 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi all,
My wife & I have just returned from an excellent week in Mayrhofen, and are thinking of going again next year.
HOWEVER, the drive down & back was a nightmare. We crossed via the Tunnel, overnighted in Reims and then drove down via Germany - entering near Baden-Baden, routing via Stuttgart & Munich. We drove this route a half dozen or more times from about 1991 to 2001 and it was never good because of traffic density in Germany. But this time took the biscuit...
Our average speed on the autobahns was well under 50 mph, the run from Munich to the Inntal was absolutely jammed with traffic - I think because of East European travellers joining near Munich - and most of the rest of Germany seems to have turned into an obstacle course of major roadworks. A really tiring and frustrating drive.
We have been wondering about the feasibility of routing via Switzerland next year instead. But it's a long time since we've driven in Switzerland and then only in summer. I know the route is slightly longer, and we'd have to buy a Swiss Vignette, but I'm wondering if it might be less frustrating. And possibly quicker in the end...
I'd appreciate any advice as to traffic conditions, likely weather and road condition issues.
We really enjoyed returning to skiing after all these years, but I can think of a lot more enjoyable places to be driving than Germany.... 
Thanks
Nick
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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NickL01, welcome to Snowheads.  You will get some good advice here from people who regularly drive in Germany and Austria. But at certain peak times driving - anywhere - is going to be a mission. A lot of Austrian resorts have very easy transfers from airports - could you not fly?
I drive back and forth to the French Alps four times most years and never have any problems - but I am lucky to be able to avoid those busy Saturdays.
When I sought advice here about driving from Chamonix to the Dolomites I was given unanimous advice that the Swiss alternative (which looked quite good on paper, across to Innsbruck and then south) was NOT a good idea.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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NickL01, you mean you want a route that avoids the bottlenecks on transfer days? Coming in as you did from Brumath, you chose exactly the wrong place to join on a busy changeover weekend.
There are lots of alternatives depending on where you want to go - eastern areas (i.e. Salzburgerland) central (Tirol) or western (Arlberg/Vorarlberg). What you need to do is research in advance: Find out which countries are on holiday those weekends, including parts such as states. I believe next February it should be a perfect storm around the UK Half-Term as everyone in Europe has the same dates!
Look for information about what are likely to be bottlenecks - i.e interchanges, junctions
Are there any roadworks along the route that could create further bottlenecks.
I have to commute along the A8 Munich-Salzburg axis and I have a whole raft of alternative routes that I use to avoid the tourist traffic, then some days I just avoid the motorway system completely as I know the chances of it being at a standstill are just too great to risk being late for work or I set out much earlier than I theoretically need and have breakfast when I've cleared the problem areas.
If the last time you used the route was in 2001, the volume of traffic has increased considerably since then, particularly in terms of families travelling by car from the Benelux regions. Around Munich it mixes with traffic coming from all points north and east, again Poland and the Czech Republic has seen a huge upsurge in the numbers going skiing in Austria. This in turn has increased the volume of traffic.
Getting a good Sat-Nav can help you plan as well as avoid any unforeseen hold ups caused by accidents!
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welcome to sH.
What times of day did you drive? My experience from january was 20km of roadwork around Ulm (halfway between Karlsruhe and Munich), and zero delays.
Most of my trips are leaving 5pm Friday evenings from Frankfurt, and rarely see any delays. Coming back on Sunday evenings from Innsbruck is asking for traffic carnage until Munich, then fine the rest of the way. Saturday afternoon was a nightmare in 1st week of Feb.
Will be doing that again in 2 weeks.
Can go via Bregenz, then up the A96/A7 to Ulm, and you miss out all the Munich nonsense and get the expense of a toll at St.Anton. Little longer, but you hardly even see a car let alone a traffic jam.
Last edited by You need to Login to know who's really who. on Tue 4-03-14 16:53; edited 1 time in total
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Hi Pam,
Thanks. We could fly, but in principle I actually like driving on the continent. I do enough flying for work as it is, and all the waiting around and security hassle is wearing a bit thin. Add in dealing with skis, boots and getting all the necessary clobber into airline baggage and we'd much rather be nice and snug in our own car from door to door... But my wife's a teacher, so we cop for the Saturdays...
