When in the Monterey area, try to stay at Asilomar State Park & Conference Grounds...

I am doing some research into retirement travel options in the next few years and was reading about a couple of Germany Porsche tours advertised in the recent PCA Panorama magazine. Has anyone on this board ever done one of these?

Here are a couple of great looking, but not cheap tours. The first one is 15 days, the second is 10 days.

[fastlanetravel.com]

[autobahnadventures.com]

Before my wife and I retire in a couple years we are planning another trip down the Pacific Coast Hwy. If you have any great suggestions we would appreciate them. We have found the people on this board have as great a taste in travel as in cars!

Thanks,

Neil


2001 Boxster S (finally out from its winter nap as of Friday!)

A resonable drive from there to Carmel, Monterey and Pacific Grove. Close to sand dunes, otter watching, Point Lobos, beach walks, the famous 17 mile drive in Pebble Beach, Monterey Aquarium and Fisherman's Wharf.

A very peaceful and special place.


[www.visitasilomar.com]

Try the Porsche Travel Club. A dealer should have the book of tours. You can also find info on the Porsche web site.

Ed B

I have no experience in either of the German tours, but I've also been looking at those.

Not sure what route(s) you're planning from/to Wyoming and PCH. There are some places I'd highly recommend that you see. These were part of an 7K mile trip we made from Ontario to the Pacific Coast Highway a year and a half ago.

I-70 is a really scenic (and on some stretches pretty isolated drive)

Travelling along I-15, in south western Utah it's easy to visit both Zion National park and



Bryce Canyon National Park



In Nevada, just off I-15, Valley of Fire makes for a great drive.



Hoover Dam is always an impressive place to visit.

Then there's Death Valley for a hot time.



Then you can visit Yosemite National park which we unfortunately missed because fires closed the roads while we were there.

Definitely take in Carmel-by-the-Sea and 17 Mile Drive



Of course there are lots of nice stops, curves and scenery out of this world along PCH.



You want to find a nice place to stay right along PCH.

We booked a place in Pismo Beach that was on a cliff overlooking the ocean where we enjoyed a fabulous sunset while sipping on our favourite beverages on the balcony.

.

Enjoy planning your trip. There's soooooo much fabulous scenery in that part of the country.

Guenter
2014 Boxster S
GT Silver, 6 Speed Manual, Bi-Xenons, Sports Suspension (lowers car 20mm), Porsche Sports Exhaust, Porsche Torque Vectoring, Auto Climate control, heated and vented seats, 20" Carrera S Wheels, Pedro's TechNoWind, Sport Design steering wheel, Roll bars in GT Silver
[www.cyberdesignconcepts.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/14/2011 09:54AM by Guenter in Ontario. (view changes)

my completely subjective opinion of those tours is that you could do much better on your own. e.g. the FastLane Travel Alpine Trip: well over $20K for a week for two people??? i find that a bit steep. i've done lots of driving in my boxster through the alps and could easily do that same trip for a quarter of that price. a bit more if you wanted luxury hotels.

the plus side of them is that they do everything for you but you pay for that luxury. you're stuck in a group activity. little room for your individual wants and desires.

my personal preference would be to organize my own tour. you can rent porsches in germany. you can book your own hotels. and with a sat nav you can find your way around pretty easily.

it really depends on what you value; independence or ease.

--
MY 2000 S, Ocean Blue, Metropol Blue, Savanah Beige.
Bought June 2000 - Sold May 2010

My wife and I typically do a PCH trip every other year from Seattle. It is one of the best road trips you can do and you don't need to pay 10K for the trip!

We typically start in Seattle, stop three times for an overnight on the way to the SF/Napa area. One year we did the mega trip and added Carmel and Yosemite into the mix. Amazing road trip!

Some of the favorite parts are HWY 1 near Fort Bragg and staying at Tu Tu Tun lodge on the boarder of CA and OR.

considering how close you are to Bryce Canyon, I suggest a stay at the lodge right in the park.

LodgeatBryceCanyon

After an overnight in Rock Springs, I had an exciting trip in a snowstorm with the Boxster on summer tires, and finally found refuge here. (It was April.) The lodge itself has its woodsy, pioneering charm, but that canyon: wow!

