Breakdown on the A7

A north-south axis through six states

The A7 begins at the Ellund border crossing as a continuation of the Danish E45 and runs through Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Lower Saxony, Hesse, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg into the Allgäu. At 962.2 kilometres it's Germany's longest federal motorway, and after Spain's Autovía A-7, the second-longest continuous national motorway in Europe. Given its length, "on the A7" isn't enough for your location: a driver needs your direction of travel and a junction, an exit, or a nearby service station.

Schleswig-Holstein: heathland, the high bridge, the Rendsburg interchange

From Ellund, the four-lane route runs west of Flensburg towards Schleswig and past the Hüttener Berge nature park to Rendsburg. There it crosses the Kiel Canal and Rader Island on the Rader high bridge. At the Rendsburg interchange, the A210 connects to Kiel. South of it lies the Bordesholm triangle, where the A215 from Kiel joins only from and towards the south. From there the motorway has six lanes and bypasses Neumünster to the west. If you break down here in the open heathland, wind and little shelter are typical, see our guide (German) Breaking down on the motorway.

Hamburg: noise-protection tunnels, the Elbe Tunnel, the Elbmarsch elevated road

The A7 reaches Hamburg in the Schnelsen district. It runs through a noise-protection tunnel about 500 metres long, joins the A23 at the Hamburg-Nordwest triangle, and passes through a second noise-protection tunnel of about 900 metres. The Langenfelde bridge crosses the railway tracks to Altona station. After that, the New Elbe Tunnel, with four tubes, two per direction, runs under the Elbe, the last fixed river crossing before the North Sea. South of it begins the Elbmarsch elevated road, at over four kilometres Germany's longest road bridge. At the Hamburg-Südwest triangle, the short A261 connects the A7 with the A1. More on Hamburg is on our page Towing Service Hamburg.

Lower Saxony: the Lüneburg Heath and the Leine valley

After the state border comes the complex junction of the Maschen interchange and the Horst triangle, where the A39 and A1 connect. The A7 then crosses the Lüneburg Heath; near Bad Fallingbostel it widens back to six lanes, and the A27 joins at the Walsrode triangle. Near Schwarmstedt, the Hannover metropolitan area comes into view: the A352 branches off at the Hannover-Nord triangle, followed shortly after by the interchanges with the A37 and A2. It passes Hildesheim, runs east of it onto the Vorholz, reaches the A39 at the Salzgitter triangle, and follows the Leine valley near Northeim. For callouts on the heath, distances between exits matter, so tell us the exit number.

The Kaufunger Wald: gradients up to 8 percent

Near Hann. Münden, the A7 crosses the Werra valley on a bridge 60 metres high, running parallel to the high-speed ICE rail line. A winding climb follows onto the main ridge of the Kaufunger Wald, with gradients up to 8 percent, one of the steepest motorway sections in Europe. On the other side, it descends in a straight line from the Großer Staufenberg to Kassel. In a breakdown on a gradient, pay special attention to your brakes and hazard lights, more in our guide Brakes failing.

Hesse: Kassel, the Knüll, and the Rhön

East of Kassel, the interchanges with the A49 and A44 follow in quick succession, with a large service area including a motorway restaurant and truck stop in between (Lohfeldener Rüssel). Past Homberg (Efze), the A7 runs steeply and winding through the Knüll mountains; the A4 branches east at the Kirchheim triangle, and the A5 begins at the Hattenbach triangle. Near Fulda, the town is bypassed to the east, and the A66 branches off at the Fulda triangle. A long climb onto the southern Rhön crosses the 96-metre-high Grenzwald bridge, the highest bridge along the entire route, shortly before the state border with Bavaria.

Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg: the Main, the Frankenhöhe, the Alb

On the Bavarian side follow Bad Brückenau, the Fränkische Saale valley near Hammelburg, and the Schweinfurt/Werneck interchange with the A70. At the Biebelried interchange, the A7 meets the A3. Near Marktbreit it crosses the Main on a bridge 60 metres high, reaches the Wörnitz valley near Rothenburg ob der Tauber, and meets the A6 at the Feuchtwangen/Crailsheim interchange. In Baden-Württemberg it crosses the Virngrund, passing beneath it in a tunnel about 470 metres long, climbs the Swabian Alb near Aalen through a second tunnel, and crosses the Härtsfeld. At the Ulm/Elchingen interchange it crosses the A8, and further south it passes Ulm and Neu-Ulm at the Hittistetten triangle. It continues along the Iller to Memmingen, where the A96 branches off, and on into the foothills of the Allgäu Alps.

What we do on the A7

We take your call or WhatsApp message and organise the help. Faster is based in Antwerp, Belgium; partners on the ground drive out on the A7. We don't give a fixed arrival time, since it depends on the section, traffic and weather. Tell us your direction, a distance marker or exit, and whether you're on the hard shoulder or in an emergency bay.

How to describe your location on the A7

• Direction of travel: towards Flensburg, or towards Füssen/Ulm.
• Last or next exit, interchange, triangle, or service station.
• The distance marker at the roadside, if you can read it.
• Notable features: tunnel, bridge, roadworks, gradient.

More motorway pages are at Breakdown help on the motorway (German). Cities on the A7: Hamburg, Frankfurt am Main (via the A5 from the Hattenbach triangle).