Traffic to Germany from Austria?

A snowHead

Today at about 12:30 the delay was over an hour so it varies quite a lot. I used my usual back route around the hold up and was past the checks about 10 minutes later.

A snowHead

For the record, I drove from Fieberbrunn to Munich today via Kufstein. This time about 11:00 the tailback on the autobahn due to the border controls stretched to the Kufstein Nord exit, much further than I experienced last Sunday afternoon. However, it did allow us to take that exit, so we drove through Ebbs and Niederndorf before rejoining the autobahn. That way there was only a minimal delay, with little other traffic taking that route.

BTW, when I drove home in the afternoon about 16:00, the queues of northbound traffic were long, not only at the border but also in Germany, the usual crowd of skiers returning. It wasn't helped by a bit of a blizzard slowing the traffic. Otherwise no delays going south.

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Just saying: yesterday (Sunday 24/01), I spent exactly one hour in the traffic jam between Kufstein and the German border (I reckon 4 or 5 km). From 6 to 7pm. I did not try my luck outside of the motorway because of bad memories of being stuck on country roads, too tired and no reliable satnav...

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FWIW, I drove from IBK to Munich (ISPO at the Messehall) yesterday (Monday) and back. Left IBK around 8am and had a slow queue of 5-10 mins crossing the border; left Munich around 7pm and had a really quick drive back (despite busy roads around MUC) and no wait at the border.

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Travelled out on 15/1 and back on 24/1 from Munich to Obergurgl. Used Ted at Whitedescents for the transfer as recommended on here by @clarky999 and others. Ted went via Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Seefeld which was both very scenic and seemed to take no longer, about 3 hours 15 mins door to door. Absolutely no-one in sight at the border either way although Ted did say on the way back that he had heard there had been a few random checks there in the previous week.

Seems bizarre that they are constantly checking the autobahn but hardly ever anywhere else. Perhaps refugees and people smugglers are very stupid? Or perhaps that's where they'll get the most publicity to make the German voters think they are doing something? I wonder....?

PS what a nice and helpful guy Ted is, I would thoroughly recommend him for airport transfers for the Tirol. Details here http://www.whitedescents.com

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After all it is free

Went across border at 16.00 yesterday at Kufstein on way to Munich airport, no hold ups at all.

Sort of on-topic... I'm gonna be driving from Clermont-Ferrand in France to Stumm / Zillertal on the 12th and 13th of Feb. The current plan is to drive to Bern on the Friday, stay overnight at an ibis or similar, then continue on to Stumm on the Saturday. Is there any compelling reason why this is a bad plan, traffic / road wise?

The swiss autoroute 13 to austrian E60 interchange looks pretty weird, presumably no surprises here?

Viamichelin has this as a bit more expensive than going up via Germany and Friedrichshafen or Munich, but less distance and time. It is annoying to buy a vignette to only use it for 2 days, but there will be more French tolls going the other way so it starts to balance out.

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Drove back to MUnich on last friday. Arrived around Salzburg at 15:00. There was a sign telling of a 40 min wait at the border (the in-car sat nav also added a bit of time, don't know how reliable it is, it was a rental car). So kept on driving around Salzburg and crossed through Freilassing. Only there was a 25 min wait at the border there too (and they were randomly checking cars). Taking in account the time it took to get back on the highway and the holdup I should've taken my chances and kept on driving on the highway.

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@sugardaddy, The easiest way around the control at Walserberg is to take the A1 towards Vienna (Wien) and stay in the right-hand lane so you can drive off at the first exit (Salzburg-West). You the turn left and follow the main road back towards Wals (B1 Innsbruckerstrasse which becomes the B21 Bad Reichenhallerstrasse when you cross the border). You follow this road UNDER the A8 and carry on towards Bad Reichenhall. At the set of first traffic lights you hanger right, down a slip road, following signs to Piding and Burghausen. This brings you back to the A8 just past the border control. The Freilassing crossing is "doable" at the weekends but it quickly clogs up quite badly with the usual local traffic between Freilassing and Salzburg.

@driz, Expect a queue on the way into Zillertal. There's not a lot you can do to avoid it on a Saturday, unfortunately.

You know it makes sense.

