Driving to Tirol

A snowHead

1st time for me driving to Austria in the ski season. Got kids so will be skiing the holiday periods. Always drive to France sometimes in 1 hit some times with a sleep over.
How do you guys do your drive to AT, where to stay, traffic pinch point ts etc?

A snowHead

You need to specify where you're staying in Tirol. Driving routes to e.g. St.Anton are much different than e.g. Kitzbühel

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

@Mother hucker, is it just one person driving?

Also are you intending going Eurotunnel or ferry? On cost grounds I normally take the DFDS Dover to Dunkirk crossing. It's slower than the Eurotunnel (crossing takes 2 hours), but I view it as a welcome break from driving and a chance to get someting to eat and relax, and of course Dunkirk is a bit further East than Calais which helps make up a bit.

I often drive through Luxembourg as usually it tends to have cheaper petrol or diesel than the other countries, although I'm not sure how it compares at the moment.

A couple of times when driving to Austria I've stayed overnight in Northern Germany at the Hotel Eisbach in the small town of Ransbach-Baumbach which is just off the A3 autobahn just a bit North East of Koblenz. It has free parking behind the hotel and a good restaurant. Their website is only in German, but you can also book the hotel through booking.com

You need to Login to know who's really who.

@Mother hucker, in good weather with reasonable traffic it is about 10 hours Munich to Calais via Luxembourg (less expensive fuel, no tolls). If you push it on the Autobahns then you can knock a bit off this.It does depend on exactly where you are going to in the Tirol. If St Anton end then it would be about the same time overall as Munich (turn off at Ulm, then via Bregenz). Kitzbühel is a couple of hours past Munich. Traffic south of Munich often not good on Saturdays and some weekdays there are queues of trucks leading up to Kufstein as the Austrian's restrict truck numbers transiting to the Brenner. The big roadworks between Karlsruhe & Stuttgart at Pforzheim can cause a fair delay

Usual comments with regard to winter weather & tyres. Driving in the dark with rain or snow can slow things down a lot.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@Mother hucker, As above - you really need to confirm how you are crossing and times for folks to provide advice, done it many times but hugely different via Calais or Rotterdam? If Calais what time are you crossing and where in Tirol, how many drivers and are you up for doing 10 hours in one stint or looking for a stop over? Kids OK with long time in car?

Assuming you are looking for a stop over and travelling from Nottingham, i'd go Hull/ Rotterdam P&O then head Rotterdam/ Eindhoven/ Koln/ Stuttgart. Stop over at Merklingen or Ulm. Ulm/ Bregenz early start and up Arlbergexpressway, or if going Salzburg area then across to Munich/ Salzburg. If you have the appetite i'd bash it out and get there in one go, stop over on way back Ulm area and then bash on back to Rotterdam for 5pm arrival. PS Its a much better experience than driving to France, no tolls but keep right and maintain speed, the autobahns are very fast, get used to driving at 80-85mph, the further south you get around Stuttgart/ Munich especially, slow down in urban areas and roadworks, cameras used widely. Winter tyres and fully winterise your car, unlikely to require chains but need them all the same. Avoid Fernpass, looks great on a map, but trust me its not.

You'll need to Register first of course.

edit double post

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

driving with the family but they're seasoned travellers, we've done tignes in 1 hit many times. Xmas new year we'll be in Kirchberg. Feb half term in the Zillertal valley. Easter 1st week ischgl 2nd week sölden. Will start our drive Friday morning, tunnel crossing at 7am.

After all it is free

For your destinations it's about an hour extra driving compared to Tignes, so viable in 1 hit with your tunnel crossing, depending how late you're happy to arrive.

Not sure about pinch points as I travel outside of school holidays, but I expect, given your timings, that it'll slow a bit around Stuttgart.

If you do decide to stopover, I've stopped at Augsburg before, which works well, though you'd probably want an early get up if you want to ski most of the next day. My guess is that traffic between Munich and Kufstein the next day will be fine for Xmas and Easter, but might be busier over half term

I’m driving out to Austria in early January, my first time too. Considering overnight ferry harwich to Hook of Holland.

More expensive than Dover Calais but maybe nice to have break after drive down to coast?

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

@kerb, where you going in AT

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

snow reports

MotherHucker "Xmas new year we'll be in Kirchberg. "

So for us driving out regularly to Kirchberg, we get the tunnel circa 7 am and its easily doable in the one trip. I do all the driving, my wife very rarely has seen Lille!!!.

We always go Namur, Luxemburg, Pirmassens, Karlsruhe, Stuttgart, Munich.

For us leaving Dorset, 3 hours to tunnel, and enough fuel in the tank to refuel at Schengen. As you come through the tunnel, immediately right. There are three different fuel stops there, all priced the same.

On return, we get a suck just before the border entering Belgium. Again, same price as everywhere.

Best time, ten hours, usually more like 11/12

Only real probable/possible hold up, and thats no where near as bad in Winter is Pforzheim (until 2026!)

