On March 23rd 2023, I departed on a solo trip I’ve dreamed about going on for as long as I can remember: a trip to Germany to visit the museums and factories of the German automakers. For many car nuts like myself, Germany is the holy grail of all places to travel to. Over the course of one week I covered nearly 2,500 kilometers (1,500 miles), passed through four countries, and visited museums and factories of BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Volkswagen, and Porsche.
DAY 1:
7AM: Touchdown in Frankfurt. Immediately after landing and clearing customs, I hurried over to the Sixt rental car counter to pick up my rental so that I could start this week long adventure. At the counter, I got lucky and was given a fully loaded 2023 Audi A6 Allroad (station wagon) with the V6 diesel engine: the perfect car for covering long distances on the autobahn at 100mph. Before heading out of Frankfurt, I stopped by the historical part of the city for a croissant and a latte to see what tourists need to see (and to dodge the torrential downpours).
After warming up in the cafe and waiting for the rain to settle, I returned to my rental and hopped on the autobahn to speed down to Neckarsulm, where Audi has a factory and what they call the “forum” which is a big delivery center where people can pick up their cars at the factory, and also hold a showroom of cars finished by their “exclusive” department in custom paint colors, leathers, stitchings, and more. At the Neckarsulm factory, I took a tour of the A8 production line which was fascinating to see. They finish under 100 cars a day, so the production line was much slower and more hands on than other factory tours I did. Interestingly enough, 90% of the cars were painted black. The other 10% was silver, white, and a few dark blues.
From Audi, I headed to my hotel in Ludwigsburg, stopping in Affalterbach, the home of Mercedes AMG. While I couldn’t go inside, it was neat to drive through the grounds and see the home of AMG.
Ludwigsburg was a very cute little town, just north of the city of Stuttgart. I had a fabulous stay at the Harbor Hotel and ate some yummy food from local spots.
DAY 2:
On day 2 I woke up early and headed to Stuttgart to see the Porsche Museum in Zuffenhausen (and snoop around the factory grounds, oops!), and the Mercedes Museum in Stuttgart. The Porsche museum was just incredible. They had such special cars from Porsche history all the way back from the 356 to the new 911. After touring the museum I walked around the lots at Zuffenhausen (the ones I could LEGALLY see). Watching the cars get loaded onto the transporters to be transported all over the world was so fascinating to me. Almost like a little kid playing with toy trucks and cars, just a larger scale.
After drooling over Porsches in Zuffenhausen, I headed over to the Mercedes Museum which was much larger than I anticipated. There were so many staples of automotive history for Mercedes in the museum which was so fascinating to see all together. In all of these museums they typically work from oldest to newest in history, finishing with the latest models and technological advancements from the company.
DAY 3:
Originally I was supposed to spend two days in the Stuttgart area, however, after accomplishing all I wanted to in one day, I decided to detour and drive to Interlaken Switzerland for the night before heading to Munich. This had to have been the best decision I made on this trip. On the road to Interlaken, I stopped at Rhine Falls, Zurich, Lucerne, and drove on many scenic roads through the mountains. The scenery in Switzerland is like no other. The water of the lakes is so clear and bright turquoise blue, the grass is so green, the sky is so blue, it’s just so perfect. I also have never been in a place before where you see blooming magnolias and forsythia, with green grass, yet you look up and you also are facing a gigantic mountain with snow caps on them. It just is amazing. I also stopped in a little village called Lauterbrunnen, just outside of Interlaken, which was so incredibly beautiful. Interlaken itself was a great place, lots of good restaurants, beautiful buildings, and sandwiched between mountains and two lakes.
DAY 4:
On my 4th day I drove to Munich, but of course made stops along the way. Before heading north, I detoured and drove up to Grindelwald, just south of Interlaken, but a 1500ft elevation gain. At the top of the mountain, it was snowing and was just such a magical moment of my trip. On the drive to Munich, I drove through Austria and stopped in the little country of Lichtenstein. Arriving in Munich…. It was snowing there too! I guess I brought all the snow that Philadelphia never got this winter.
