Driving to Western Austria which route from Calais?

A snowHead

We are driving from Calais to Vandans in Montafon at February half-term and wonder which of the following routes snowHead

think is the lesser of two evils. Both are exactly 930km and both take 9 hrs 35 minutes according to google maps. A or B?

Route A - south of Reims take the A4 and head Strasbourg and the north side of Bodensee via Friedrichshafen etc

Route B - south of Reims take the N4 towards Nancy - N59 - N109 - Colmar - A35 - Mulhouse - Basel - Zurich - St Gallen etc on the south side of the Bodensee.

Anxious to avoid as far as possible traffic jams, not bothered about tolls versus non-tolls. Equally, should the weather be bad, does this make a difference? And, any recommendations en route to spend the Friday night (of Feb half-term).

Finally, is there any difference too when reversing the route to come home?

Many thanks!

A snowHead

Drove to Stüben (Arlberg) last March using similar Route-A Strasbourg-Friedrichshafen, and would not recommend it, as slow roads with tractors etc; speed limits in towns & villages N of the Bodensee

Came home via Ulm Stuttgart >Luxembourg >Belgium for a speedy trouble-free (+ toll free) return journey snowHead

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

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I did to St Anton few years back.
Calais Lille and round Brussels
Liege
Karlsruhe
Ulm

Fast tolls most of the way...... its a long hiurney though

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

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From many years experience of this (30 years!) and various routes have settled on the Lille/Namur/Luxembourg (cheapish fuel)/Karlsruhe (use the B10 road from Pirmasens to Landau do not get diverted via Kaiserslautern)/Stuttgart/turn south at Ulm (I go straight on to Munich).The main risk of jams is at Pforzheim (between Karlsruhe & Stuttgart - long term road widening works) and in the Stuttgart area (both a lot less at weekends). I would avoid Swiss Autobahns as they have got very painful with speed restrictions / cameras. The north side of the Bodensee is very slow as no Autobahn or even dual carriage way for a lot of it.

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

If this helps I always go to ramsau am datchstien
A26,A4,A35, stuttgart, munic and saltsburg 11 hours 49mins, 740 miles

After all it is free

Thinking about doing the same. Any suggestions for the best place to rest overnight on this route?

@ed48, I'll be boing the Luxemburg / Karlsruhe route and ive done the same a few times before, we usually split the journey just after we've fuelled up and dropped out on Luxemburg, A few cheap hotels at Thionville.

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I normally drive straigh there (two driving 2 hour shifts) I always get the non motorway bits and the twisties as my wife hate the bends in the snow.
12& half hours from calais,
Leave calais 8.00 in the morning arrive scladming 20.30 average plus trafic.
If i were to have an overnighter I would stop about metz,
Use booking .com and find a premier class,campinal, or a cheap b&b near there or german side of the border,
Both are realistic driving times from calais, if you want to message me for any other advise please do

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Lille belgium then down to munich then austria is probably best and can be done in a day ok but it is a long one, we did kitzbuhl a few years ago

snow reports

@munich_irish, That road widening scheme south of Stuttgart must have been going on for years. I remember crawling through the roadworks on our way to Italy back in 2014.

@munich_irish, Question on this (Luxembourg (cheapish fuel)), where do you stop for fuel, at the motorway services or at the Schengen Services off the motorway below the flyover just before the border, think it is Shell/Esso/Aral ?
It would just be for fuel and toilet stop, so not bothered by the eateries.

You know it makes sense.

@Simon94, I normally stop at Schengen (which I believe is the place you are referring to, next to the bridge over the Moselle river). I believe there is no cost difference to the services on the motorway but I have found less queues for the pumps though it can be a wait to pay as many Germans come to buy tobacco & coffee. Going towards Luxembourg there is now a speed camera on the exit of the tunnel.

@GeorgeVII, it has been a long time, they have had to build a new train bridge parallel to the old one and then remove the old one.

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

Thanks to all contributor snowHead

consensus seems to avoid France as much as possible and hit Karlsruhe etc this is a longer and slower route so imagine it is quicker due to fewer queues at peak time of travel? Do keep routes and experience coming!

A snowHead

Only time I've done it (to Kaprun), stopped in Aachen overnight.

A snowHead

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

Is the advantage of taking the longer route through Belgium - Germany - heading south at Ulm because despite being 2 hours slower there are fewer serious tailbacks?

Avoiding tolls as a monetary saving is wiped out by the extra miles travelled and more expensive hotels in Germany than France. Puzzled

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I've done the journey to Western Austria from the UK many times, there are pros and cons of both the main routes.

The route Via France, Calais->Reims->Metz->Strasbourg is shorter route with a lot less traffic but you pay the French Tolls, it's also quite easy to pickup a speeding fine if you are not careful, the French Gendarmerie seem to always be on the lookout for UK registered cars on the A26. If you travel at half-term/easter it's amazing how few cars head west to Metz in the direction of Austria compared to the massive number of cars heading further south to the French Alps.

The Belgium/Germany route is longer, with more traffic, but no tolls and much of the German autobahn is unrestricted so you can make rapid progress if the traffic isn't too bad. I prefer to take the A3 in Germany rather than the A61 which is what most sat navs will take you on, it's a much better road.

As others noted, the main place where there are regular traffic jams is the section of the A8 from south of Karlsruhe, all the way up to north of Pforzheim, where there has been extensive roadworks for many years, and has completely changed the appearance of the surrounding area.

Usually when we travel down we stay overnight in Singen, Germany on the Friday night, to arrive early on Saturday morning and ski all Saturday, then when leaving, again ski all day saturday and stay overnight at Friedrichshafen. There is a Holiday Inn Express in both towns that is usually quite cheap. Singen is quite a nice town and has a good steak restaurant by the side of the hotel.

As the OP is going to Montafon, he won't be taking the S16 to the Arlberg tunnel but for anyone who does have to do this journey on a busy Saturday morning you can cut out a lot of traffic by taking the side road that crosses from one side to the other almost parallel with the S16, starting off before Dalaas, up past the entrance to Sonnenkopf, through Klosterle and directly onto the Arlberg pass.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Given the vast cost of a ski holiday I'd happily pay the price of a modest family meal out for a shorter route with less traffic.

Help!!

Driving to Western Austria which route from Calais?

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