Maps

Maps
One of the questions we are often asked about cycling (bicycling for our American friends) is where would you recommend that we go cycling in Germany? This question is almost impossible to answer. Germany has 40 000 km of cycleways. There is good cycling to be found all over. The rather oddly named, well at least to our eyes, Allgemeiner Deutscher Fahrrad-Club (ADFC - General German Bicycle Club) has published an excellent map of the whole of the country showing all of the major cycling routes called ADFC-Entdeckerkarte. This is in German, but it’s a map and is available free-of-charge from ADFC stands at bicycle fairs etc. You can request a copy from the ADFC Bundesgeschäftsstelle, Postfach 10 77 47, D 28077 Bremen, Germany. As the ADFC is a voluntary society and dependent on the subscriptions paid by members such as my wife and I, it would be polite to enclose one or even two International Reply Coupon/s.
There is also a booklet available from the German National tourist Office entitled “Discovering Germany by Bike” which gives you some but not all of the routes shown on the map.
The Bavarian provincial government has produced a map of Bavaria with all of their cycle routes entitled: “Bayernetz für Radler”. You can order it from Ernst Vögel GmbH, Kalvarienbergstraße 22, D93491 Stamsried; Germany, eMail: voegel@voegel.com
When you have decided where you want to cycle then you can buy the ADFC/BVA 1:150000 Radtourenkarte map/s from the CTC or Stanfords. These maps show the roads and cycle routes as a function of motor traffic density. The less traffic there is the brighter the colour on the map, so the quiet roads really stand out. They also show cycle routes in neighbouring countries, so that short trips across the border can be planned without having to buy new maps.