DAY 5:
On my 5th day I visited the BMW Welt and Factory in Munich, the Audi Forum in Ingolstadt, and ended up in Leipzig Germany for the night. The BMW Welt is a big building which BMW uses to display their cars, and also is a delivery center. In years past, Americans could pick up their BMW at the Welt, drive it around Europe and it would get shipped home. But, they stopped the program and I sadly don’t think they’ll open it up again. I was able to get the factory tour of the 3/4 series production line which was very interesting and more in-depth than any tour I had done in the past. This tour was 2 hours long and started in the pressing shop where you saw the big flat pieces of metal getting stamped into body panels. Then you’d see the panels get welded together, and two hours or so later you’d see the cars rolling off the production line. It really is a fascinating process, the logistics and precision order of everything is just unfathomable. After BMW I stopped at the Audi Forum and Museum in Ingolstadt before heading to Leipzig for the night.
DAY 6:
On my 6th day I headed to Wolfsburg. Before getting on my way, I wandered around the city of Leipzig a bit which was surprisingly a really cool city. Lots of great old buildings and shopping to do. On the way to Wolfsburg, I stopped at the Porsche Experience Center in Leipzig which is next to their Leipzig Factory. At the Experience Center, they have a little museum, but they also have a test track for customers to come push the limits of some Porsches. After Porsche I drove through the Harz National Park which was a beautiful mountainous area of Germany with a main road which passes through little villages along the way. I ended the day at my Hotel in Wolfsburg on this little farm. It was so cute and my favorite hotel of the whole trip.
DAY 7:
Day 7… The most amazing day of all… VW Wolfsburg. I am not saying it was the most amazing day of all just because it is Volkswagen, but I genuinely have never been so impressed and in shock by something like this before. To start, I visited the VW Autostadt which is basically an amusement park for VW next to the factory. At the Autostadt, there are pavilions of all the VW brands (Audi, Porsche, Bugatti, Skoda, and more), there’s a museum, restaurants, a Ritz Carlton, and last but not least, the delivery center and car storage towers.
After walking around the Autostadt by myself for two hours I got a private tour and learned some more info about the factory and Autostadt. On the tour we got to travel up to the top of the car towers which is where the cars are stored before the customer comes and takes delivery. According to my tour guide, the Autostadt delivers 500 cars…. 363 days a year…. only closed Christmas and New Years Eve. Can you believe that? 500 cars a day, most all being sold to Germans who selected to pick their new cars up at the factory rather than at the dealer. In the car elevators, 400 cars are stored in each (of the two) towers. When the customer comes and checks in for delivery, the car is automatically picked up by the elevator and sent underground to the delivery center to the customer handover center so the customer can get going home. I still cannot believe the volume of cars they are delivering here every single day, it just is incredible.
After my tour of the Autostadt it was time for the big moment, the tour of the Golf production line. It was so exciting for me to see exactly where and how my car was built. On the tour we got hit with some more incredible numbers. At VW Wolfsburg….. there are more than sixty. thousand. employees. 60,000 people. Lincoln Financial Field seats 67000 people. Now imagine nearly that many people working under one roof. The VW Wolfsburg plant is the largest car factory in the world. They still are operating in some of the original buildings from the 1930’s, which was evident on the tour from the old tall windows with layers of paint slapped on over the nearly 100 years it’s been standing for.
More incredible numbers… the factory pumps out over 3500 cars a day. In December of 2022 I toured the BMW factory in South Carolina which was incredible, and they only produce 1500 cars a day! This was over double that. It was just incredible. On the tour, we saw the cars go from blank sheets of aluminum and steel, to cookie cut pieces of metal, to welded together parts, and finally a driving and operating vehicle ready to be shipped across the world. It truly is just an amazing thing to see first hand.
What was also so amazing to me was the community around the VW brand. The tour guides I had pressed on the fact that for so many people, VW is family. Both tour guides had been working for VW for well over 20 years, and they just absolutely love sharing their love for the brand. It truly was a touching experience and one I’ll never forget.
After the overwhelmingly exciting day at VW I drove 5 hours to Frankfurt for my final night before heading home the next morning. This trip was one I’ve wanted to do literally for as long as I can remember. I am so glad I just booked the flights and went and did this with the little time I had, and I truly cannot wait to do it all over again!
MJS Media 