 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi
We are drinving out to Lofer next week, planning to leave Friday morning (9th), aiming to arrive midday on Saturday.
Found about 5 different routes so far so am a bit confused!
Does anyone have any advice on the best route and a good stop over. Ideally like to break the back of the journey on the Friday.
There'll be my wife and our 4 year old in the car so may be a few are we there yets on the way!
Also, is there any real need for snow chains in this area.
Thanks
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Welcome to  s! Here's some directions I did for Mrs Seany while she was navigating:
From Calais take A26 – E15
Arras, St Quentin, Reims
At Reims take A4 – E17 – E50 (towards Chalons / Verdun)
Follow A4 - E50 to Verdun (Autoroute De L’Est) then Metz
At Metz take E25 – E50 (A4) towards Saarbrucken
Then after J40 take A4 to Strasbourg (A4 – E25)
Keep on A4 – E25 past turn off towards Hagenau (J47)
After J48 take A35 North, (opposite direction to Strasbourg, towards Karlsruhe)
(J49 – 52 – 53 – 55)
Take J56 to Baden Baden
Then E35 North to Karlsruhe
Just before Karlsruhe take A8 (E52) towards Pforzheim
A8 to Stuttgart
A8 to Ulm
A8 to Munich
Munich ring road (after J78) E52, probably signposted Salzburg
J10 to J20,then A8 to Salzburg
Get off at J115 for Bad Reichenhall then signposted for Lofer
We've done this a few times and it seems to be ok, although some other s might have other routes. We stopped over in Metz but this leaves a longish journey the next day. Baden Baden is supposed to be nice so that might be a better option.
Snow chains are a legal requirement (and/or winter tyres? I'm sure someone will be able to give you the full sp), although you'll be on the motorways for most of the journey and the run into to Lofer is at valley level so unless you're very unlucky you're unlikely to need to put the chains on. Worth practicing putting them on over here though, rather than struggling in the snow. Keep some bin liners (to kneel on), gloves and a torch in the boot.
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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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Where are you driving from?
Assuming Dover-Calais, I'd take E40 past Gent, Brussels, Aachen towards Cologne. Then A3 to Frankfurt, A5 to Karlsruhe, then A8/E52 almost to Salzburg. That'll be a good 10 hours on the road.
No tolls, even on the French bit. Avoid Brussels and Cologne in rush hour. Via Reims/Metz or via Charleroi/Luxembourg/Saarbrucken is probably a bit longer, but not much.
No idea where to stay (I kip over in an Ibis near Brussels, but you'll be wanting to kip over nearer to Karlsruhe/Munich I guess).
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| Seany wrote: |
| Snow chains are a legal requirement (and/or winter tyres?) |
Snow chains are not a legal requirement in Austria or Germany, except on roads where this is explicitly required. I do not believe that this would apply driving to Lofer (although I'm not 100% certain). The roads are usually cleared quite quickly and efficiently but you could get stuck in a snowstorm. Winter equipment, i.e. winter tyres, are required when the conditions make them necessary, i.e. when snowy or icy. That's a matter of luck! The fines in Germany are only €20, or €40 if you actually cause a holdup (in Austria €35 but up to €5000 if traffic is endangered!). So you might risk it, if you're not too worried about the safety aspect. However, if you are involved in an accident on summer tyres in snowy conditions, this could have a negative effect on insurance claims.
At present it is very cold here but no snow on the roads. However, it wouldn't surprise me if snow fell in the next couple of weeks.
So it's a matter of you pays yer money and takes yer choice. Maybe other Snowheads who have driven to Austria can report their experience.
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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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One further thought: you're not staying at a hotel actually on the Loferer Alm, are you, rather than in the village itself? If you were, then chains or certainly snow tyres might be more necessary, if you want to drive your car up to the hotel. However, in that situation, it might be more sensible to leave your car in the valley (or even required - I don't know whether the road up is open for private cars in winter). The hotel would bus you up.
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A story with a moral?
It snowed slightly overnight here. On my way to the slopes today (Buchensteinwand/Hochfilzen in Tyrol - not far from Lofer, actually) there was a minimal layer of snow lying on the roads, nothing to cause any problem, I thought. I was wrong! I came across a car which had skidded coming out of a corner, gone right across the road and down an embankment (then being stopped by some bushes before going on into a stream). The young man driving hadn't been hurt at all and didn't seem at all upset by his predicament. However, the incident did make me think that I should review what I had written about winter equipment.
It is clear, the roads can be dangerous here at this time of year, with or without the proper equipment. As far as I can tell from the German weather service, www.dwd.de, temperatures will stay around freezing while you are over here, though no major snowfalls are forecast yet. I suspect that this particular accident was caused largely by bad driving rather than bad equipment but being properly equipped improves the odds in your favour.
I would say that you should have winter tyres driving here at this time of year. However, that doesn't mean that you will really need them. Frustrating, isn't it? You have to decide how much risk you are prepared to take, for your car, yourself, your family and others. Today's incident ended with only an expensive recovery bill but it could have been much worse. Summer tyres, in general, lose grip in low temperatures (the rubber hardens), so braking distances increase. Summer tyres with little tread would certainly be irresponsible. Certainly adjust your driving to the conditions.
