Brenner Pass ?

A snowHead

Crystal ball question as usual
As previous post there is a lot of work due to kick of shortly.
For our trip to Arabba I have booked this year Glasgow - Verona
It's now possible I can opt for Edinburgh -Innsbruck
Advantage Edinburgh is a lot easier for us and saves about an hour and a half each way at this end and normally Innsbruck to Arabba is a shorter transfer.
Disadvantage is not knowing how bad getting over the pass will be and Verona is less affected by weather compared to Innsbruck.
Also Verona seems to be less of a scrum than Innsbruck can be at times.

Typing the above I now think I will stick with Verona but not 100% sure.

A snowHead

Inghams have swopped from Innsbruck to Verona for 2025 - pretty good hint !

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Drove over the Brenner earlier this month. There was a lot of contra flow a few hold ups. It probably added 15 minutes to the journey. Not too bad. The number of motorcycles and cyclists on the Sella and Pordoi passes and the shear volume of traffic through Wolkenstein caused much more of a delay.

It is the shear volume of Lorries over the Brenner that causes the hold ups. Not sure why that volume would increase on Saturdays in January. It’ll all be fine once the base tunnel is finished.

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We drove both ways a few weeks back, there are already considerable works and lane restrictions on the section that needs attention but these did not affect our journey in any way (southbound around 08:00 on an August Saturday and around 17:00 on a Saturday a couple of weeks later). On both occasions we saw big jams in the opposite direction further south down the A22. My understanding is that this is a much bigger issue for trucks than for holiday traffic with trucks being banned on peak Saturdays to help avoid queues. An accident or breakdown in the roadworks section would cause chaos though. Personally would stick with Innsbruck but I doubt it will make much difference either way

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We’re in a very similar situation to you, albeit from Gatwick.

In the end I just booked flights to Verona as they were far cheaper. In addition in another very recent thread here, someone said a bigger concern should be Innsbruck seeing diverted flights due to weather. This has affected us in the past more than once eg an outgoing diverted flight to Munich.

We’ll look to rent a car or taxi transfer, I’ll look later on.

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I also booked Verona (for Selva) in January due to the fears over the roadworks from LGW. Like above, the flights were hugely cheaper anyway, which more than compensates for the extra transfer cost (we might hire). We'll just suck up the extra time. it would be good to know for future when the season kicks off how it all it though.

After all it is free

Same as @dunc999, I think I will stick with Glasgow - Verona.
The Saturdays are just traveling days whatever.
Like a few on here we have had a few issues weather wise with Innsbruck. Always managed to get there but been stuck for a night coming home. (ended up with a nice night in the town so was not a big deal).
I have only been through Verona in the summer but I'm hoping it's less of a scrum than Innsbruck check in hall in the winter sometimes is?

@Garfield, Hmm -- no, sadly : it is the usual thing with several flights arriving at once (also departing). I'm assuming that you are going with a TO ; other flights might avoid the peak times..

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@swskier, urgh, that doesn't sound promising - we are flying BA, landing 11:00 am, quick google shows EZY landing 35 mins before and TUI at 11:15, so might be a bit of a car crash!

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@dunc999, it took us 2-3 hours from landing to setting off on the bus, and that was with all flights landing within 30 mins of first to last arrival. Not helped by someone picking up the wrong ski bag of someone else that was heading to Selva when we were off to Val di Fassa.

I had great plans to spend the majority of the afternoon skiing in Pozza, desperate after we'd missed that whole winter for covid Laughing

Never managed to get skiing on the arrival afternoon even on early flights. Best I have had is collecting skis etc. Have skied a few Saturday mornings coming home but Im never keen on getting very far away from resort.
@swskier, I think that's more a TUI issue wanting everyone on as few busses as possible.
Different TO booked holidays we have been on full 40+ seat coaches and also had mini bus to ourselves.
I stopped using Thomsons/ TUI when they had us out of a resort at 7:00 for a 15:30 flight. We were back at the airport 9:00 Their excuse was people had missed flights the week before due to road conditions? We had not had fresh snow for five days.

You know it makes sense.

Regarding Verona Airport, we’ve used it previously with no problems at all. Never the sardine can of weekends at Innsbruck flying out.

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

@Garfield, our issue wasn't the busses, the issue was the baggage handlers taking about 2 hours to get our bags out on to the belts after arrival. The bus element only added around 30 mins on to our waiting.

As it happened we managed 1 hour of skiing at the end of the day, and it was only an additional €19 for a 7 day pass vs a 6 day pass, so I was determined to make every minute of it count!

A snowHead

my Dad often talks about the Brenner pass and Griesenbrenner (spelling?) as he skied there in the 1950s when he was 18. what ski area would ths now be a part of as ive struggled to find it?

A snowHead

Stubai is the closest to Brenner, but I don’t know if that’s where your father was skiing Happy

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@stu330, maybe Bergeralm near Gries am Brenner?

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@stu330, Looking at Google maps there are the remnants of small skiing area near Gries am Brenner with a mid station at Sattelbergalm on the hill side above the northern side Brenner pass. It is not unusual to find abandoned lifts and pistes (the lines of the pistes and lifts can often be seen with maybe the bottom or top station now converted into small sheds) dotted around the Tirol, installed by local communities which then did not attract enough business to keep going. The area is now popular for ski touring see https://www.tirol.at/blog/b-empfehlungen/totgesagte-leben-laenger-die-sattelbergalm-im-wipptal also https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sattelberg_(Stubaier_Alpen)

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thanks Guys
ill look into Stubai.
he said hw went on a coach from Shrewsbury and had a lesson on skiing before he went in the local village hall.
apparently they took the lift up to the top of the mountain and it took them all day to get down.
sounds a bit like the Russians in Courcheval!

