adventurebuddies
Adventurer
Comments comparing Overland Expo to Abenteuer & Allrad in Germany for those who are curious and/or have considered going.
The annual Abenteuer & Allrad show in Germany is often called the biggest and best overlanding show in the world. Having been to Overland Expo West multiple times over the years, I had always been curious to check out the show in Germany.
This year, we went to the show to see the European expedition vehicle offerings in person. We are preparing for a move to Europe and have considered whether or not to sell our US registered rig in favor of purchasing one in Europe since we most likely won’t be able to get European registration for our XPCamper due to the truck modifications and large Cummins engine. To get straight to the point, Overland Expo is a significantly better show: better venue, better organization, better show offerings.
The biggest difference is the incredible educational opportunities offered at Overland Expo – whether the paid “Experience” or the free offerings. By comparison, Abenteuer & Allrad is primarily a venue for vehicle manufacturers and upfitters to display their products, and there is virtually no educational component. There are countless offerings from compact pickup or SUV chassis all the way up to the massive commercial truck chassis builds, so it makes for a fun day of window shopping. Any serious buyer of an expedition vehicle should definitely check out this show. One standout is the numerous vendors selling "shell only campers" and the “parts” for people self-building their rigs: windows, composite panels, heaters, batteries, etc. I missed Overland Expo this year, so I don't know the latest on self-build offerings as a comparison.
In my opinion, the venue for the Abenteuer & Allrad show is totally inadequate for the size of the show and the number of visitors. It takes place in a small town located several miles from the nearest autobahn, so access is via a few small country roads that all converge in town. On the Saturday of the event, we observed lines of cars several miles long just trying to get into town. Once there, the event requires visitors to park at a parking lot on the opposite edge of town and take a shuttle bus several miles back through town (past the traffic coming into town) to the actual venue. At peak times, people waited in traffic up to 2 hours to drive into town to the designated parking area, and then another hour to catch a shuttle bus to the event. The camping area is also located far from the venue, requiring campers to take shuttle busses to the venue, same as the day trippers. We took one look at the traffic and decided that we’d rather walk the hour along a pleasant forest path to get to the venue entrance.
By comparison, Overland Expo is super easy and convenient (I have only been to West). To give credit where credit is due, the organizers of Overland Expo have worked very hard to find a great venue. From the dust bowl of the early years, to the infamous mud bog, the organizers have responded to problems and made improvements each year. Based on this experience, I can’t imagine why the Abenteuer & Allrad show is still being held in the same location, even though the event has clearly outgrown it. There must be numerous retired airfields, festival grounds, or other similarly large possible venues around Germany where the event, camping, and daytrip parking areas could all be walking distance from each other.
Another failure of the Abenteuer & Allrad show was the food/drink offerings. Despite the throngs of people, there were only a few small stands selling light lunch snacks with only a very small seating area. For a country with an established culture of beer gardens and street food vendors set up in every major town plaza, I was amazed to see the limited food options and the long lines of hungry visitors trying to get lunch. Thankfully I had a protein bar and bottle of water in my backpack.
As for the European expedition truck offerings, we are very fortunate in the US to have viable mid-size chassis options for campers in the size range from Sportsmobile to XPCamper (Nimbl) to Earthcruiser. The closest equivalent in Europe is the Iveco Daily, but otherwise, they are mostly limited to smaller vehicles such as the Sprinter based campers, or larger ones on commercial chassis such as Unimog and MAN. After viewing the available options, we decided that we love our XPCamper too much to let it go. So we will move to Europe and bring the vehicle on a Temporary Import Permit. Assuming we are unable to register it locally as expected, we will just keep traveling periodically in and out of the EU to keep the TIP active.
The annual Abenteuer & Allrad show in Germany is often called the biggest and best overlanding show in the world. Having been to Overland Expo West multiple times over the years, I had always been curious to check out the show in Germany.
This year, we went to the show to see the European expedition vehicle offerings in person. We are preparing for a move to Europe and have considered whether or not to sell our US registered rig in favor of purchasing one in Europe since we most likely won’t be able to get European registration for our XPCamper due to the truck modifications and large Cummins engine. To get straight to the point, Overland Expo is a significantly better show: better venue, better organization, better show offerings.
The biggest difference is the incredible educational opportunities offered at Overland Expo – whether the paid “Experience” or the free offerings. By comparison, Abenteuer & Allrad is primarily a venue for vehicle manufacturers and upfitters to display their products, and there is virtually no educational component. There are countless offerings from compact pickup or SUV chassis all the way up to the massive commercial truck chassis builds, so it makes for a fun day of window shopping. Any serious buyer of an expedition vehicle should definitely check out this show. One standout is the numerous vendors selling "shell only campers" and the “parts” for people self-building their rigs: windows, composite panels, heaters, batteries, etc. I missed Overland Expo this year, so I don't know the latest on self-build offerings as a comparison.
In my opinion, the venue for the Abenteuer & Allrad show is totally inadequate for the size of the show and the number of visitors. It takes place in a small town located several miles from the nearest autobahn, so access is via a few small country roads that all converge in town. On the Saturday of the event, we observed lines of cars several miles long just trying to get into town. Once there, the event requires visitors to park at a parking lot on the opposite edge of town and take a shuttle bus several miles back through town (past the traffic coming into town) to the actual venue. At peak times, people waited in traffic up to 2 hours to drive into town to the designated parking area, and then another hour to catch a shuttle bus to the event. The camping area is also located far from the venue, requiring campers to take shuttle busses to the venue, same as the day trippers. We took one look at the traffic and decided that we’d rather walk the hour along a pleasant forest path to get to the venue entrance.
By comparison, Overland Expo is super easy and convenient (I have only been to West). To give credit where credit is due, the organizers of Overland Expo have worked very hard to find a great venue. From the dust bowl of the early years, to the infamous mud bog, the organizers have responded to problems and made improvements each year. Based on this experience, I can’t imagine why the Abenteuer & Allrad show is still being held in the same location, even though the event has clearly outgrown it. There must be numerous retired airfields, festival grounds, or other similarly large possible venues around Germany where the event, camping, and daytrip parking areas could all be walking distance from each other.
Another failure of the Abenteuer & Allrad show was the food/drink offerings. Despite the throngs of people, there were only a few small stands selling light lunch snacks with only a very small seating area. For a country with an established culture of beer gardens and street food vendors set up in every major town plaza, I was amazed to see the limited food options and the long lines of hungry visitors trying to get lunch. Thankfully I had a protein bar and bottle of water in my backpack.
As for the European expedition truck offerings, we are very fortunate in the US to have viable mid-size chassis options for campers in the size range from Sportsmobile to XPCamper (Nimbl) to Earthcruiser. The closest equivalent in Europe is the Iveco Daily, but otherwise, they are mostly limited to smaller vehicles such as the Sprinter based campers, or larger ones on commercial chassis such as Unimog and MAN. After viewing the available options, we decided that we love our XPCamper too much to let it go. So we will move to Europe and bring the vehicle on a Temporary Import Permit. Assuming we are unable to register it locally as expected, we will just keep traveling periodically in and out of the EU to keep the TIP active.