stop putting off joining PCSA.

A couple of great options we hadn’t considered.  Will get onto some of these sites and check them out.

 Sounds like we’re going to need plenty of ‘German themed planning evenings’ between now & then (poor excuse for kranske & beer)👍

[Lucky Phil]

I did both in one day in July last year and it was easy to do both using public transport.  Even managed a nice lunch at Porsche museum,  but the factory is closed at that time of year for annual holidays.  If doing both both MB and Porsche in the one day keep your entry tickets and the second place gives a 25% discount on the entry ticket when you show you have visited both in one day.  Both honour this so no drama which way you do it and you don't need to be a car club member.  We did Porsche first.  Best to get an english speaking tour at Porsche as you get a more involved experience.  MB is much more focused on the history of the automobile whereas Porsche is a little different in their presentation of the brand.  If you are Porsche enthusiasts then just being around the cars making up the history of Porsche will push all the right buttons, but my wife and daughter thought that the MB Museum was far superior.   The shops are quite expensive.  Nice dealership across the road from Porsche Museum too if you want to look at all the cars for sale and see how much we are ripped off here in Oz.

Here is a copy of a mail from Porsche I received last year.  

Thank you very much for your interest in our company and the Porsche Factory Tours. We are delighted that you are planning to visit the Porsche plant in Zuffenhausen. 

Unfortunately, we don’t offer factory tours from 16. July 2018 to 14. September 2018. In this period the factory is closed due to our company holidays. 

[mhh]

Rick, the museums have been well covered by others but I have done experience with renting Porsches. I’ve rented 911s from Avis Prestige a few times. The cars are well specced and latest models. You can end up with Coupe, Cab or Targa. They probably also rent Boxsters, Caymans and Panameras - but I recall you were after a Porsche ;).

It’s the best way to get around the fatherland. Everyone budget is different so I won’t comment on the price (see Avis.de for that) but I can recommend the experience. 

[Rick V]

Ok, so I started this thread in June 2019, and of course the bat-eating fraternity completely blew all those plans out of the water.  
That said, we’re now planning on heading to Stuttgart Aug/Sep this year.  
We will do the Porsche museum (factory closed for holidays unfortunately), and we’ve booked a few ring-taxis.

We’ve just realised that our Stuttgart hotel is less than 1km from the local Porsche Brand Store - Driven by dreams….. has anyone been there?  Any good?  Also it looks like we can collect our hire Porsches from there instead of going to the factory/museum….. so wondering if anyone has any intel on the brand store

[99TS3]

On 18/06/2019 at 21:57, Rick V said:

Can you do Porsche & Mercedes in one day?

I went last year and did the Mercedes Benz museum, Porsche museum and Porsche factory tour in one day. I did it all via train.

You need to hit the Mercedes Benz museum when it first opens. If you are not doing the factory tour then it's going to be a breeze. 

I would try squeeze a dinner/lunch in at the Christophorus restaurant which is located on the top floor of the Porsche museum

[DJM]

On 16/03/2023 at 17:47, Rick V said:

Ok, so I started this thread in June 2019, and of course the bat-eating fraternity completely blew all those plans out of the water.  
That said, we’re now planning on heading to Stuttgart Aug/Sep this year.  
We will do the Porsche museum (factory closed for holidays unfortunately), and we’ve booked a few ring-taxis.

We’ve just realised that our Stuttgart hotel is less than 1km from the local Porsche Brand Store - Driven by dreams….. has anyone been there?  Any good?  Also it looks like we can collect our hire Porsches from there instead of going to the factory/museum….. so wondering if anyone has any intel on the brand store

Wasn’t open when I was there in Aug/Sept 2022 - looks like a great spot to hug blokes and drink champagne.  I assume it is chock full of super expensive Porsche Design clothing and Knick knacks.

https://newsroom.porsche.com/en/2022/company/porsche-brand-store-stuttgart-opening-30033.html

Mercedes museum is well worth a visit, interesting building and chronological display.  Lots of history of motor cars and various innovations along the way, tied to world events happening at the time.  We used Lime electric hire scooters to zip from our hotel in the centre out the Mercedes.  Super easy and a bit of fun.

We drove RSR M240i at the ring and had 992 GT3 taxi laps booked but ran out of track time with a few track closures etc so we missed out.  We drove RSR V8 M3 at Spa the next day and did 991 3RS taxi laps.  Definitely get to Spa if you can, 2h away and epic.  

 

[Rick V]

16 hours ago, DJM said:

Wasn’t open when I was there in Aug/Sept 2022 - looks like a great spot to hug blokes and drink champagne.  I assume it is chock full of super expensive Porsche Design clothing and Knick knacks.

https://newsroom.porsche.com/en/2022/company/porsche-brand-store-stuttgart-opening-30033.html

 Definitely get to Spa if you can, 2h away and epic.  

 

Ha! Cheers @DJM … well there’s two activities that we didn’t have on the itinerary;

1) Hugging blokes & drinking champagne, &

2)  Traveling to Spa.

Think we’ll pass on activity 1, but we’ve definitely added Spa to the mix.  Good call 👍

[DJM]

7 hours ago, Rick V said:

Ha! Cheers @DJM … well there’s two activities that we didn’t have on the itinerary;

1) Hugging blokes & drinking champagne, &

2)  Traveling to Spa.

Think we’ll pass on activity 1, but we’ve definitely added Spa to the mix.  Good call 👍

Whoops, Spa is a couple of hours from Frankfurt, a bit further from Stuttgart, 400km or so.  You just need a faster rental car to do that trip in 2h 😆. But I enjoyed Spa much more than the chaos of Nurburgring.

[Rick V]

Yeah, all good, we are starting in Berlin & traveling down to Stuttgart, with about 3nights in Frankfurt along the way, so Spa works for us. 

[Rick V]

Had a great day at the Ring yesterday…. Was a group of us, so piled into the BMW M5 CS taxi-ring ride … awesome experience.  Could  not believe the sheer number of GT3’s & GT4’s of all types.  Just an amazing day.  Onto Frankfurt now, then Stuttgart for the Porsche museum, then collect a Taycan, 718 Boxster S & 992 GTS for a spin through the Black Forest, playing swapsies along the way, so we get to drive all three.  Loving life right now 👍

[LeeM]

[TwoHeadsTas]

Bastard!!!  🙂 

 

Enjoy !!!!!!

[Rick V]

On 05/09/2023 at 01:14, TwoHeadsTas said:

Bastard!!!  🙂 

 

Enjoy !!!!!!

The more time I spend here in Germany, the more pi$$ed off I get as to how screwed we are in Australia with the amount of tax we have on P-cars.  I understood the argument of trying to protect our car manufacturing industry, but now that Ford, Holden & Toyota have all packed up and buggered off, surely this argument is redundant?  
Every corner here has yet another awesome Porsche. 

[LeeM]

 Well at least you can 'cycle with love' there Rick 👍😅

[Rick V]

Enjoyed sampling three very different Porsche products through the Black Forest, then a morning at the museum.  Two bucket list items checked off. 😁

[DJM]

Did you get to Spa?

[Rick V]

Hey @DJM, Unfortunately not. Traveling with a few ‘non-car people (weirdos, right?), with a really tight schedule/itinerary, so couldn’t make it work.  
But, it is still on the list, along with Monaco GP & Goodwood Festival of Speed….. watch this space. 
Now that there’s talk of a death duty in Aus….. F@*k it, we’re spending the kid’s inheritance.