I don't really think that you will need chains (unless you hope to drive right up to the Loferer Alm, maybe not even then). I do cart chains around with me but I haven't used them in 20 years (but I do have winter tyres and 4WD).
Hope that this helps a little and doesn't just confuse you more. Have a great holiday!
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calais - brussels - aachen - cologne - frankfurt - wurzburg - nuremburg - munich - austria
we stop here - http://www.sankt-kastl.de/ - about 8.5 hours driving from calais
then 2ish hours down to austria on sat morning - be aware traffic can be crxxp south of munich on sat mornings.
we've got winter tyres - our choice following reading threads on here
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Hi
I live in the Alps close to the Munich -Salzburg A8 Autobahn. Today the road was packed solid in the return direction all day - first jam starting at the border crossing from Austria at Bad Reichenhall and continuing more or less until the Munich South interchange. I got off the road and used one of my many back routes (if you live in this area and work in Munich - you need these in order to stay sane!) The route to the Alps will be solid tomorrow from about 11:00 to 16:00 as it will every Saturday between now and Easter.
My preferred toll-free route from the Channel ports (Calais or Dunkerque) is to use the free Autoroute from the coast to Lille - it's a bit bumpy and the surface is terrible. After Lille I head towards Valenciennes and take the exit for Belgium (Charleroi and Mons). I follow through to Namur where I turn south towards Luxembourg. This way I avoid Brussels completely as it is a nightmare at any time of the day! In Luxembourg I fill up with the cheapest fuel anywhere between the channel and Austria - even the motorway gas stations in Luxembourg are cheaper than the supermarket ones in France.
After Luxembourg City you can chose whether to carry on toll-free by picking up the A8 in Germany by following signs to Saarlouis, Saarbrücken
OR head in the direction of Strasbourg (via Metz and Nancy) paying a smallish amount for the stretch from Metz to just north of Strasbourg.
From Saarlouis on the A8 you keep on the A8 heading towards Zweibrücken (A6), Kaiserslauten and Mannheim. After Zweibrücken you are on the A6 driving towards Mannheim where there are a choice of routes around the city. You can either follow the signs to Heidelberg or Speyer (I always drive via Ludwigshafen and Speyer) My decision as to whether I take the A7 (Heilbronn) or head to Karlsruhe and the A8 depends a lot on the traffic reports. Either way you are heading roughly south east on both The A6 meets the A7 where you turn south towards Ulm and pick up the A8 there and head on to Munich (München on the signposts)
If I'm in a hurry or traffic is bad I choose to go via Metz from Luxembourg and then follow the signs just north of Strasbourg to Germany, picking up the A5 near to Rastatt. I then drive to Karlsruhe where I pick up the A8 (Pforzheim, Stuttgart, Ulm Augsburg, München). The French motorways are very good and relatively free of traffic (roadworks and accidents apart) I think I paid about 20 Euros the last time I took this route (one way).
Once you meet the A99 (Munich's answer to the M25!) you will find the signs for Salzburg quite easy to follow.
You mention that you will be leaving on Friday the 9th and hope to arrive sometime on Saturday midday. You do need to be past Munich by 11:00 if you want to avoid the mega queues that build up between Munich South (junction of the A99 and the southern section of the A and the Inntal Interchange. This is a distance of about 45km and it can on popular days or bad weather be one long stop-go or just plain stop! 
I drive back and forth between my location (not too far from Lofer) and the UK on a regular basis and tend to opt to drive through the night, stopping for caffeine and food breaks as and when. Most of the traffic at night is lorries and they are stuck in the slow lane a lot of the time by law. Your 4 year old will probably sleep all the way down if you make it snuggley for them and you can spell the driving between the drivers. I do it alone and take about 10 hours including stops.
The traffic jams are called STAU (S) in German and you get regular updates every half hour on the radio in Germany - listen for the number of the autobahn (they tend to go in number order ascending) they then say RICHTUNG (meaning direction) and give the to direction - so A8 Munich Salzburg would be A-ACHT RICHTUNG Salzburg. They then say how long the traffic jam is. If you have a Sat-Nav that picks up the warnings don't bother to avoid unless the delay is longer than 30 minutes.
With regard to winter tyres and chains, your last section of road is one of the first to close in heavy snow (Bad Reichenhall to Schneizelreuth). As I drove home this evening on winter tyres I was having trouble on the roads as they were so icy - with ordinary UK tyres I would have lost all traction. The law here is clear - if you are in an accident and do not have suitable tyres for the temperatures and conditions, you are liable for all the damage you cause - that will include anyone you hit!
I make this trip about once a month if it helps, all through the year and my times do not vary much unless there is a major co*k-up somewhere. As I am fluent in German and French I usually hear the traffic report and make adjustments accordingly
Feel free to email me for a more detailed route card if you want to. Lofer is a wonderful place for a family holiday and the little 'un will be spoilt rotten by the Austrians!
Sue
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