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@stu330, My family learnt to ski at Trins (2 lifts!) near Steinach not far from there. I guess they are probably on the abandoned list these days.

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@snowyowl, that valley, the Gschnitztal is stunning, we have a friend that lives down the end of it in Gschnitz, but it's deadly quiet. They do have some cross country skiing along there. It's the valley where Manfred Pranger is from, the 2009 Slalom World champion. Basically everyone in that valley is a Pranger.

After all it is free

@dunc999, “ We managed it last year in Saalbach, after the BA 09:10 flight Gatwick to Salzburg with a private transfer. The lift pass allowed skiing from 3pm the previous day so we went out for an hour or so after arrival. problem was we'd had a good deal on an upgrade to Club Eurpoe, so had been in the lounge from 6:15 am, so not so steady on our legs”

That’s a very useful bonus - the ability to ski for free from 3.00pm on the day of arrival, using a lift pass that runs from the following day. I generally advise guests to get on the Kohlmaisbahn at 3.00pm and spend an hour or more finding their ski legs on the network of blue and red runs on the Kohlmais mountain, before winding up at the Bergeralm mountain restaurant for happy hour (buy 1 get one free on all alcoholic drinks between 3.30-4.30pm) and an excellent après-ski party atmosphere. Then wait for the piste bashers to come up at 5.15pm and ski down newly groomed pistes to the Hinterhag Alm for another après-ski party (4.00-7.30pm).
Then ski down the nursery slopes to Burgi’s Bar, or Spitzbub, or Bauers Schialm, or the Off-Piste Bar…or all four!
Not only does it get the holiday off to a cracking start, but it really does feel as though you’ve had an extra day.

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We drove from Austria to Cortina on 14th September. No closures, but 2 contraflows in place. It was quicker to go on the old pass road than the new one. Added about an hour to the journey. I would definitely avoid Innsbruck transfers on a winter Saturday.

There are lots of trucks on Saturdays as they are all desperate to get home due to the Sunday truck bans.

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Is the winter truck ban definitely Sunday?. We travel to Pozza via Innsbruck (private transfer) on Sunday 19th January, so I guess that would help us a little...not that there's much we can do about it as Innsbruck was booked before I knew of the Brenner Pass work.

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@Parf, yes

Why are you only considering Verona or Innsbruck? Verona is about 50 minutes longer drive than from Venice (or Treviso) which are the most usual way to get to the Sella Ronda.

You know it makes sense.

@Parf, There are big restrictions on trucks over the Brenner. There are restrictions on the numbers of trucks allowed up the Inntal at all times (causes big arguments between Bavaria & Tirol as it results in big traffic jams north of Kufstein). Sundays & public holidays (of which there are many in Austria) are full bans for vehicles over 7.5t (refrigerated food vehicles are an exception). The tolls for trucks (on the Austrian side) are significant and are time of day related, it costs much more at night. There are bans on many Saturdays if lots of tourist traffic is expected (mainly summer). There is also talk of bans on more Saturdays once the planned roadworks start, though I havent seen the details. If you are arriving on a Sunday I doubt it will cause any significant issues, maybe if there is an accident or breakdown in the roadwork section then that would cause a big problem but most of the time it is not likely to make a lot of difference.

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

A snowHead

A snowHead

Oh OK, the question said Verona or Innsbruck for Arabba, for which my comment is true. I didn't realise the destination had changed.

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I flew into Venice to go to Arabba two years ago. Hired a van for the trip (party of 4) from airport to Arabba. I have flown through Innsbruck as well. If the weather is bad, there's a good chance that flights cannot get into INN and you end up in MUC and bused down to Innsbruck. There's also the question of weather and traffic condition on the Brenner Pass going that route. The road of from Venice to Arabba is narrow and windy, particularly when you get close to Arabba, but you're not dealing with any high passes enroute. I'm going to the Dolomites in March '25 and planning on going through Venice again. Our travel day is Sunday.

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Had an update from a good source today:

1. Brenner was temporarily one lane this weekend and was apparently absolute madness
2. Should stay one lane for the next couple of weeks
3. From ~December should be two lane again
4. From January should be one lane again, for ~2.5 years
5. Apparently ASFINAQ are quite relaxed about this; tourism organisations are however very concerned

Personally, I reckon it's going to be an absolute shitshow if one-lane over winter Skullie

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@clarky999, Is that one lane in each direction or one lane alternate traffic? (I assume the first)

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@clarky999, the outside lane feels so narrow when you drive anything more than a Fiat 500 anyway! Laughing

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After all it is free

As @swskier, says the outside lane is so narrow it is hardly worth having, most folk seem to stick with the inside lane especially if sharing the road with trucks.

If anyone is really bored/interested you can check the status on the various webcams. I can't see one with time lapse but maybe someone with more nouse/energy can find one

https://www.asfinag.at/en/traffic-road-safety/webcams/
https://www.autobrennero.it/de/auf-der-reise/webcam-brennerautobahn/

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Brenner Pass ?

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