driving from niederau back to amsterdam

I have been thinking about our journey via car from Niederau back to Amsterdam and the more I think about the more I am thinking we are going to have to get up in the middle of the night to make it back to Amsterdam.

The ferry leaves at 5.30 and we have to be checked in by 3.30.

How much time would you give as a generous amount of time to do this journey? 9. 10, 11, 12 hours?

I am giving some serious thought to not staying in Niederau on our last night and instead driving north for about 3 or 4 hours and staying overnight so we wont miss the ferry. Am I being rash? If not where should we look at staying? bearing in mind, it probably wont be to sight see.

Karen

Hi Karen,

If you look on:

http://www.viamichelin.com/viamichelin/int/dyn/controller/Itineraires?strStartAddress=&strDestAddress=&strStartMerged=amsterdam&strDestMerged=woergl&strStartCityCountry=285&strDestCityCountry=106&empriseW=600&empriseH=310&intItineraryType=0&caravaneHidden=false&vh=CAR&distance=km&strVehicle=0&devise=1.0|EUR&carbCost=1.3&isAvoidFrontiers=false&isFavoriseAutoroute=false&isAvoidPeage=false&isAvoidVignette=false&isAvoidLNR=false&autoConso=6.8&villeConso=6&routeConso=5.6&dtmDeparture=7%2F1%2F2009&indemnite=0

or, go to http://www.viamichelin.com and plumb in Amsterdam & Woergl, they give calcualations of 941 km, and driving time of 8h 17min.

I usually allow 8 hours to get to Calais from Woergl. For Amsterdam would allow nine and a half hours.

RAC route offers a lower distance and a time of 10 hours.

To this add twenty minutes to Woergl.

Last time two of us drove back from Niederau, we did decide to leave early, left at 5.00 pm, was past Edinburgh in 23 hours. We had skied until 3.30 pm though.

Thanks Dave.

I have had a look at that site. I think we should give about 10 hours to drive back to Amsterdam. That is as long as there are no incidents on the road etc. The only thing that worries me is that if we miss our ferry, we will have to pay to get another one. If we have to be checked in at 3.30pm, allowing 10 hours for driving would mean we would have to set off from Niederau at 5.30am. That would be like getting up in the middle of the night (4.30am) for us lot! lol. and hubby doesnt really fancy driving throught the night.

So if we go for plan B which is to set off the night before and drive for about 3 hours, do you have any suggestions where is best to head to for a layover?

Karen

Cannot really comment on where to stay. In 3 hours you might be somewhere just west of Munich ~ maybe an autobahn restplace. The advantage of night driving is less traffic, the disadvantage is that most of it is heavy trucks.

When you are driving to Niederau, stop at a testplace motel, and pick up a motel booklet, for locations and prices. On the way back, you can phone ahead.

Have you checked if there is any leeway on your ferry, either for a later service, or later check in?

Well I have looked at the terms and conditions for dfds and cannot find anything that says what happens if we miss the ferry.

There is only one ferry a day. It goes from Amsterdam to Newcastle every day I think.

When I was reading the terms and coniditions it pointed out something that I hadnt thought of and that was will the kids need a booster seat? do you know if the rules are the same as the UK with regards to seating?

I'm afraid I don't know about booster seats, Karen. You will be able to find out through AA and RAC europe sites. You will need to check the law for all countries through which you will travel.