Day 2: Hook of Holland (Netherlands) –> Lake Constance (Germany)

Today is always a highlight of any European road trip, getting to spend almost an entire day on the legendary German autobahns in a 911.

We're travelling to Konstanz, situated on the eponymous lake. This gets us right into position for our alpine adventure.

Arrival into Netherlands

After a peaceful crossing, we're jolted awake at 06:30 by a deliberately irritating "chirping birds" wake-up alarm, clearly engineered by the ferry companies in-house psychologists to rouse us from slumber.

Wake up call

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We head to the Stena lounge for breakfast. It's tough to eat too much so early—our bodies are still on Irish time at 05:30.

After eating, we go up on deck to watch the many passing ships sailing in and out of the busy Port of Rotterdam.

It isn’t long before we’re pulling alongside our berth in the Hook of Holland.

When the announcement for drivers to return to their cars, we head down the steep nine flights of stairs to the car deck.

Usually the exit procedures from this port only takes a few minutes but today we’re in the queue for passport control for nearly an hour. When it is our turn, the passport officer examines our passport under a magnifying loupe for a solid five minutes.

We’re EU citizens entering an EU country, so no wonder this queue is taking an age this morning. We’ve never had our passports undergo such a physical examination before.

Usually, it is just a quick swipe to look up our records on the Schengen Information System (SIS) and we’re on our way.

It is always fun to look at our altimeter and see that much of our time in Holland is spent under sea level, with the legendary Dutch water control system keeping us safe from flooding.

Driving on the autobahn

The German autobahn is probably one of the few motorways in the world that can genuinely be described as exciting. With many sections having no general speed limit, you can drive as quickly as conditions safely allow.

It turns what would normally be a fairly mundane motorway journey into something altogether more engaging, particularly when you’re behind the wheel of a car built for high-speed cruising.

The two options on our car that probably make the most difference here are Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control (PDCC) and Rear-Axle Steering (RAS).

At high speed, PDCC helps keep the car remarkably flat and composed through changes of direction, while rear-axle steering makes the car feel more agile and precise when tackling faster bends or lane changes.

Together, they give the 911 an impressive combination of stability at autobahn speeds and agility when the road starts to get more interesting.

Weather

Unfortunately, the forecast is for heavy rain across our route to southern Germany today.

Driving was difficult with a lot of standing water on the road, keeping cars to a slow speed. Additionally, traffic was also heavy as this is one of the last days of summer when many Germans are returning home in their various camper vans.

Our 911 detected the conditions accurately by using microphones in the wheel wells to listen for the sounds of driving through standing water and activated the cars “wet mode” which reduces torque and engine output to reduce the risk of wheel spin in the lower traction environment.

Fuel

As we make progress further south, conditions do dry up; however, we know it is only going to be a temporary reprieve as we race the rain clouds to tonight’s destination.

This did allow us very brief spurts where we could stretch our cars legs and get to over 200 km/h. It always amazes us how comfortable it is at those speeds, with the car able to hold it in 7th gear at 3,000 rpm. It is also happy to do it at 6,500 rpm in 3rd gear.

After about 400 km of driving, it is time for our only fuel stop today. We pull into a passing Shell station – knowing this is going to hurt.

Fuel prices on the autobahn are notoriously expensive, but with over 800 km to travel today, we don’t have the time to come off the motorway and try to find better pricing.

At €3.12 a litre, this is by far the most expensive petrol we’ve ever purchased. We always buy the “best” fuel we can at every service station we stop at and that generally means enhanced additive packages and higher octane levels.

Granted, there was “cheaper” fuel available at this station. However, even the crappy E10 petrol was more expensive than we usually pay for 100 octane fuel here in Germany.

Here is a graph of every fuel stop we’ve ever made in our 911 Targa since we’ve owned it in May 2025 and the price we paid. It’s a good visual representation of what the Iran war has done to energy prices here in Europe on what was already expensive fuel.

Further south

After our stop, we push on with a few hundred kilometres still to travel. Passing the enormous coal-powered electricity generating station at Heilbronn – that has been generating electricity in the most environmentally dodgy manner since 1923.

Following a lovely – if flawed – Swiss-registered Aston Martin for a few kilometres.

Konstanz

Despite the challenging driving conditions today, we arrive in Konstanz at our planned time of 18:00.

Konstanz is a beautiful historic city on the shores of Lake Constance (Bodensee), right on Germany’s border with Switzerland. Its picturesque old town is filled with medieval buildings, narrow streets, lively squares and cafés, while the lakefront provides spectacular views across the water towards the Alps.

It is particularly interesting geographically as the area sits close to the meeting point of three countries — Germany, Switzerland and Austria — making the region a unique corner of Europe where three nations are just a short distance apart.

One of Konstanz’s most famous landmarks is the Imperia statue at the harbour, commemorating the Council of Constance (1414–1418), while the city’s lakeside setting makes it an excellent base for exploring the surrounding Bodensee and the nearby Alps.

Our hotel

For tonight, we’re staying at the Steigenberger Inselhotel, and it’s a pretty special place to call home for the night.

The hotel sits right on its own little island in Lake Constance, in what was once a Dominican monastery, with parts of the building dating back centuries.

It’s a wonderfully atmospheric combination of old-world character and modern hotel comfort, with the lake literally on our doorstep. Best of all, we’re just a few minutes’ walk from Konstanz’s old town, so it’s the perfect base for exploring the city before settling in for the evening.

Our room looks out over the peaceful Lake Constance.

Our hotel is surrounded by a moat – no signs of any crocodiles.

We went for a short walk along the lakeshore to stretch our legs after the long drive today and before dinner.

Some members of the public were waltzing to classical music while a painter captured the scene.

With the rain we passed under earlier today forecast to arrive here shortly, we head into the Altstadt for food.

Stats

Today we did 822 km over 8:48 hours, with an average speed of 93 km/h, consuming 10.0 litres/100 km.