I was afraid that the Swiss alternative might not be a goer - Mayrhofen's not far from Innsbruck, so we'd have the same issues. I remember driving in Switzerland being a slow business even in summer, but it was many, many years ago, so I was hoping things might have changed...
Nick
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Hi Andy,
We left Reims for Mayrhofen at about 7:15 am on Saturday, and it took a little over 11 hours to get there. Coming back the following Saturday, we left a little later and the trip was a bit quicker, but not much. Both directions were bad. Perhaps there are more roadworks in progress now - we went through four or five stretches around Ulm and each one just ground to a halt.
Don't know the Bregenz/Ulm route - I'll have a look.
Nick
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hmmm - stau checker not showing me any roadworks now, but no way can the Ulm ones be completed. will check again later, but it was about 3 sets in a row, about 20km in total (and in my case, no delays).
Saturday day time Innsbruck to Munich is going to be busy. Stop-start for me even to to point of taking a diversion. Only went that way at that time to drop someone off at the airport. Otherwise I'd have skied til 4pm and driven later. Indeed stay over in Innsbruck and drive home first thing Sunday.
I expect this weekend was probably busier than normal too. School holidays and Fasching.
Bregenz/Ulm is the scenic way. There's also a way over the passes, but I never bother.
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andy, Most of the A7 is only 2 lanes each way and there are some serious roadworks near the crazy Dali-esque service area. I use the A96/A7 as a way of avoiding the trouble around Augsburg sometimes but got caught badly by a broken down truck and its trailer in the roadworks section. I just had to sit there and wait for the police to reopen the road as I was too close to get around it. Only a couple of kilometres but it took nearly 2 hours to clear!
NickL01, another alternative I use is to avoid France altogether and save the money I would have paid in tolls (not driven through France to the channel for many years now). By coming through Belgium and Luxembourg it lines you up to use a mixture of motorways and main roads depending on the traffic situation. I've used sections of the A6, A61, A81 in addition to the A8 to get from the west side to the south east corner where I live.
To be honest I think you were extremely unlucky in the week you travelled as we (those of us who live and work down here) have all noticed far fewer jams this season than in previous years. Whether it is because the holidays are more spread out, the supposedly poor snow, economic worries or a combination of all of those we don't know, but Easter should provide us with a good idea if it is down to economic reasons or not. I've seen the A8 jammed from Salzburg to the Inntal Interchange and then on all the way to Munich and around the A99 to the A9 junction, it ain't pretty.
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90% of the time I'll take A6, A81, A8 to Munich, round the ring, A8, A93/A12.
10% of the time I'll take A6, A7, A8... etc.
on the way back towards Frankfurt, I'll often just stay on A8 to Karlsruhe, but i'd never do that on a Friday evening.
So many options, and always check the usual traffic websites before setting off.
I'll never ever do Munich-Inntal/Salzburg on a Saturday morning ever again. 9 hours from Munich Ring to Ljubljana. Not bad for a 4 hour journey. Stopover in Munich seemed like a good idea at the time. Next time, I won't stop before Salzburg. Once you've had one delay, you know you've got another coming just by being there later than planned.
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Samerberg Sue - we thought there was considerably less traffic on our way south than we remembered from years ago, but there was an awful lot piling south as we were returning north. Far fewer British cars than there used to be though, but I think we were out of most people's half term - for some reason our local authority ploughed its own furrow this year.
Samerberg Sue/andy - thanks for the other options - it's good to be aware of them. I have sometimes wondered if satnavs and routing websites are making traffic congestion worse in general (not just one these routes), as they all use the same or at least similar algorithms, so are piling everyone onto their nominally shortest/quickest routes, when there may be "better" options if you only know to take them. Happy to drive a bit further if I can at least keep moving!
Haven't been through Belgium for a while, having had an appalling experience with freezing fog and poor road surfaces years ago, so thereafter decided to pay the tolls for clearer roads. But we went to the Spa GP last summer and their roads were a lot better, so perhaps it's time to revisit that decision...
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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NickL01, for the diversions, very likely that Satnavs make it worse. Although every German autobahn junction indicates a diversion to get you to the next junction. Most times I've diverted, the diversion has been carnage too, although the one the other day, thru Kufstein on a Saturday afternoon, was completely fine.
