If you are heading to the Ring to do some laps during touristenfahrten, then you need to know how and where you can get on to the track. In this article we list the Nurburgring entrance locations for both the Nordschleife and GP track.
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Is the Nürburgring open to the public?
The Nurburgring is only open to the public during touristenfahrten (tourist driving) sessions, when it is is classed as a public road. So as long as you have a road legal vehicle, a driving license and insurance then it is open to you.
There are a couple of exceptions for types of vehicles that are not allowed on the Nurburgring during tourist driving. These include vehicles which cannot exceed 60 km/h (mopeds), any vehicle over 2.8 tonnes, quad bikes, trikes and karts. Make sure you are also aware of the license plate rules and the noise limits.
Tourist driving sessions are not held every day, however. Before you head to the circuit make sure you have checked the Nurburgring opening times to see when it’s available for public driving.
Can you just turn up to Nürburgring?
Assuming you meet the criteria mentioned above, and the Ring is open for tourist driving then yes you can just turn up.
Before you head out on circuit, however, you need to buy a lap ticket. You can do this in-person at the ticket office in the Nurburgring car park, or online before hand. See our article on Nurburgring ticket purchasing information for the full down-low.
Bear in mind that there is no fuel station or EV charging point within the Nurburgring parking areas. Click those links to find out where the nearest ones are.
Nurburgring entrance for the Nordschleife
98% of the time tourist driving takes places on the Nurburgring Nordschleife. This narrow strip of tarmac with virtually zero run-off is the 13-mile long circuit which snakes its way through the Eifel mountains. It is the one you will have seen on YouTube or played on Gran Turismo.
Once you know where the Nurburgring is, you need to make your way to the correct entrance. Since the start of 2022, there is now only one entrance to the Nordschleife. This entrance can be found by plugging Einfahrt Nürburgring in to Google Maps. It is located on the L93, on a roundabout between Nurburg and Meuspath.
If you are leaving the town of Nurburg and heading East down the hill on the L93, the Nurburgring entrance is the first exit off the roundabout, on your right. It is sign posted as Zufahrt Nordschleife, which simply means ‘access the Nordschleife’.
If you are coming in the other direction, up the hill on the L93 towards Nurburg, the entrance is third exit on this roundabout, on the left hand side.
On pretty much any given day when tourist driving is open, this roundabout will have all manner of track and performance cars entering and exiting, so you will know when you’re in the right place. On a busy weekend there will be queues of cars to get to the roundabout in both directions.
If the track is shut – either due to missing the opening hours or an incident, there will be a temporary barrier placed across the entrance, meaning you cannot take that exit off the roundabout. You can check the Nurburgring webcams to see how busy the entrance is.
The Nordschleife car park through the entrance is not big. Check out our list of all nearby parking locations for the Nurburgring to see where else you can park.
If you want to head straight out on to the track, once you are through the entrance keep driving straight, down the little slope towards the fence, past the red Devil’s Diner restaurant on your left.
Keep going – just before the fence there will be probably be a marshal guiding you to the right where you can choose one of the barriers to go through. Once you’re through, then you are heading on to the Nordschleife to start your lap.
Nurburgring ticket barriers
When you arrive at the ticket barriers, there are three lanes to choose from. It doesn’t matter which lane you go in and normally you just pick the one with the shortest queue.
One thing to bear in mind, however, is which lanes have ticket readers on which side:
– Left lane: Ticket reader on left and right side
– Middle lane: Ticket reader on left and right side
– Right lane: Ticket reader on left side only
If you are on your own in a RHD car, going in the right lane means you need to get over to the left side of the car to scan your ticket. Especially annoying if you are strapped in to a harness and bucket seat.
What happened to the Breidscheid bridge / Adenau entrance?
Since the start of 2022, you are no longer able to enter the Nordschleife at the Breidscheid bridge entrance in Adenau. This was roughly around half way through a lap, and was a very convenient place to get on the track if you had stopped in Adenau for some lunch or fuel.
The Nurburgring management have said that they have closed this entrance due to safety concerns. The speed differential between cars entering the track here at the Ex-Mühle corner, and those already on a fast lap, was the cause of too many incidents and close calls.
There is a speed limit at the section of the track for this very reason, but obviously they have deemed it necessary to take measures one step further.
This can still be used as an exit if you are on a lap of the Nordschleife.
Nurburgring Grand Prix track entrance
On some days the Grand Prix track is also open for tourist driving. The entrance for this one is a little harder to find, but it is up on the Nurburgring Boulevard – near the big sign, the rollercoaster, the museum etc.
It is a 4 minute drive from the Nordschleife entrance. To get there, you can search for Historisches Fahrerlager Nürburgring on Google Maps. But below is an explanation anyway.
Leaving the Nordschleife car park, turn left and go up the hill on the L93 towards and through Nurburg. Keep going out the other side of Nurburg, and you will pass under a bridge and then reach a roundabout. At that roundabout take the first exit on to the the 258. The entrance you need to the GP track is the first turning on the right, around 150 metres after the roundabout. This is the same entrance as you would take to the Dorint hotel.
The first image below is taken from the Dorint and shows the route off the roundabout on to the 258, then taking the right turn just before the little Polizei building, and then bearing right again. If you get to the Nurburgring sign on your right, you’ve gone too far.
The second image is a map of the route to the pitlane entrance.
Once you have turned right, bear right again through some buildings. If you incorrectly bear left here, you will end up in the Dorint car park. After bearing right, in front of you will be a square tarmac parking areas surrounded by garages on all sides.
You have reached the “Historisches Fahrerlager Nürburgring” – the historic racing paddock. You can park up here before heading to the circuit, but you are better off making your way to the track and joining the queue.
To get on to the circuit, you have to leave the paddock through the tunnel passing underneath the track. Once you are out the other side, follow the track around to the left. A short way ahead of you there will be a gate through a fence, with a very small hut and hopefully a marshal standing there (circled in blue on the map above).
The marshal will scan your ticket and, once done you can drive straight forwards onto the GP track pitlane. Keep going until you reach the end of the pitlane, or join the back of a queue of cars. There will be marshals at the end of the pitlane to let you know when you can go on circuit.
Again, you can check how busy this entrance is from the Nurburgring GP track webcam feed. The image below is taken from there, and you can see the queue of cars (circled in blue) waiting to be scanned in by the marshal before heading down the pitlane.
