Driving to Soll, Austria

A snowHead

Hi All,

First time poster here and first time skiier

Will be driving to Soll in a couple of weeks and have some questions

- aware I need winter tyres and that has been sorted
- route finders on the web suggest the following route via Brussels, Maastricht, Frankfurt, Ingolstadt, Munich and in; is there alternative routes or is the best one speed wise
- roughly what would be the total travel time assuming doing Autobahn speeds where appropriate
- On the Austrian toll situation I have read some posts saying it isnt necessary if you come off the Autobahn at Kuffstein but would rather not risk the potential fine for pence

Any other hints and tips?

ta

A snowHead

Hi Rick_W, welcome to snowHeads. Your first post and you've already mentioned three of our favourite subjects... winter tyres, the route to Austria and vignettes.

Anyway, that's pretty much the route I take mainly because I get a late evening crossing/tunnel and make a stop at a Brussels Airport hotel. Then get up early next morning and aim for a tea time arrival. Others prefer the route via Luxembourg (bizarrely just to fill up) and some prefer doing all their driving over night. There are threads on here with all the details... just use the search function (or Google) and you'll find them.

Austrian Vignette is cheap anyway so worth just pulling in at one of the German service stations before the border and buying one. Yes, you can get away without one going to Soll but Sod's Law dictates that you'll accidently find yourself needing one if you don't buy one.

You'll enjoy Soll, great place for first time.

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

A 10 day Vignette is €7,90 or maybe €7,60? You can get to Söll without one but as Bode Swiller, says you might accidently need one.
I know someone who recently thought they'd risk driving to Zillertal without one, it was 2300 and they assumed all the people who check for Vignettes would be asleep. They were fined €120.

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

Rick_W, Welcome to snowHeads!

There are a lot of long term roadworks in and around Brussels - it took me nealry 2 hours to get round it in the middle of the day at the end of November.

The best and most direct route goes from the coast (I always use Norfolk line Ferries to/from Dunkirk) via the following towns/cities and is toll-free all the way:

Coast to Lille A25 (E42)
Lille towards Tournai A27 (still following E42)
Tournai to Namur passing Mons, Charleroi en route - E42 All the way using parts of the Belgium A7/A15
Namur to Luxembourg using the E411 (Belgium A4 I think it is but they have renamed a lot of their roads recently). Fill up as much as you can at the Berchem Service area as this is the cheapest fuel you can get in Western Europe right now without leaving the motorways.

Luxembourg to Merzig (Germany) using the A6/E25, A3/E29 and A13/E29 and in Germany A8/E29
At the junction of the A8/A6 take the A6 towards Kaiserslauten and Mannheim A6/E50
Stay on the A6 to either Heilbronn where you then follow the A81/E41towards Stuttgart and the A8/E52 to Munich OR stay on the A6 until it meets the A7/E43 when you turn south to join the A8/E52. This choice is because there can be some big delays around Stuttgart due to roadworks.

Once on the A8 head towards Munich and follow the signs for Salzburg and Innsbruck. At the Intaldreieck take the road towards Innsbruck (A93/E45) to Kufstein-Süd - this is the SECOND junction after the Austrian border. The route up to Söll is signposted from this exit.

The Wörgl-Ost exit is the quicker route up to Söll and misses out the steep windy bit which, on changeover days, usually has a very long queue on it, BUT you do need a vignette to go along this stretch. It only costs 7.90€ and you can pick it up at the motorway service areas in and around Munich and the Austrian border. It is extremely useful to have if you want to avoid the traffic congestion between Söll and Kufstein that occurs at weekends.

The route you gave is full of long term roadworks and the Frankfurt-Nürnburg-Ingolstadt-Munich route is the route that most of NW Europe uses and is prone to long traffic jams simply due to the heavy volume of traffic.

I've used my route to drive to and from the UK for the past 20 years and have never had any problems making it to my ferry on time. I usually drive alone and do the trip in one stretch. Going via Brussels has always caused problems as they are constantly working on the ring roads The autobahns around Cologne (Aachen to Cologne and then down to Frankfurt) also have long-term roadworks and are notorious in Germany for mega traffic jams especially in the contra-flows.

