Many VW fans plan to make the pilgrimage to Austria for the infamous Worthersee car show; flying is the quickest and easiest choice, but VW Heritage team member Anna chose to drive, here’s her road trip story.
2014 was my second time at Worthersee; last year was such a great trip with amazing scenery and weather, I knew I had to make another journey down there. One big difference though, I wouldn’t be sleeping in a tent or borrowing my mum’s estate car this time (a weeks worth of camping gear wouldn’t fit in my daily Lupo). This year I had my very own T5 camper, and the interior had just been finished ready for the trip.
Essentials such as insurance for Europe and breakdown cover were arranged nice and early, I can think of nothing worse than breaking down abroad without the necessary cover in place.
We were booked onto the Thursday morning ferry from Dover; I found this was the cheapest way to cross the channel in my van, as the T5 is classed as a ‘large car’ height and width wise on Eurotunnel. The boat got us to Dunkirk for 12pm, 1pm French time, and our epic drive to Austria was about to start! We chose to travel over 2 days and go via Stuttgart, wanting to visit the Porsche museum, which was a little over half way distance, splitting the journey nicely.
We didn’t arrive there until 10pm, after an 8 hour, 600-mile drive, in horrendous rainy weather. The town looked fantastic at night all lit up, so after a couple of night time snaps we headed off to find somewhere to park up and sleep for the night.
After spending the night in a lorry park, and consuming a McDonald’s breakfast in the morning (they have much better McCafes in Germany) we parked up in the museum’s car park, a display in itself, full of all different Porsches. It’s only 8 Euros for adult entry, which seemed pretty reasonable compared to some of the places you can visit in the UK. This allowed you the whole day to look around; there is also a gift shop and a café inside. We spent a couple of hours walking round and taking pictures before it was time to start the second leg of our journey to Worthersee.
This time we had less distance to travel, and we made it to Worthersee for around 7pm. The T5 hadn’t missed a beat, and it was the longest trip we had made in it yet.
Once there, we set up on the same campsite we had used the year before. It’s just off the lake between Veldon and Reinitz; right in the middle of the action for both towns, but far enough away that its nice and quiet. Being the week before the actual show started we got to pick the spot we wanted, close to the toilets and electric hook up! We put our tent up as an awning, and to keep our spot whilst we went out; it also meant we didn’t have to drive round with things like the BBQ in the van too.
Throughout the trip we frequented the ‘usual places’. No doubt you’ve heard of them before – if not, here’s a quick guide.
The ENI petrol station (formally Shell), is a popular place for car meets, and something is always on there day or night. Stalls start setting up in the carpark nearer to the show weekend, where you can buy stickers, T-shirts etc.
Reifnitz, is the town where the main show happens; although the show hadn’t officially started when we were there, you could see the gantry and show area being built up, and lots of different cars going through the town.
Lake Worthersee, is about 20km long and 1-2km wide, and gives this region, and show its name. It’s a lovely place to sit at the side of and dip your feet in, and the water is so clear and inviting on a hot day, but beware, its absolutely freezing! The opportunity to hire a boat on the lake was too good to resist, and in the summer sun it offered great tanning opportunities, with the benefits of viewing the shore from a new perspective.
Velden is one of Austria’s most popular holiday destinations, and as such has a selection of shops and some lovely places to eat. Sadly parking can be a nightmare, with only a 30 minute limit on the street, so be careful where you choose to stop. Longer parking limits are available in car parks behind the shops.
On the fifth day we had to visit the Pyramidenkogel. It’s situated on an 851 metre high mountain just south of Worthersee near the town of Maria worth. Last year when we went the tower was shut, it had been shut from late 2008 when they knocked the old tower down to make way for the new design. The new tower is 100 Meters high, almost double the height of the previous tower at 54 meters. In fact, it’s the tallest observation tower in the world; with a viewing platform at 83 meters, a Café at 70m and a 66m long slide to get you down from the top; (apparently the longest slide in Europe.) It was just my luck that the lift was broken the day we went, however we made it to the top using the stairs, although it was a little scary up there!
Klagenfurt was the nearest large town to where we were staying, so we travelled there for food shopping, and called in at a factory outlet place en-route for Adidas and G-star related purchases! Italy isn’t too far away either, and some of our friends drove down to the border to check it out.
Faakersee is to the North West of Worthersee, closer to the Slovenian border; each day there was a large car meet in a big car park, in the shadows of the snow capped mountains. Not only was it so full it took us up to an hour to get in and park, the scenery is magnificent too! Opposite the car park is a large food and shopping hall so this is a place you can go to and spend the day, rather than just an hour or two looking round cars.
With so many modified cars flocking to Worthersee, the Police are out in force too. We were lucky/sensible and didn’t get any bother, but saw a few nice cars getting scrutinised by them. They are renowned for handing out on-the-spot fines for being too low, or having wheels that are too wide, so take some ‘spending money’ if you’re that way inclined!
Our ferry was booked for Saturday night, and with over a days’ worth of driving between us and the port, sadly we had to make plans to get home. We had thought about dropping by the Nurburgring on the way home, but with the weather in Worthersee being so good, we stayed put until the last minute. Once on the road we continued to drive until we were too tired, eventually covering 500 miles before catching some sleep at a services in mid Germany.
With a fairly early rise to get on the road again, and not knowing what traffic we may find, we got going. As we got closer we were ahead of schedule. Either we could go and visit somewhere, or try and get an earlier ferry crossing home; we opted for the early ferry crossing, and after a quick chat with the Ferry company, we got lucky and boarded the boat 6 hours early.
As you can imagine after 9 days of travelling and 2500 miles we were pleased to be home to rest; but what a trip. I would recommend any VW fan do the trip at least once in your lifetime, you will see some of the most stunning scenery, and some truly fantastic cars. For me, the best thing was our T5 hadn’t missed a beat, we tested it on all types of road, good, bad and ugly, empty and fully laden, and it never once complained.
Roll on 2015 I say, the dates are out already, hope to see you there!
For details on the show itself see here otherwise stay tuned to your favourite forums for which ‘early bird’ week to visit.
Anna
The opinions expressed here are the personal opinions of the author and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of VW Heritage
Don’t forget to tell us about your perfect idea of a VW roadtrip by entering our Christmas Competition. You could win £1000 to make the dream journey a reality!