If you’re heading to the Nurburgring to complete some tourist driving laps, you should also spend some time soaking up the atmosphere in and around the circuit. On a busy day there’s often more exotic machinery to be seen parked up off the track than driving on it. In this article we list all of the Nurburgring parking locations you need to know about.
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Nurburgring parking
If this is your first time at the Ring, we would recommend soaking up the atmosphere before heading out on track. Afterall, this is a place like no other in the world. On any given day whilst the circuit it open, you are likely to see every kind of exotic, performance and track car imaginable.
To best take in your surroundings, you will need somewhere to park your car. How busy it is will determine where you are likely to be able to park.
If there is a track closure due to an incident on the circuit, that is often when the Nurburgring parking areas will be at their busiest. We will discuss where is best to park in this situation later in this article.
If you are looking for somewhere to park and charge you EV car, check out our article on all EV charging locations near the Nurburgring.
Nurburgring Nordschleife main entrance parking
At the main entrance to the Nordschleife, there are three separate parking areas:
- Official Nurburgring parking area for Nordschleife entrance
- Nurburgring ticket office car park
- Overflow car park
1. Official Nurburgring parking area for Nordschleife entrance (free)
Once you have followed directions on how to get to the main entrance for tourist laps on the Nordschleife, you will be in the official Touristenfahrten car park. This car park is split in to two sections, which we will refer to as 1a and 1b as shown on the map above.
You can see both sections of this car park from the Nurburgring webcam, as seen in the image below.
As you enter the car park and head down the slope, on your right is a small parking area – 1a. This is where all of the Nurburgring taxis park, which usually take up around half of the parking area here. When the taxis are in position there’s normally only around 30 other spaces available to the public here.
Head down that same slope at the entrance and turn left instead, and you are in the section 1b. They have recently added some outdoor seating for the Devil’s Diner restaurant which has stolen away a dozen or so precious parking spaces here.
That leaves around 50 or so public spaces. There is a one-way system that operates in the section of the carpark in an anti-clockwise direction. Disobey this and you can be sure you’ll be heckled by a marshal who will come and stand in front of your car.
If you can get a space in either section of this car park, then this is the place to be. You are right in the thick of it, right next to the circuit entrance / exit, next to the Devil’s Diner and the washrooms are here too.
2. Nurburgring ticket office car park (free)
The second best option is the parking area where the ticket office is located. There is now a second cabin here too, so another couple of spaces gone.
We say office, but we mean glorified portacabin. This has the entire list of driving rules and regulations listed on it in a perfect impossible-to-read block of text. Check out our article which breaks down the most important Nurbugring rules instead.
This is located directly opposite the main entrance car park, on the other side of the roundabout. It’s not a big parking area and is gravelly and dusty, and can usually park around 25 cars.
Parking is normally just around the edge of the car park, but on busy day’s there’s often a row of cars up the middle. Sometimes this makes it a little harder for the guys parked on the outside to come and go.
3. Overflow car park (free)
When it’s a super busy day and both of the above two carparks are full, the last resort is the grassy, gravelly, bumpy and dirty overflow car park. This is just the other side of some trees next to the ticket office car park, and it can probably fit a few hundred cars. May not be ideal for rock-hard no-compromise track cars with big splitters and minimal ground clearance.
Where to park when there is a track closure?
If the Ring is closed during a tourist driving session to an incident on track, almost everyone that was on circuit will now need somewhere to park. Plus those coming to the track won’t be able to get on, so they will need somewhere to park too.
This is when the Nurburgring parking areas are at their busiest. Those who are keen for more laps will try and strategically park so they can get the quickest run to the ticket barriers once the track opens again.
In this instance, try parking in the order the three car parks are listed above, as they are listed in order of proximity to the entrance barriers. Once you’ve been there a while and experienced circuit closures / re-openings, you will soon learn which bits of which car parks give you quickest access to the track entrance.
Can you park on the street?
During a closure on a moderately busy day you will no doubt see cars parked on the side of the road, going from the main roundabout at the Nordschleife entrance up the hill towards Nurburg.
Whilst this can be a nuisance for the locals, it is accepted as a normal occurrence during closures. These can be some of the best spots for getting on to the track again once the circuit re-opens. If you do it, make sure you are not on the roadway but off to the side. Don’t block any house / business entrances.
Adenau / Breidscheid bridge parking (free)
Unfortunately there is no longer an entrance to the circuit at Breidscheid Bridge in Adenau. But you can still exit the circuit here.
If you get off the track and what to sit somewhere for a bite to eat whilst watching the cars hoon past, this is still a really nice spot to do this in. It may not quite have the same buzz as when it was also an entrance, but there will still be plenty of car spotting to be done. You can also walk up the steps to spectate alongside the track here.
Parking closest to the track here is either at the Café Zur Nordschleife or the Bistro Cockpit, both with a handful of spaces, and both nice places to have a currywurst and chips for lunch.
Nurburgring info centre / museum / go-karting parking (paid)
If there is some downtime from tourist driving and you want to see what else the Nurburgring has to offer, the Nurburgring Info Centre is worth a visit. This is the large building right next to the GP track which contains the Ring Werk museum, go-karting, a defunct rollercoaster and a number of motorsport related shops.
There’s a number of different places to park. On a quiet day the Ring Werk Tiefgarage (underground garage) is the closest and best place to park as it is in the Info Centre complex. Shown by the green arrow in the mpa below. Prices for parking here are:
• first hour is free
• per hour: € 1.50
• per day: € 12.00
Otherwise, there are a few open air car parks across the road which you are unlikely to need to use unless there is an event on – circled in blue below.
The left most of these three outdoor car parks is also a great spot to get a picture of your car next to the big Nurburgring sign.