From the tunnel to Söll will take you about 9 hours of driving time. If you can avoid filling up in Germany, especially on the motorways it is a good idea as the prices are probably more than you pay in the UK and rising. The route I've given you has quite a lot of AUTOHOF signs. If you need fuel it is cheaper to drop off the autobahn and fill up at these.

I used to commute between Bristol and Munich on a monthly basis, so I've tried all the routes there possibly are and a few more most likely. This is the easiest and most fuel-effective drive I have found. I let my sat-nav help me with avoiding traffic jams but as mine tells me ther length of the hold-up I never bother to "avoid" if the hold-up is less than 20 minutes. I can make my way across Germany to Luxembourg on one tank (I live near the Austrian border on the A8 Munich-Salzburg side) and fill up in Luxembourg because it is so cheap - diesel is sometimes 40+ cents cheaper per litre than Germany. I can then get to Bristol without having to fill up again. It took me 14 hours driving when I came back to the UK in November (bloody Brussels and the M25 around London Twisted Evil

) and 10 hours driving back 3 days later.

Take a look at this map to see where the roadworks are currently in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany:

http://www.verkehrsinfo.de/ The long term ones always have a date alonside them.

If you are travelling on a Saturday the traffic is likely to be heavy which ever route you use - especially along the final stretch of the A99 around Munich and the A8/A93 Munich-Rosenheim-Kufstein. This is because ALL the route filter down into this axis and the whole section from Munich to the border can be a long stop-go section. Especially if everyone is on Half Term holidays in February.

Good luck which ever route you choose

Sue (I live in the region and use these routes on a daily basis for work and skiing!)[/u]

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

thanks All - especially Sue; was going to take the northern route but your very detailed route plus the hints and tips have swung it that way for me

Much appreciated

One final question - is most of the German stretch unrestricted autobahn?

You'll need to Register first of course.

Rick_W, no it most definitely is not. There are stretches where you can floor it, but they are becomingly increasingly few and far between. It is an urban myth that the German autobahns are free from speed limits!

Always obey the speeds showing on the signs (traffic control gantries or roadside ones). They have cameras in a lot of the gantries, so watch the locals to see how they take it. There are also a fair few mobile cameras measuring not only speed but also the gap between you and the next car (A9 north of Munich is a well-known local stretch for this particular problem). I've caught a number of cars out who have tailedgated me on the A8 by pulling over just before one of the permanent cameras on the Irschenberg (between Munich and the Inntal interchange). I pull over and they floor it just in time to have their picture taken - smile please! Twisted Evil

They will follow up with any fines now as the DLVA has joined in the European-wide agreement. You are permitted a 3KMH difference only (not 10% as in the UK) and the fines are different if you are caught speeding inside built up areas or in open country (that includes motorways that pass through towns). They can also award you points as well as a fine, which they do not often do but it has been known.

Have a great journey, enjoy the service areas - I can give some tips on which ones to skip, but all of them are cleaner and nicer than those in the UK I am sad to say.

Sue Toofy Grin

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

Don't recall any roadworks in vicinity of Brussels at Christmas. In fact I don't recall any roadworks at all between Frankfurt & Calais (which must be a first!).

From my trip a week ago....

A6 Mannheim-Heilbronn has 1 roadworks at Sinsheim. Cost me maybe 2 minutes at 19:30 in the evening, and most of that was due to the rather long length and going 80 instead of 130.

A8 Stuttgart-Munich has 1 roadworks near where the East and West bound take different routes round the mountain. Starts exactly at the exit of the Services heading East (with a proper on-slip from the service too, which is rare). Also cost me maybe 2 minutes.

A8 Pforzheim (I went back a different way) also has a roadworks which may have cost me 2 minutes as well.

I'd usually take the A6/A81/A8 via Heilbronn/Stuttgart, mainly cos there's a lot more scope for centerlaning it past all the trucks, rather than the 2 lane steep hilly bit near Pforzheim where it's nose-tail cars passing nose-tail trucks, and A81 bit is usually a breeze (unlike A5 nr Karlsruhe)

I'd avoid A6 or A3 all the way to Nurnberg and going down that way.

Only jam I encountered was (surprise, surprise) Irschenberg - Rosenheim, due to accident. SatNav told me to turn off. I saw lots of red lights, so took the st2078, which was totally clear.