A few years ago (2001) the wife and I went to Germany to pick up our new Boxster. The only tour we did was the Porsche Grand Tour (offered 2 times annually) at the factory -- check with your dealer. We spent almost a month touring in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. Our lodging was done via our timeshare company. Everything else we did by looking at maps and studying guide books. All of our touring was done in the smaller towns and villages although we did spend a day in Geneva, drove through Munich 3 times, spent several days in Stuttgart and a bus tour to Prague. Got to meet a lot of very interesting people and everyone was friendly and courteous. That may have partially been due to 9/11 a month earlier. The cost was a lot less than $10k and we got to drive a Porsche (I'm not including that cost because I would have bought it anyway

One of the highlights was visiting the Callier Chocolate factory -- that wouldn't have been on any organized tour

Enjoy your retirement no matter what you do.

All,

Thank you all for taking the time to comment.

Neil


2001 Boxster S

My wife and I did it on our own, including the Porsche factory tour and museum. Language is no problem, English is spoken nearly everywhere. In the cities public transportation is great. We rented a car only 5 days for a Black Forest road trip. In the cities parking is a hassle.

Our cost was less than half of an organized tour and we had the flexibility to dour own things.

Neil,

Ol' Lead Foot (Karen) and I went on a Fast Lane Travel "Fall Treffin" in Sept-Oct 2007. We had a wonderful time. Peter Sontag is the master of ceremonies "par excellence". There were about 25 couples in our group, people you would expect to find at the BRBS....immediate friends. Yes, the event was programmed, with Austro-Germanic precision. And, yes, it was expensive - compared to what an enterprising soul might put together for himself. But, the programming and the expense made for a relaxing, no cares, 5 star ++ vacation. My only complaint was that we elected to do the short Treffin (5 days) instead of the longer (10 day) event.

The driving experience (only 2 days instead of 7 days on the longer event) was very well organized as it should be at 150+ mph at times on the autobahn. The cars were nearly brand new (our Cayman S had about 4500 kms). The group was divided into 5 sub-groups, each sub-group led by a Porsche Travel Club driver. All the cars had nav systems and walkie-talkies so no one would get lost. All in all, relaxing at speed experience.

The hotel accommodations were superb and the food, even "on the road" was excellent, with beer and/or wine in the evening included. Again, a resourceful person could probably find a 7/11 for a breakfast burrito, a lunchtime McDonald's Big Mac and something on the economy for dinner spending considerable less, but........

Karen and I are now trying to figure out how to repeat the experience. YMMV.

Bill

after 27 years in switzerland, i know a place or two!
what do ya wanna do? porsche factory? check. Nurburgring? check. Autobahn cruising? check. Stelvio pass? check. throw in some good hotels and great food and i can guarantee you'll have a blast.
what do we need, five or six couples? one week or 10 days? i could do it.

--
MY 2000 S, Ocean Blue, Metropol Blue, Savanah Beige.
Bought June 2000 - Sold May 2010

Great idea. I wonder what it would cost to ship a car from the States to Germany and back? Probably prohibitive. But, if it is not too much more than renting a Porche for 10 days, it might be worth it.

Reading about Guenter's trip (again) and salivating over his pics (again), I need to reconsider going out west for a drive. Along the same lines, I have thought about having my Boxster shipped rather than taking the rather boring ride from Maryland to somewhere past Kansas, like Denver.

Quote
Bobtesa
Great idea. I wonder what it would cost to ship a car from the States to Germany and back? Probably prohibitive. But, if it is not too much more than renting a Porche for 10 days, it might be worth it.

Reading about Guenter's trip (again) and salivating over his pics (again), I need to reconsider going out west for a drive. Along the same lines, I have thought about having my Boxster shipped rather than taking the rather boring ride from Maryland to somewhere past Kansas, like Denver.

Bob, I don't think shipping your Porsche to Germany and back would be worth it. It would likely cost you more than renting one over there. Then you'd also be without it for (I'm guessing here at least 3 - 4 weeks before and again after the holiday). Then there's the risk of having it damaged during shipping.

Glad that you enjoyed the article on our California trip. As far our California trip, I'd do it again in a heartbeat. It's only the lack of holiday time that's stopping me right now. Again, I wouldn't recommend shipping your car. I'm not sure where you are in Maryland, but I was just checking distances. For example from Frederick, MD, it's only about 40 more miles to Springfield, MO than for us, which was our first stop after leaving home. That was our first day when we covered about 940 mi. (You'd probably spend the better part of a day with preparing, shipping and picking up your car to continue on the trip.) Might as well see some countryside along the way for less money when driving your car compared to shipping. I find even the "relatively boring" parts are interesting to see. Just comparing it to where one lives.

Death Valley, for example could be called boring, but I just wanted to experience what it was like and enjoyed the experience. The only disappointment was the fact that there was a "cool spell" when we were there and it was only 104F. I was hoping to experience what 115 - 120F felt like. If it really did get too hot, hey, there's always the top and A/C .

