ADAC Rest Area Test 2026: Toilets Fail

The ADAC identifies the sanitary facilities as the central problem. The structural condition and equipment of the barrier-free toilets often fail to meet expectations, the ADAC said. "Damit erweisen sich die Sanitäranlagen als zentrale Schwachstelle unbewirtschafteter Rastplätze, sind aber gleichzeitig der häufigste Grund für deren Nutzung," the Club concluded. The ADAC added verbatim: "Die Autobahn GmbH muss als Betreiber die unbewirtschafteten Rastplätze stärker ins Visier nehmen – entweder durch Modernisierung oder eine Erhöhung der Reinigungsintervalle."

The facilities also often fail when it comes to quality of stay. The ADAC criticizes: "Zwar sind die grundlegenden Einrichtungen vorhanden, es mangelt jedoch häufig an Aufenthaltsqualität." At 96 percent of the rest areas, testers also found various forms of vandalism. At individual facilities, the ADAC speaks of a "stark verdreckten Gesamtzustand" and overflowing trash bins.

Vandalism and Lack of Quality of Stay

The outdoor areas reached at least a "mittleres Niveau" according to the ADAC. In the "Traffic and Parking" category, the average grade was "good." The motoring club also criticized personal safety at the facilities. According to the ADAC, comfort features are particularly lacking: only two of the 50 tested rest areas have a playground, and not a single facility offers a fresh water supply for campervans.

The test was conducted between March 13, 2026 and the end of March 2026, on weekends or Fridays between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. The 50 facilities now inspected had already been tested once in 2022. According to ADAC figures, 64 percent of the facilities deteriorated in this re-examination compared to four years earlier, and only eight percent managed to improve.

The Bottom of the Rankings

The lowest-ranked facilities in the test are spread across several highways. Rated "very poor" by the ADAC were, among others, the Wüstenforst rest area on the A2, the Hundsheide and Spitzenrheinhof facilities on the A61 in the Hunsrück and near Speyer respectively, as well as the Hessian facility "Am Pommer" on the A7 toward Fulda. In 48th place out of 50 is the "Nadelöhr" rest area on the A4 near Bad Hersfeld in the direction of Eisenach, and in 46th place the "Brühlgraben" facility on the A5 between Frankfurt and Darmstadt.

The "Am Stadtwald" facility on the A3 near Frankfurt stands out particularly negatively again — it is described in the data as the worst-tested facility in Germany. Anyone who needs to use the toilet there "muss schlichtweg weiterfahren oder die Botanik aufsuchen," it says verbatim. The "Rur-Scholle" parking area between the Düren and Weisweiler junctions on the A4, one of the main routes from North Rhine-Westphalia toward Belgium and the Netherlands, also received a worse report than in 2022.

In Hesse, according to the ADAC, several facilities drew negative attention. "Und wieder sticht der Rastplatz 'Am Stadtwald' an der A3 bei Frankfurt negativ heraus," the motoring club said. In Thuringia, the Rodablick rest area on the A4 near Laasdorf received the verdict "poor." In Saxony, the Rödertal rest area on the A4 near Ohorn achieved the grade "adequate."

Regional Distribution of Ratings

In the south of Saxony-Anhalt, two rest areas performed comparatively well: the Saaleaue Süd facility on the A14 and the Kapellenberg on the A9 received the grade "good." However, the ADAC emphasizes that even these ratings only describe an average level.

The Club is calling on Autobahn GmbH, as operator of the facilities, to take more decisive action. "Die Autobahn GmbH muss als Betreiber die unbewirtschafteten Rastplätze stärker ins Visier nehmen – entweder durch Modernisierung oder eine Erhöhung der Reinigungsintervalle," the ADAC in Hesse-Thuringia concluded. Additional offerings are also lacking: "Spazierwege, Bewegungs- oder Spielflächen sowie ausreichender Lärmschutz fehlen auf vielen Anlagen."

Demands on Autobahn GmbH

The tested rest areas have no restaurants or gas stations — they are purely parking and recreation facilities along the highways. It is precisely these small locations that are the focus of the ADAC test — staffed highway service stations with gas stations and restaurants are evaluated separately.

The results now published are the second edition of the ADAC test for unstaffed facilities. The comparison was made between the same 50 locations that had already been examined in 2022. The deterioration therefore carries even more weight because the evaluation refers to identical facilities.

Overall, the ADAC sees a clear downward trend at the small rest areas. "Deutlich schlechter als beim letzten Test" — this is how the motoring club summarizes the development. From the Club's perspective, it is above all the toilets and the quality of stay that are the central levers Autobahn GmbH needs to address.

At the same time, the ADAC points out that there are indeed positive ratings in certain aspects. In the "Traffic and Parking" category, the facilities score on average "good" — so the parking situation itself is not the main problem.

The results were picked up on July 14, 2026, among other places in the Deutschlandfunk program and in the WDR show "Lokalzeit" (WDR 2 Aachen und die Region, 06:31). The ADAC assessment is thus likely to gain further importance in the practical travel experience of motorists.

For travelers, the test results mean above all one thing: those who rely on unstaffed rest areas while on the road should be prepared for very different conditions — from clean toilets and well-maintained outdoor areas to heavily soiled and damaged sites, everything is represented.