Hello everybody!
I decided to do a write-up all about my Euro Delivery before I start forgetting my remarkable experiences. I remember about 6 years ago, coming to BimmerPost just to read about people’s ED stories. It was a huge inspiration for me and I knew it was a life goal to do it myself. Fast forward to June 8th 2019, I was doing my second Euro Delivery, this time for my 2019 BMW M5 Competition. My first ED was in May 2016, with my BMW M4 Competition. Back then I started to write about my story but I never completed it. I was determined to complete this one!
On my first ED we did the more popular route: Munich -> Salzburg -> Neuschwanstein Castle -> Lake Como -> Zurich -> Nurburgring -> Munich.
On my second ED I decided to do a different route and focus more on mountain passes. HUGE shoutout to
Dackelone with helping me plan my route and making amazing suggestions of where to drive and what places to visit. I attempted to do passes like Stelvio on my last ED, but because it was early May most of them were closed. This time my wife and I decided to go later, that's why we choose June 8th as our date. It's a good time to go because it's not super busy yet with the summer tourism but it's also warm enough to do the mountain passes.
Our date of June 8th fell on a Saturday as planned. The only downside to a Saturday delivery is that you can only visit the BMW Museum and not the factory tour, as it is not available on weekends - something to keep in mind for people who are considering doing this. We were not bummed as we did the factory tour back in 2016. It's definitely worth the experience. You get to see the production of the vehicles and how all the machinery/robots work. No cameras are allowed.
Our Itinerary for 2019 Delivery was as follows:
Day 0 - Arrive to Munich.
Day 1 - Pick up the car in the AM in Munich and drive to Innsbruck
Day 2 - Spend a day in Innsbruck
Day 3 - Wake up in Innsbruck and drive to Stelvio
Day 4 - Wake up in Stelvio and drive to Lake Garda via the Stelvio Pass and Umbrail Pass
Day 5 - Full day in Lake Garda
Day 6 - Wake up in Lake Garda and leave to Hotel Kolfuschgerhof via Gardana Pass
Day 7 - Leave Hotel Kolfuschgerhof and drive to Salzburg through the Grossglockner High Alpine Road
Day 8 - Wake up in Salzburg and drive to Vienna
Day 9 - Full day in Vienna
Day 10 - Wake up in Vienna and drive to Bratislava
Day 11 - Full day in Bratislava
Day 12 - Wake up in Bratislava and drive to Prague
Day 13 - Full day in Prague
Day 14 - Wake up in Prague and drive to Munich
Day 15 - Drop off the car in Munich and fly home
Day 0: Arrival to Munich
Once me and my wife arrived to the Munich airport and picked up our baggage, we were elegantly "greeted" by the BMW M4 DTM car. And as soon as we stepped out of the Munich Airport, we were pleasantly "greeted" by their Bier Garden - and of course we had to drink beer and eat German sausages as soon as we landed
.
After our Bier Garden breakfast, we headed to our hotel via Uber. We stayed at Aloft Munich, I highly recommend it. Their rooms are modern and clean, breakfast is delicious, service is good and location is walking distance to the major attractions. Also, if you are planning to stay here after you pick up your ED, they have a great underground parking garage.
Since we stayed in Munich last ED, we already did all the touristy things such as visit the Marienplatz and walk around the city. There was only one place we wanted to see again this time, and it was the Hofbräuhaus München. This has to legitimately be one of the best breweries in Germany. It is huge, with stunningly high painted ceilings, long communal tables, live music, and most importantly - AMAZING beer.
Day 1: Car Pick-up Day
This had to be the most exciting day EVER. Other than getting married of course (in case my wife is reading this). I could barely sleep the night before. Partly because I was in a different timezone but also because I was full of excitement about the day ahead.
In the AM we were greeted by a driver from BMW who met us in our hotel lobby. He was wearing a black suit and had an iPhone with our last name and everything. He shuttled us to the BMW Welt in the new G30 BMW 5 Series Diesel.
Once we walked into the Welt we went straight to the check-in desk, where we dropped off our luggage and got a tag for it (similar to an airport luggage tag). After that they walked us through the Welt, up the glass elevators, to the Delivery Lounge upstairs. Someone sat down with us, went through all the paperwork and gave us our delivery time slot and some vouchers for the BMW Museum. Afterwards we enjoyed their unlimited buffet filled with a variety of fresh delicious foods. They also had drinks including coffee, sparkling water and beers.
Once we were done eating, we greeted our delivery guy (forget his name now) and headed downstairs. This is one of the most exciting moments ever! My car was on a rotating table and spinned slowly as we walked down the stairs.
Our delivery guy was very thorough and gave lots of info about the car and helpful tips about our upcoming travels.
My 1st ED vs my 2nd ED:
Mandatory pictures outside the Welt:
We finally got into the car and did a few parade laps and parked the car in their underground garage. From the parking garage we headed back to the Welt and crossed the street to check out the BMW Museum.
Some photos from Welt & Museum:
After the Museum, we headed to our first destination: Innsbruck, Austria.
Day 2: Innsbruck, Austria
Overall Innsbruck is an excellent city to visit. It has mountains surrounding it and you can get some really beautiful photos. It's definitely worth it to take the lifts up and see the city from up top. Because it is a student city there are lots of bars and restaurants.
We stayed at AC Hotel by Marriott Innsbruck and got a view facing the mountains. The hotel has good and secure underground parking, with some other cars we saw also doing ED.
The Swarovski World Museum was about a 15 minute drive from Innsbruck downtown and was a pretty cool place to see.
