Thinking of driving to Austria...

A snowHead

Colin Bell, If you programme your Sat-Nav to go via Luxembourg and Ulm and then make sure you have excluded toll roads you should come up with the route I use.

Dunkirk to Lille
Lille to Tournai
Tournai to Namur via Mons and Charleroi
Namur to Luxembourg - fill up as much as you can squeeze in there. The fuel at the Services at Bettembourg is as cheap as chips and open all night. Food etc is expensive so if you stop for supplies go into the shop and buy a picknick!

Luxembourg to Merzig using the A13 and then once in Germany the A8. There may still be a short section of non-motorway there but it should not slow you down at that time of night!

Once on the A8 in Germany let your navi guide you on the best route! I sometimes pick up the A8 at Karlsruhe and other times switch to the A61/6 around Mannheim and on across towards Heilbronn, turning south to either Stuttgart (A81) or Ulm (A7).

This route usually gets me from here (SE Bavaria near Salzburg) to the coast in about 9 hours and the same for coming back. I often travel overnight as I'm usually on my own and the roads are freer then.

Currently there is a lot of day time roadworks going on but at night they are no longer there - i.e not long term ones. There are also a lot of traffic warnings across Baden-Würtemberg and Bavaria because of snow - icy road surfaces and drifting snow being the problem.

As for Ulm to Ischgl - let your brother decide if he can speak German as it is 6 to one half dozen to the other which is the best route on any one day. I would not go via Garmisch though to be honest. Either via the A7 to Füssen and Reutte or via the A96 to Bregenz and in that way. Garmisch has got the World Cup Finals this weekend and when you are travelling towards (Saturday morning) it will also be when the crowds are heading to watch. It is a hell of a bottleneck in heavy traffic!

Have fun - I'm off for a weekend in Salzburgerland - Sportwelt Amadè

Sue Little Angel

,

A snowHead

In case it's any help I was in Austria today on business drove from Innsbruck to near Imst and there is no snow on the main roads or in the Inn valley. It was snowing this morning when we landed but dry when I left at 4pm. Most irritating being in the Tirol and not going skiing....

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Anyone?

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MazDave, it has snowed a lot over night. The main roads are kept clear and a lot of salt is already on the roads so when the wetter spring snow settles it does dissolve. The snow ploughs are out all night if necessary to keep them open. The ban on night transit of HGVs also helps keep the roads free to clear.

We have snow forecast for most of the weekend but experience has taught us that any weather forecast for the mountains is at best an educated guess. It was dumping down on the A10 Tauern Autobahn this time last Friday with virtually zero visibility when I was driving to the slopes. Yet less than 10 kms away I was skiing in the sun for the first part of the morning.

dk100, Puzzled

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Samerberg Sue, I refer to my earlier post on the best route from Rotterdam to Zell am see with an over night stop?

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dk100, I realised that later by looking back over the thread.
Embarassed

There is a snowHead called Robboj who did this trip in both directions in January who might be able to help. I know his return trip was a nightmare due to heavy snow and sheer volume of traffic between Zell and Munich as I was keeping him posted with traffic info by mobile phone. I live here in the south at the crossroads into Austria and am fluent in German so am able to watch the police traffic reports. For example today there is a mega hold up around Augsburg due to a multiple vehicle accident that occurred in the wee small hours. The radio reports are keeping people up to date but if you do not speak German that is not much help.

As to overnight stopping places, the choice is wide and varied. A lot depends on your route down and how long you want to drive for. Many of the motorway services have guest house accommodation (motels) or you can drop off into a town close to your route. I never stop over on my way to the Channel as I find it unnecessary, I just take regular breaks and lots of coffee!

You do not say when you will be travelling, just in "some weeks". The dates are important because of the school holiday traffic which can be horrendous. I can check the list of school holidays I have for Germany for you if you want.

Let me know if you need any help

wink

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Samerberg Sue, Thanks, we arrive 8ish in the morning at Rotterdam on Sat 27th March. Two adults, one twelve year old. I was thinking of stopping over after about 6 hours or so of driving. Do you think we would need to book somewhere in advance or chance it on the day?

I will have to speak to robboj to see which route they recommend as I know around Munich can be a nightmare.

After all it is free

dk100, That's the day a lot of European schools start their Easter holidays! So expect a lot of traffic in the Netherlands and all points south.

I'm skiing that day so will not be online until the evening. Find out Robboj's route then get back to me and I'll see what I can find out.

You can PM me if you want and we can work on from there.

Munich is never too bad as long as you know far enough in advance so you can get around the bottlenecks. If you stick to the autobahns when it is busy you can end up in some mega traffic jams. I work on the west side of Munich and live 80 odd kms to the east towards Salzburg. I have a whole raft of work around routes to avoid most of the real problems including a lot of the not so well known "exits" from the autobahns!

Sue wink

Samerberg Sue, when do the Germans go back to school? we are coming over on a late morning chunnel on Fri 9th April, so wondering wether to drive via the autobahns or go via the french telepeage which will cost more but should be quieter...