My satnav gives different suggestions every time. And different one way to the other. On A8 at Stuttgart/Leonburg it always says to take A81, then it changes its mind to say that A8-A5 is better. Going the other way, it always says A5-A8, but I ignore it and take A6-A81. So even though the distances maybe 21km different, it's obviously always marginal with the traffic info.
Belgium is a lot better. C**p drivers still, but there's only one really bad section of awful noisy road surface (at least on E40). Was fine at Christmas. Never been the way that Samerberg Sue will suggest because it's longer for me (I'm heading for Frankfurt), but better for the Alps than the way I go.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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We drove from Lucern to Mayrhofen last July, I guess a fair part of that would be on your potential route, there were no hold ups or roadworks to speak of but it still took the best part of 5 hours, so its probably not an optimal route.
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JimboS Thanks for that info.
Within reason, I don't mind how long the journey takes - what wore me down last weekend was the frustration of bowling along at 130kph one minute, then being down to a walking pace or worse the next... Then rinse and repeat again, and again...
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You know it makes sense.
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Travelling at night can help. Or even just late evening, arriving at overnight stop hotel at say 11pm-midnight. But it all really depends on where you need to get to, and on which day.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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NickL01 Sounds like rather than risk Germany to Austria via Switzerland or Belgium or... you would be better off continuing to the French Alps after your stop off in Reims. Leave early and beat the jams does still apply 'tho 
Another bonus of staying in France is that the French tolls are much quicker if you have a Telepeage 'doofer' so there is no hanging around (some can even be driven through at 30 KPH!)
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Poster: A snowHead
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andy Trouble is, my wife teaches, so skiing has to be shoehorned into half-term. Which means it's difficult to avoid travelling on Saturdays if we want to get a full week's skiing in. And we live in South Wales, so we've a long trip to and from the Tunnel, which rather limits our options as well. I take your point about arriving late though.
I had a look at your Ulm/Bregenz suggestion. That's an attractive idea - anything to avoid Munich! Round Munich and on to the Inntal was certainly where the really bad traffic was (as opposed to road works). Coming home, we were consoling ourselves that at least we didn't need to stress about having to check-in for a flight from Munich. I dread to imagine how much time you'd have to allow to get there!
boredsurfin That's what the 30 signs over some lanes were for! We wondered. I just had a look and discovered that the Telepeage things are pay-in-arrears. I'd rather assumed that they were like SevernTAGs, which you have to pre-load, which wouldn't be wonderful for occasional trips through France. Interesting idea.
You're probably right about the French Alps, traffic-wise, but it isn't really where we want to go. We like where we stay in Austria, we know some people there, etc., etc.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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NickL01, I used to teach in Bristol and we always left straight after school on the last day, driving to the ferry terminal (we did the tunnel once or twice but hated it). Nice meal on the ferry and a stroll around the deck to clear the heads, and we then drove through the night. We used this to access France, Austria and Switzerland over the years for the Winter Half Term. There were usually just the 2 of us driving, occasionally a third adult as well. We just spelled each other - driver drives and passenger(s) sleep. Even on quite swift changeovers (every 90 minutes or so) in the wee small hours (between 03.00 and 06.00) it seemed to work quite well. First night in resort was always an early one though, as was the last night.
By doing it this way we actually got 9 days skiing as we skied on arrival on the Saturday, and then skied on the last Saturday until about 15.00 before starting the journey home. On the way out we were ahead of the rush by quite a long way and on the way home we were behind the rush.