I came through Kiefersfelden about 1pm on Monday 25th. There was lots of lorry traffic but it only took about an extra 5 minutes. Slightly bigger police presence than before. Interestingly, the police were checking all cars pulling in to the Baden Baden service station before you cross the Rhine into France. I am getting a bit old for the long drive.

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@Samerberg Sue, OK, that needs a bit of old fashioned navigation and not just folloving the sat-nav Blush

A snowHead

Off this weekend to Kirchberg Very Happy

and was wondering if there are still delays crossing back from Austria to Germany and if so any tips for avoiding these. Sat Nav, google etc suggest crossing at Kufstein.

Thanks KK

A snowHead

I skied down from the Steinplatte to the Winklemoos alm ,no checks at the border there.

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At the Kufstein crossing heading north:

Long delays last Friday at ~5pm but SatNav took us via a scenic detour, so I don't know how long the wait was as we worked around it.
Zero delays last Saturday at ~5pm - no controls at all at that time.
About a 30-40 minute delay yesterday (Sunday) also at ~5pm

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@knackered knees, you just cannot say how long the queues will be if you are returning at the same time as the day trippers. I got caught in the random checks on all the routes around Salzburg on Jan 30th, the police were checking at Walserberg as usual and over the bridge at Freilassing. According to one friend they were also set up on the B1/B21 crossing (don't know if that was true or not), but the queues to use my usual work around along that route were so long they went back beyond the airport junction! It added nearly 90 minutes in the end to my journey home. This past Saturday I left Radstadt/Altenmarkt later and went over at Walserberg for the first time since the checks were introduced last summer in less than 5 minutes. in fact we did not even stop, the queue slowed down but kept rolling so the delay was a couple of minutes at the most. So my journey home took its normal 75 minutes door to door.

@espri, read today that the border checks are in place for 2 years in the first instance (to be ratified in the Bundestag and approved by the EU council I think).

@knackered knees, either delay your departure time if you can - peak period for day trippers returning home is between 16:00 and 18:00. If you can't because you have to get to the airport, then maybe look at going via Kitzbühel, St Johann in Tirol, and Kössen then north towards Schleching and Grassau to join the A8 at Übersee or Bernau.

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@Samerberg Sue, @sah, @espri,

Thanks for the info.

@Samerberg Sue, we are heading back on Sat 20th and are likely to leave Kirchberg around 8 am - although that depends on getting teenage sons up and out of the door quickly. I guess we'll be getting to the border, weather permitting, before 9am. We're driving and stopping at Reims on way back. Just want a feel if I should look for alternative crossings/routes

After all it is free · Last edited by After all it is free on Mon 8-02-16 21:07; edited 1 time in total

@knackered knees, fire up Google maps on a smart phone or tablet and follow the quickest route on the day. AFAIK the checks are only on major roads and there are plenty of other options. If you have sat nav with reliable traffic updates obviously that can work too, but I found Google maps was fine.

Heading North at 8am you will not be in traffic, so even if the controls are in place the delays should not be massive, but I have seen tail backs of at least 30 minutes or so (very rough estimate) as I was driving the other way.

Edit: Doh, you said Saturday so yes, it will be busy. Even so, I'd still check the traffic before taking any major detours.

I'm flying to Munich on Thursday (arrive about lunchtime) and driving to Nauders. Coming back from Nauders next Tuesday for a mid-afternoon flight. Looks like it could be snowy going via Garmisch so was thinking of going via Kufstein.

Does Kufstein on the way out and Garmish on the way back sound like the best way to do it?

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@Valkyrie, check the weather nearer the time (looking at Bergfex the storm might have passed by Thursday), the route over to Garmisch is a fairly busy road and is ploughed frequently during snow storms so if the snow eases off it should be fine (with snow tyres). I've driven over it in fairly heavy snow and it was OK. Personally I wouldn't go via Kufstein unless the weather was very severe, I quite like the route around the back of the Zugspitze Happy

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@knackered knees, you are likely to hit it with a lot of other returnees at that time on a Saturday. You can avoid the usual changeover morning crawl down the Eibergstrasse aka B173 (Scheffau/Söll to Kufstein road) to Kufstein by heading straight down to Wörgl on the B170 and getting on the motorway ahead of the ski Welt traffic. If there is a warning of holdups at the border, then come off the A12 at Junction 11, Langkempfen/Kirchbichl, don't wait to join the queue at Kufstein-Süd. You follow the road signs to Langkempfen, and then on to Kiefersfelden. You stay on the north side of the Inn the whole way through to Kiefersfelden where you can pick up the A93 again to Rosenheim and Munich/Salzburg. It is the route I've been using coming back from the Zillertal or simply shopping in Wörgl.