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kitenski, You should be OK coming down on the 9th as the states still on holiday will be going in the opposite direction to you. The last day of the holidays for most of the Bundesländer (the Federal States) is either the 9th or the 10th April. So they all have to head home that weekend as the kids HAVE to be in school on the first day or the parents get a visit from the school board! Toofy Grin

The ski resorts will be relatively quiet as the majority of travellers on the mainland are heading for the warmer climates down south - crossing the Brenner is not nice over Easter for example and the metal avalanche down the Tauern Autobahn is unbelievable with them all heading towards the Croatian seaside resorts.

I reckon you will have a relatively free ride to be honest, so stuff the tolls! Drive for free on the better motorways for free while you can! They will soon fill up with the Dutch and Scandinavians swanning off for their sunshine hols!

Where are you heading to this time?

I've just got back from a marvellous weekend in Sportwelt Amadé had perfect pistes virtually to ourselves and the sun shone enough for us to be able to sit outside and have lunch today. Out in the wind though it was bitter cold!

snowHead

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Samerberg Sue, cheers, there are 3 families from Leeds and 2 from Reading all heading towards Stuben Smile

snow reports

Samerberg Sue, less than 2 weeks to go and I'm starting to look at routes, do you have any suggestions?

We have an overnight stop booked here:

B&B Hotel : FREYMING-MERLEBACH
Route de Betting
57800 BETTING LES ST AVOLD
Tel : (00 33)8 92 78 80 82 *
Fax : (00 33)3 87 04 32 00
* (0.34€ TTC/min)
Latitude : +49.1412000 / DMS 49.8'28"N
Longitude : +6.8144000 / DMS 6.48'51"E

This is what viamichelin has come up with...

Departure: Calais, centre
1At Calais, Continue along: Rue du Duc de Guise
2Turn left: Rue Ernest Lejeune
3Turn right: Rue Richelieu
4Turn left: Place du Maréchal Foch
5Take Boulevard Georges Clemenceau
6At the roundabout, take the 2nd exit Continue along: Boulevard Jacquard
7Turn right: Boulevard Léon Gambetta
8At the roundabout, take the 4th exit Continue along: D940
9Continue straight on
10At the roundabout, take the 3rd exit Continue along: A16
11Close to Dunkerque, Continue along: D625
12Take E42
13Continue along: A25 / E42
14Continue along: A1 / E17 / E42
15Continue along: A27 / E42
Entry into BelgiumEntry into Belgium
16Continue along: E42 / E429 / A8
17Continue along: E42 / A16
18Close to Mons, Continue along: E19 / E42 / A7
19Continue along: E42 / A15
20Close to Namur, Continue along: A4
Entry into LuxembourgEntry into Luxembourg
21Continue along: E25 / A6
22Continue along: E25 / E29 / A3
23Close to Luxembourg, Continue along: E29 / A13
Entry into GermanyEntry into Germany
24Continue along: A8 / E29
25Take A620 / B406 / E29
26Turn left: B269N
Entry into FranceEntry into France
27Continue along: N33
28At the roundabout, take the 3rd exit Continue along: D26
29Pass Carling
30Continue along: D26
31Arrive in Freyming-Merlebach
Destination: Freyming-Merlebach, centre

kitenski, if you have booked accommodation in St Avold I would simply cough up the tolls south of Metz and skip the fiddly bits through Germany on normal roads (B406 = A406 in the UK). The B406 is a pretty good road but it does go through some small twiddling towns which are not that easy to avoid if there are roadworks or problems like slow traffic. It is also used as a rat-run by lorries trying to avoid the French tolls!

As I remember the total tolls from the Brumath interchange to Metz were not very high any way! So follow the signs out of Luxembourg to Metz. Freyming-Merlbach is just north of the A4 and St Avold is just south. The Autoroute del'Est (A4) tends to be pretty quiet on the whole so you can make good speed without annoying the gendarmes. I used this section last September and I remember paying piddling amounts at each Pèage - amounts like 2.10 Euros but quite a few times!

Hope that's clear! rolling eyes

You know it makes sense.

Samerberg Sue, that makes sense, yes, will edit my route accordingley!

How about from Freyming-Merlbach to Stuben, any suggestions?

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Cross into Germany at Rastatt and pick up the A5 to Karlsruhe then turn onto the A8 heading for Stuttgart and Ulm. Just after Ulm hit the A7 down to Memmingen then on to the A96 to Lindau/Bregenz and into Vorarlberg.

Some people here do not like the A7/A96 route but I find it the quickest and actually often use it when wanting to avoid the nightmare roadworks on the A8 between Augsburg and Munich. You may have to sit through a bit of "Blockanfertigung" at the Pfänder Tunnel near Bregenz, but in the direction you are going it will not be for very long. "Blockanfertigung" is when the use both sides of the tunnel for one direction; the hold up the traffic in blocks and work alternate directions. you are going south so I would not expect the queue to be too long that weekend.

Don't forget to pick up your "Pickels" (what we in Bavaria call the vignette)! wink

Buzz me if you want any more help. I'm working from home all next week so I should be able to help if there are any delays along the line!

Sue rolling eyes

Help!!

Thinking of driving to Austria...

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