To be honest though, I think that this year you were just very unfortunate - the mild winter in most of Germany has meant that large scale roadworks that would have normally been mothballed/postponed for the winter have actually opened up and are progressing. I was surprised to see them working on the new interchange that is going in between the Bad Aibling junction and the Inntal Interchange (A on Monday morning. Normally in winter it is way too cold for any of the mixtures they use to set properly plus all the salt spray from the road does not help things last!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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My daughter and her OH are both teachers but they can't bear the thought of trying to ski at half term, now they have two small kids. They are very tired by the time half term arrives and the thought of having to be all ready for the "off" and packing all that into a week is too much, even though they could stay "free" in my apartment. They usually also have work to catch up with. Last year they enjoyed skiing at Christmas and Easter - flying each time, on non-Saturdays. This year it's just Easter, so we're hoping the snow will still be OK.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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We've driven to Saalbach-Hinterglemm three times in the winter, and twice to Bavaria in the summer. Outbound, we leave on Friday morning, crossing at around 0930 on the tunnel, and stop overnight somewhere around Augsburg usually around 2030. Previously we've done this via Brussels and Aachen, and then either via Karlsruhe and Stuttgart or Frankfurt and Wurzburg, but this year we went via Lille, Namur, Luxembourg and Pirmasens to Landau. There's not a lot in it either way, as the distances are surprisingly similar, and the lack of a direct motorway between Saarbrucken and Karlsruhe is a real pain.
On the Saturday, we either took the A99 around Munich and down to Rosenheim, or ignored it completely and used Google to navigate surprisingly easily through the western and southern outskirts of Munich. This year, the A99 clockwise was reported to be clear as we approached it, but got snarled up at Haar due to an accident so we detoured towards Wasserburg and then came into Rosenheim from the north. Friends who flew into Munich spent 3 hours in the queue, while we were doing 70-90kph between towns on very scenic back roads.
From the A93, we turned off before Kufstein to Walchsee, and then to Lofer and down to Saalbach. For once, traffic in Austria was light this year, but we've been delayed for 2 hours between Lofer and Saalfelden before now.
On any journey of this length (900 miles each way for us), you have to expect at least one major delay, and several shorter ones. For us, it was a 16 hour journey in total, or 13 hours from Calais, including two short stops and an hour long dinner break. On the return, we stopped in Leuven or Namur, leaving a couple of hours to Calais.
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pam w Yes, we used to manage it with one schneewinkle in tow (who has long since flown the nest), but two would be pushing it, I imagine. I think the hassle squares, not doubles, doesn't it? My wife works part-time anyway, so the pressure's not so bad, but she could have done without a parents' evening the night before we left this year!
ousekjarr Interesting. Thanks. Your journey was quite a bit quicker than ours, which was about 21 hours for 1,000 road miles door to door, including the crossing time and an absolute minimum of stops for calls of nature and a quick sandwich lunch each day. Mind you, putting it down like that makes it plain that our average speed must have been over 50 mph (allowing for the stops) which isn't bad. But it's made up of legs of 70-80 mph in the UK and France and a lot less in Germany, of course. It would be nice to find a route that evened things out a little, but it probably doesn't really exist.
I suspect the key is the earlier crossing which lets you get a lot further into the journey on the first day. We crossed at 12:50, but we had to leave at 7:15 to achieve that. It's awkward to time a journey from South Wales to Folkestone, which to all intents and purposes is the whole length of the M4 and roughly half the M25, without getting caught in someone's rush-hour somewhere along the way, especially east of Reading. We actually had a remarkably good run-through this year.
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NickL01, The real bottleneck is always around Munich because all the routes to the central and eastern parts of the Tirol meet up there and proceed to crawl along the A8 until they split at Rosenheim into the Tiroler traffic and the Salzburger ones. In summer it can be just as bad, if not worse on certain weekends because there are even more active roadworks. The A93 for example is being totally renewed in stages; this coming summer it will be the north-bound section from Brannenburg to the interchange I suspect. This will mean narrowed lanes and contraflow on the south-bound section.
I can give you some routes around the bottleneck prone areas but you have to be prepared to drive on ordinary roads where the speed limit is variable but never more than 100kmh. Plus the need to overtake tractors and trucks which seems to put people off, so they prefer to stick to the motorways.
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Samerberg Sue Thanks for the offer. That would be great. I'm from Swansea/The Gower, so tractors and trucks are just a normal driving hazard. It's not as though driving on the autobahns is exactly a walk in the park, anyway, weaving your way through lumbering trucks and 200 kph Porsches! Fortunately my wife (also Sue) is quite happy to call when it's safe to pull out. Overtaking can be a tad over-exciting otherwise in a right-hand drive car.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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NickL01, if I was leaving from Swansea, I'd set off at 4am, to get clear of the M25 before 7.30...