Hi @Mother hucker, so travelled quite a few times from our home (Nottingham) to Austria & Italy.
Its very similar to your travel to the French Alps, but without the tolls, we always travel :
Calais-Lille-Namur-Charleroi-Luxembourg-Pirmasens- Karlsruhe-Stuttgart, then depending on the east or west side entry to Austria, east continue to Munich and Kufstein, travelling west then Ulm-Memmingen-Bregenz.
I find this route really easy, yes, the roads through Belgium are not the best. We also attempt a 7-8am Eurotunnel crossing, so attempt to get to Luxembourg around 1-2pm for lunch. You used to be able to get cheaper fuel, but this is no longer the case, it is cheaper than Germany though.
There is the option to go via the Fern Pass (Garmisch) for the east option, but I would avoid this over a weekend travel and when there is bad weather. There is also the option to go via Kempten/Fussen, but again this gets busy over weekends and can be easily blocked as both these options are a single lane road only.
You can get an Austrian vignette before you travel, purchase online before you go (18 days in advance is the maximum), these are number plate recognition via this site …https://www.asfinag.at/en/toll/vignette/
We normally stop off around Karlsruhe/Stuttgart area, did make Augsburg one year, but this is an additional 2 hours from Karlsruhe, so its down to who is driving. Find that the Ibis/Accor hotels work for us and have stayed a few times in Ettlingen which has a Ibis Style in the town. Ettlingen is nice as well with a fine Brewery to have a few beers and something to eat.
This year we will be travelling to St Anton in December and doing the West route with a stop off in Karlsruhe, then in January off to Westerndorf, so doing the East route. Note that when you travel to Kirchberg in December, you do not need to purchase the vignette, you can stay on the autobahn into Austria and as long as you get off the autobahn at Kufstein Sud, it is not a requirement, as it is a easy route to Kirchberg from this turn off.
Enjoy your holidays, looks like you in for a busy winter. Oh and don’t forget winter tyres and chains (just in case)

You know it makes sense.

Agree with the various comments above on the route (note the best route is using the B10 road between Pirmasens & Landau but this is not signposted as it runs through a national park and there is an effort to get traffic to go on longer routes via Kaiserslauten). With a departure from Calais of around 08:45 (implied by a departure at 07:00 from Folkestone) it is perfectly feasible to do the drive in one hit assuming no big hold ups but it really does depend on how you and your passengers feel about long drives, some are happy others not.

Also as noted if you have not driven on the Autobahns before you may be surprised by the speed of other vehicles. Unless you are happy with driving at 90mph/150kph+ then stay out of the outside lane, on the unrestricted sections it is not unusual for some people to be driving at speeds well in excess of 100mph/160kph which comes as a surprise if you are not expecting it.

Make sure you use the official Asfinag site if you are buying a vignette online, there are a number of "copy" sites which charge a big commission. Also select the "business" option as this avoids the 14 day wait (they interpret consumer protection law as meaning "consumers" can ask for a refund up to 14 days after purchase which means you could use the vignette and then claim a refund, not an option for a business)

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

@Simon94, where abouts in Nottm are you?
Kids are good in the van they watch DVDs and get to eat junk and treats, I'm thinking get down around München, night in a hotel and short drive in early morning.
I've drove loads in DE, I've got family in Ingolstadt we drive down to, also drive through on my way to Poland. I'm not concerned about the autobahn. It was more traffic info and which direction etc to go.

A snowHead

@Mother hucker, in the Carlton area NG4. Traffic from Karlsruhe to Munchen on a Friday and weekend is pretty bad, they have been doing roadworks on the A8 for what seems like years! @munich_irish, would probably have a bit more info on the A8

Rest of the journey should be ok (other than the UK side around the M25 & Dartford!)

A snowHead

have done the drive a couple of times and also found that when needing fuel, we saved a load by just coming off the main route and driving to the nearby small town that was being by-passed, filling up and then re-joining the main route.

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

@Simon94, I was on Prospect road as a kid.

You need to Login to know who's really who.

A8 much improved now, we drove it August peak time and roadworks weren’t an issue.

Re the Luxembourg route it’s been years since done that, was always slow single lane roadworks between Pirsamens and Karlsruhe/ Pforzheim, is this all upgraded to autobahn nowadays?

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@Markymark29, not autobahn nut a lot of dual carriageway. Still some roadworks at the landau end

You'll need to Register first of course.

@holidayloverxx, Thanks - but your typo….does nut mean “not” or “just”? I found that section a real pain a few years ago and took ages, if it’s not improved much I’ll stick with the Rhein, and via Stuttgart route, saving a bit on fuel in Luxembourg isn’t that big a deal compared to the relative ease and speed of the route i mentioned above, plenty of small towns in southern Germany where cheap fuel is available off the AB.

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

@Markymark29, but. I mean its not autobahn as in a motorway. There are dual sections so you can overtake. Max speed 110 but drops at every junction. Its definitely better than it was and satnav always says its the quickest route once I'm in germany

Help!!

Driving to Tirol

snowHeads Forum Index >>> The Piste