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We travelled back to Munich on Sat 30th Jan. We left Brixen shortly after 6 am. Samerberg Sue had given us instructions to exit motorway, however, as we ðidnt have a Vingette husband put into Sat Nav leaving Brixen to avoid Toll Roads. Sat Nav brought us on a road that ran pretty much parallel with Motorway. We made Munich airport in little over 1.5 hours.

However, be warned anyone using Munich Airport, security at departure Gate C was nothing short of a rugby scrum.

Hi all, new to the forum. Enjoying great snow in Austria (worth the 15 hr drive!) but queue at Austria/Germany border on A8 from Munich must have stretched for 2-4km - at 9pm on a Friday night. We're planning to be heading back towards Munich on the A8 at around 4pm this Saturday. Is this mad?!!

You know it makes sense.

@Maddriver, where are you going from/to? If you're in the Tirol it'd be worth going via the Fernpass. We drove over it today (going to Munich airport from Nauders) and there were no hold ups at all.

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crossed at Kufstein about 11pm on Friday and it was deserted going in to Austria, and just a handful going in to Germany where there are temporary controls.
nothing at all over the Fernpass coming back on Sunday, but it was snowing and sleeting and raining, so the traffic speed made it probably not much quicker than normal, but I imagine there would have been a queue Kufstein/Kiefersfelden (there often is anyway without border checks).
No idea about the salzburg route.

My only delay going to Austria was the autobahn control on the A12 between Wörgl and Jenbach. Again.

A snowHead

I came back from Kitzbühel over Kufstein on Sunday at about 17:00. There was a queue, but I would guess in total it added no more than 10 minutes to the journey. Not really worth making a detour for.

A snowHead

Sorry, too late at night! We're coming from Schladming direction along A10, then along A1 and onto the 8 once into Germany. Seems from the map you can take a detour and come back onto 8 at Piding but someone has suggested via Bad Reichenhall? And is there a good website to check live traffic on pls as the sat nav gives only basic info. Thanks!

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@Maddriver, From the A10 follow the signs to Wien then stay in the right-hand lane so you can come off the A1 at Salzburg-West and you follow the signs IN THE DIRECTION OF BAD REICHENHALL, but there is no need to actually go there. You stay on Bundestrasse 1 (direction of lofer and innsbruck),which becomes Bundesstrasse 21 after it has gone under the A8. Keep on this road until you approach the first set of traffic lights (after about 3kms), at which point you will see the signs directing you to the A8 at Piding!

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Hi All. Driving through Kufstein in the next couple of hours. Anyone know if the road checks will be out in force today? Thanks in advance.

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The only check you should come up against is the one on the A12/A93 by the Kiefersfelden Service area. That is the token check that is always there. During the week you should not be held up for more than a few minutes (unless it is rush hour or a truck drives into the back of the queue - which happened last week! Shocked

)

Expect to have to slow down from the Kufstein-Süd junction if you are heading north towards Munich or Salzburg. Currently the queue is showing as being 1.7kms long on both the German and Austrian web sites I use to keep me up-to-date with the traffic situation

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Thanks for that. Leaving now. England by morning.

After all it is free

Flying to memmingen in July and driving to st.johann in tyrol.
Any tips on the best route to take.Google maps are saying via Munich and was wandering is Innsbruck a better option .

driving out sunday week to saalbach from munich, last time took motorway to siegsdorf/lofer . this time the route planner app is saying go via walchsee/waidring , which is best/easiest bearing in mind its towards the end of a days drive from rotterdam

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@Chick,

I would say safer going via Munich. But rather than taking the south route, through the city centre, after hitting Munich, go North onto the clockwise ring road past the Allianz arena.
Theres a nice market in the centre of St Johann every Friday morning.

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Traffic to Germany from Austria?

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