We've always found much of Belgium and Germany to be clear and cruised at 130kph for most of the way, but when we did hit heavier traffic or roadworks we were down to 50-70kph. We had one longish delay this year, of about 40 minutes to cover ~5km, and we skipped around some of the worst delays through judicious use of a phone with roaming data to see where the bad bits were, and to plot a course around them. We probably saved around an hour each way by doing this, which added maybe 15 miles for the detours.
Our kids are 7 and 5, and are happy for about 4 hours at a time with DVD players added to the rear seats. Breakfast is at the tunnel, lunch is sandwiches on the move, and dinner is a full break because to be honest by that time we all needed it. We arrived in Hinterglemm this year at 1300, having set off at 0900 from Augsburg.
On previous trips, one thing which really hampered us was not planning the transit of major cities very well - one time before we discovered the alternative routes, we had a 3 hour queue on the A99 at Munich because we were passing the football stadium at 1300 when there was a home game on, and on a summer trip, we went through Frankfurt at 1730 on a Friday which was a major mistake. Now we work out the times and stops to try to ensure that all major cities are transitted at non-peak hours wherever possible, and for winter trips we also keep an eye on the weather as we go - on our first winter trip we were coming south from Wurzburg to Augsburg and ran into a blizzard, with 5cm of snow on the roads, strong gusting winds, and visibility of about 50 metres. The winter tyres were fine, and traffic kept moving at 40-50kph, but it delayed us by 2 hours and my wife found it a bit scary to be travelling at that speed on a road she'd not do 10mph on at home. 
Overtaking on the country roads was never a problem for me - I drive on narrow, undulating fen roads daily, and passing slow traffic is an essential skill. Doing it on the wrong side of the road with a sleeping co-driver was more of a challenge, but can be done where the road bends allow better vision forward.
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ousekjarr
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| if I was leaving from Swansea, I'd set off at 4am, to get clear of the M25 before 7.30... |
Precisely the problem. In fact, it'd probably need to be more like 03:30, especially if some helpful soul has left some "managed motorway" speed limits on... And then you've turned the journey into an overnighter to all intents and purposes. It wasn't too bad this year, though.
I must just drive in the wrong places in Germany. I never seem to able to progress more than few kilometres before the traffic stops dead. Very wearing. And in the summer, I had to abandon the autobahn going to the Technik Museums in Sinsheim/Speyer because there was so much spray that I could barely see a car length past the bonnet. Imagine my surprise when we exited onto an ordinary road, only to discover that it wasn't even raining!
Part of me was a bit disappointed at the lack of snow driving down this year. After laying out on all-season tyres (I didn't go for full winters), I was curious to see what difference they made. But I never put a wheel on snow, ice, mud or slush... All those years of driving down in the 90s in blizzards on what I suppose would now be called "summers", and what happens the first time I have more suitable tyres???
A bit more planning next year and get myself sorted out to monitor traffic may help. One year, when the motorway ended near Dachau, and you had to go cross country to pick it back up again, the traffic was dreadful. More like a car park than a road system. So we shrugged our shoulders and said: "Let's drive straight through central Munich. It can't be worse." Cruised through. On a Saturday afternoon. Barely stopped at a traffic light.
Funny old world.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Your making easyjet flights and a hire car seem really attractive.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Think the bit that makes it frustrating is not so much Germany, but the time/date constraints.
Had just as many serious jams in UK, Belgium, Netherlands.
Just pays to know which routes to avoid when... and the important bit is the "when" bit.
99% of the time roadworks are not an issue. It's the breakdowns or accidents that cause jams, and trucks and cars towing uphill in middle lane on Irschenberg, etc.
I did that exact same route in January, and the only delay was going thru 20km of roadworks at 80km/h (ie the limit), instead of 120km/h (ie the usual limit there). I'll do the exact same route next Friday.
I did the route via Nuremberg in Feb, on a weekday day time. Zero delays (well maybe about 2mins) on a route that's renowned for being carnage. Coming back on a Saturday it was indeed carnage (after the usual Innsbruck-Munich carnage).
Definitely recommend checking the usual traffic websites, and be prepared to change route (which in Germany is handy, since there are several options, and the ones we will recommend vary from time to time based on which bit of autobahn is being upgraded from narrow 2-lane to modern unrestricted 3-4 lane).
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You know it makes sense.