After all it is free

Samerberg Sue, interesting to hear what you say about the DVLA. Is France likely to adopt a less permissive approach to speeding?

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

Samerberg Sue,
Another question following a prompt from another post - if I have a 4x4 with full winter tyres is that sufficient or do you actually need chains? Reason for posting is after yesterdays fall you said elsewhere that chains were needed for certain roads??

So I suppose the question is 2 fold - presume I dont need it to get there itself but if I wanted to go through certain routes (unlikely) the road conditions might only allow passage with chains??

Another quick question on the route instructions above had a look a google maps they only bit I couldnt figure out is which routing was between Merzig and Heilbronn; the rest was fantastically helpfull!

Many thanks

Rick

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Rick_W, I believe that even if you have a 4-wheel drive you have to have them in the car. I remember once being unable to reach my hotel in Schladming when even a Landy with chains on both axles could not make it up to the road it was on. The owner came out with a snow mobile and picked me and my luggage up. Shocked

I would check with the AA or someone similar for up to date ad accurate info. Chains are part of our standard winter equipment so we all always have them in the car. Usually with winter tyres and 4-wheel drive you should not have any problems.

The routing between Merzig and Heilbronn is:
Follow the A8 until it meets the A6 ( near a place called Homburg) - the interchange is well marked in advance.
Take the A6 towards Kaiserslauten and Mannheim and keep on it until you reach Heilbronn.

There was a small queue of traffic as Andy says at Sinsheim where they are widening the road but it flows reasonably well and certainly this route avoids the hell on wheels that the A5 to Karlsruhe can be and the section of the A8 between Karlsruhe and Stuttgart.

andy, I do not use the A6 as far as Nürnberg, although my sister has due to traffic problems. Normally I turn south to Stuttgart at Heibronn BUT if the sat-nav/radio warns me of long delays at the roadworks near Leonberg sometimes continue to Feutwangen -Crailsheim Interchange where the A6 and the A7 cross and then drop down to east of Ulm. Only happened a couple of times but it is an alternative worth looking at if the Stuttgart to Ulm section is jammed up, e.g. where the roadworks are going up and over the Drackenstein hill and the roadworks just before at Gruibingen (road widening).

wink

snow reports

Samerberg Sue,
Hopefully it will continue to bucket down snow wise Happy

I wont bother purchasing any but I assume if it is an absolute nightmare conditions wise I will have a better idea en route or a day or so before

Assume it is something you can get at most petrol stations on motorways etc en route? Never used them in my life - they sound a bit of a faff!

Rick

Samerberg Sue, no roadworks near Leonberg last weekend. I almost always take that route now (mainly to avoid Karlsruhe-Pforzheim in rush hour). The ones at Gruibingen weren't so long - not up over the hill anyway, although SatNav TMC did warn of jams on the way back for no reason. Kept telling me to turn off at the truck escape lane!

You know it makes sense.

andy, Yes I've had that problem too which is why I use both the time delay shown on the sat-nav AND the radio. SWR3 not only play good music with very little chat and adverts, they also give out bloody good traffic reports every 30 minutes. I also use Antenne Bayern while driving in Bavaria as their reports about traffic and active speed cameras are worth their weight in gold wink

From here to Luxembourg I only need to change channels once as SWR3 broadcast in the Saarland as well.

Rick_W, You probably will not find them to fit in any petrol stations or service areas. If you do they will be horribly expensive. Better to buy the Austrian Vignette for 10 days (7.90€) and drive on from Kufstein-Süd to Wörgl-Ost (2nd junction on I think) and use the main road to Söll. It's the one all the HGVs have to use so it is a very high priority clearing road. No steep climbs where a 4-wheel drive would not cope, or any other car with winter tyres for that matter.

The Vignettes are sold at any of the Service areas en route that have a sign above their turn-off sign saying "Vignette Kaufstelle". The notification signs for Service Areas (called Raststätte XXXX) are blue with white writing and the vignette sign is white with black writing and a red coloured Vignette on the left-hand side. Pick it as early as you can as the queues get longer and the parking spaces fewer, the closer you are to the border! Cool

Help!!

Driving to Soll, Austria

snowHeads Forum Index >>> Resort Reviews and Trip Reports