For what it's worth, I've just added some more pictures of our California trip to my hobby Porsche website in case you want to see additional pictures.
[www.cyberdesignconcepts.com]

If you have any questions, feel free to PM me. There really are some fabulous sights to see west of the Mississippi. If you're thinking of taking the trip. Do it. You won't regret it.

Great pics. I have been to most of those sites several times (of course I'm a lot closer than your are ) I was a little surprised you missed a picture of Snoopy and Lucy in Sedona -- great little town. We vacation there quite often (have a timeshare condo there). We usually try to go in the Spring or Fall when the temps are only in the 80's or 90's

Quote
bgale (Montrose,CO)
Great pics. I have been to most of those sites several times (of course I'm a lot closer than your are ) I was a little surprised you missed a picture of Snoopy and Lucy in Sedona -- great little town. We vacation there quite often (have a timeshare condo there). We usually try to go in the Spring or Fall when the temps are only in the 80's or 90's

Sedona is such a scenic area. I'm sure you really enjoy your time there. I just put up a fraction of the pictures we took. Lucy and Snoopy just didn't make it onto that page. Spring and Fall sounds like terrific times to go, although I never complain about heat. When we went on that trip in 09, we'd had a really cool Summer here in Ontario, with temeratures struggling to get into the 70's. Almost that whole trip, we had temperatures of 85+. I loved every moment of it. After the the first 3 days, I'd finally felt as if I'd thawed out. I'll take hot over cold any day.

I bet you really enjoy taking 89A into and out of Sedona. It's a real Boxster road.

The only problem with 89A is that people won't get out of the way.

Quote
frogster
after 27 years in switzerland, i know a place or two!
what do ya wanna do? porsche factory? check. Nurburgring? check. Autobahn cruising? check. Stelvio pass? check. throw in some good hotels and great food and i can guarantee you'll have a blast.
what do we need, five or six couples? one week or 10 days? i could do it.

Robert, I think you might have an idea there. I know that we don't have the time this year. But it's something I've been toying with (the Autobahn tour).
I guess one thing to look at is a Porsche rental. (I rented one for a day in 2000 for $500 - worth every pfennig). It did get me into the 150 mph club.

If you're into classic cars, why not schedule the trip for Monterey Auto Week? If you want to do that, you need to book a hotel now. I recommend the Carmel Mission Inn. While it's not a resort where you'd want to hang out the whole day, it is renovated, clean, fairly cheap (as $100-per-day hotel rooms are jacked up to $300-$400 or more for the week) and has good proximity (with car) to downtown Carmel and roads leading to the shows and auctions. We had a really good meal at Passionfish in Pacific Grove and maybe that was because we struck up a conversation with a man and his son at the next table, who owned eight interesting cars. If you like tapas, there's also a great and modestly priced place in Carmel called Mundaka. We had breakfast almost every day at Carmel Belle -- sort of a self-serve place with unusual food and GREAT coffee -- and, since we hadn't been out there in a few years, we were surprised at how quiet the town was every morning during the car events. It really doesn't wake up until 11am or so, so there's no problem getting into any breakfast place, although dinner reservations are recommended. If you're already familiar with auto week events, great. If not, shoot me a PM and I'll send you some recommendations. For example, the Thursday "parade" of classic cars is so crowded that it's sometimes hard to see the incredible machines there. One trick is to go back to the Pebble Beach equestrian area where the cars return later in the day. You'll have some of them all to yourself. I had media credentials, but I think you can walk into that area without them from the Lodge grounds, although you need a pass to park in the paddock area.

If you like wine and are suffering from car overload, do some tasting at Robert Talbott and Bernardus.

BTW, I'm assuming your wife is into cars or incredibly understanding. My wife falls into the latter class. For her, a car is an appliance to get from points A to B. She's really a good sport during the week, although I'm not sure I'll get her out there this year.

Frogster, That is a great idea although I am about 3 years from having the time to do this. Sounds like a future project may be in the works.

LongIslander1, I did check the dates for those events, however my wife is an elementary school teacher and I never see her beginning that week of August. She is busy day and night getting her classroom ready for the little rug-rats. That will also change in about 3 years when we retire. My wife sounds like yours, she tolerates my obsession and drives very carefully and within the speed limits. I was happy she was driving 5 years ago between Reno and Vegas when a cop followed us for 30 miles trying to catch us speeding. The radar detector kept going off (no "arrows") and he finally gave up and went roaring past us.

Neil