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JimboS, from Dunfermline flights and a hire car are attractive - 8 hours before you even reach the tunnel makes it a hell of a long way. It's 2 for me, so it's worth it for the convenience and lack of airport stress as well as on cost grounds. Plus our friends who flew to Munich for the half-term trip saved a lot of money on the flights compared to Salzburg by flying from Heathrow via CDG to Munich, but spent much of the day in queues. I think if I was in that position, I'd try Klagenfurt in preference to Munich...
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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If heading from the north of the UK to the Alps via car, dont't rule out crossing from Hull or Newcastle to the Ntherlands or Belgium. May be more expensive than a Dover/southern UK crossing, but considerably less driving and potentially rules out an overnight, the ferry arrives early morning, I'm usually driving out of the port by 9am and arrive in the Arlberg 7pm ish with fuel/toilet/food stops en route.
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Poster: A snowHead
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You might consider avoiding the problem altogether. Go to a different destination.
There's hundreds of ski resorts further west than Mayrhofen. The majority are better from a skiing perspective too.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Onnem
| Quote: |
| You might consider avoiding the problem altogether. Go to a different destination. |
We've thought about that, and you're obviously right. But we went back because we had a lot of good family holidays there, so returning brought back good memories. And it was familiar from the skiing perspective, which was reassuring. Unlike a lot of people here, we don't/can't ski multiple times a year - at best it was only ever an annual pilgrimage, and I can't see that changing.
Despite what I've said, the driving isn't so bad as to put us off. I love driving in other countries - we're planning to drive in Morocco this summer (although that'll be fly/drive!). I'm really just trying to make sure that we don't miss a trick by blindly following the route that seems to be the obvious one.
andy
| Quote: |
| Think the bit that makes it frustrating is not so much Germany, but the time/date constraints. |
Absolutely. My wife's profession and our location put us in a bit of a straight-jacket in terms of travelling options. If we could travel mid-week away from school holidays, I imagine we'd be fine. (e.g. I drove to Derby the day after getting back from Austria. On the way up (first thing Monday morning), the M42 was stop/go all the way from the M5 to the NEC. Coming back early afternoon, I hardly dropped below 60mph in the entire journey...)
| Quote: |
| Definitely recommend checking the usual traffic websites |
Are there any you'd particularly recommend for Germany (to a non-German speaker)?
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Thanks, Andy.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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. I think if I was in that position, I'd try Klagenfurt in preference to Munich...[/quote]
Ryanair have now stopped flying to Klagenfurt. As they have also stopped Graz, this is making the southern Austrian resorts even more less attractive for getting local flights.(from the UK)
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When they were excavating to widen the A3 autobahn nr Frankfurt, they found an unexploded 500lb bomb the hard way... when it exploded!
Think verkersinfo.de is the one i tend not to use. Certainly 2 of them are almost always in line with each other. Problem I have is leaving at 5pm on a Friday, and all the traffic sites tell me that Stuttgart/Leonburg as far as Ulm is carnage and, then my SatNav is still reporting carnage and trying to re-route me, while I'm playing chicken and see how long I can ignore the SatNav diversion instruction.
New TMC incidents seem to appear promptly, but don't seem to get removed quite as quickly when it has clearred. IME.
Think Wetter.de also has traffic info along side the weather, but that's probably more use for a specific area, if you think the weather is likely to be bad.
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NickL01, we have driven to the Zell am See area about 10 times in the last 3 years. We used the southerly Stuttgart --> Munich route a couple of years ago and got clobbered with loads of 50-ish roadworks. They have now finished the northerly Frankfurt-->Wurzburg-->Nurnberg roadworks (largely) and that is our favoured route currently.
Calais-->Brussels-->Aachen-->Frankfurt-->Nurnberg-->Munich; and then the fun begins. To be honest, if it's a Saturday/changeover day, I think you need to be on the Munich-->Salzburg stretch by mid morning. But having said that, there are no guarantees! Maybe that stretch would be clearer if you leave it until late afternoon?
cheers
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FAQ
(I know it was weekends we just travelled on, but it was much the same in the summer. No-one there... Britain's hardly a poster child for rapid work on the carriageway, of course...) I hadn't thought about the effect of the weather on the work.
