 Poster: A snowHead
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We are just planning a road trip to Schladming.
Using the tunnel,whats the best route and how long should it take ? Google says about 13hrs ........
Is the best time to travel overnight ?
We will have a Landrover Disco with 4 drivers
Any other tips ref tolls,fuel,stops etc gratefully recieved !
Thanks a lot 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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if you have 4 people in the car, make sure you have 4 of those fluorescent vests in reach unless you have an Austrian license plate. They tend to pull foreigners over to check that kind of stuff... (easy money ?).
On a personal note, I always find the last part of the trip up the mountain the trickiest, so I always plan to arrive during daylight. But no problem doing France or Germany during nighttime...
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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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rough idea of total costings, looking at it too
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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rough idea of total costings, looking at it too
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considerably less if you're not driving a Disco. 
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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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Took us about 11 hours to Mayrhofen at Christmas (from calais), Schladming looks to be a bit further so 13 sounds about right. We had 3 drivers and just drove on through, coffee and wee breaks only, munched crappy snacks all the way down. As to cost, thats going to depend on the car. We spent about 250 Euros round trip, but that was in a skoda fabia which are pretty good for fuel. You'll want an 8 euro carnet for the austrian motorway (lasts 10 days), and lots of multiples of 70 cents for the toilets in germany (you can then redeem in the coffee shop).
My favoured route is france, belgium to Aachen on the german border, then koln, frankfurt, wurzburg, munchen, then pick up signs for Salzburg. After that you're on your own as we turn right for Innsbruck.
You will need winter tyres or face fines in germany and austria (they're good in britain too).
Hope that helps. it's not painful, we treat the journey as part of the holiday. Take an i pod stuffed with tunes of all sorts, ours includes lots of cheesy apres ski music too get us in the mood (available at all good germanic service stations the further south you go).
Have fun 
PS, don't know if you're aware but Tesco clubcard points can be used to buy tunnel tickets, we haven't paid for a ticket in 3 years
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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one more point to take note off... I shaved about 1 1/2 hours of my trip time by going full throttle on the autobahn. Do you love going 135 mph ? 
Now I mainly drive to Lech or Ischgl, so I avoid Munich, and cut off around Ulm... Munich might slow you down during daytime or holiday periods.
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It can be slow any time as it's one of the main truck routes to eastern europe. Weekends are supposed to be truck free on German Autobahns but the czech drivers seem to ignore the rule. My partner prefers the luxembourg /stuttgart diversion, but she's biased as she was born in stuttgart.
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immer schuss, Did it via Luxembourg at New Year in a similar but better vehicle . I guess the best time to go depends on whether you are in a hurry or not. In our case we got a late pm crossing and got to an ETAP hotel in Luxembourg around 10pm local, had some food and a good sleep and then completed the journey from early next morning daylight all the way. So, I suggest plugging the route into Via Michelin. For fun I had two sat navs going; the one in the car and the Garmin I swiped from the wife's car. Was fascinating to see them argue it out. In the end, knowing the route, I had to agree with the Garmin.
As for cost (all from memory - I get 25mpg)... Left south east with a full tank (£100), filled up in Luxembourg (£70), filled up near Munich (£90), a week of running around, filled up in Austria (£90), filled up agin in Luxembourg (£70), got home empty. So, over £400 on fuel which is being deducted from kids' pocket money in an amortised way.
Tolls - just the 10 day vignette (£peanuts)
Hotel in Luxembourg - 39 Euro I think
Coming home did it in one go - about 12 hours Zell am See to the coast.
Food & drink en route was the GDP of a small African country so suggest packing a big box of that stuff.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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robapplegate, only Sundays are truck-free, but vehicles carrying perishables are allowed to use the roads. The best time to drive is Saturday night after 10pm or after that time the evening before a national holiday. The lorries all start pouring out of the service areas and pull-offs promptly at 06.00am the morning after the enforced rest.
immer schuss, The Aachen-Köln and on down to the A3 at Franfkfurt to Würzburg etc, is undergoing some pretty major roadworks on a rolling basis at the moment. If you want to cross via the northern Belgium route, then turning south before Köln and heading down the A61 to Koblenz and on to Mainz does avoid quite a few on the A5 Rhintal Autobahn. It is also an European transit route (E31), but much quieter on the whole as it is only 2 lanes on each side.
The A3 Frankfurt - Würzburg features heavily in the traffic reports on our local (Bavarian) radio for some reason with frequent accidents occuring at peak times between Frankfurt and Aschaffenberg and Markt Heidenfeld and Würzburg. As these stretches are still in part only 2 lanes in each direction they do clog up fairly rapidly.
I use the southern route across Belgium and avail myself of the facilities for filling up with cheap fuel in Luxembourg. How I proceed from there on really depends on the traffic conditions, as well as time of day and weather. The radio stations to tune into are SWR3 and then further east, Antenne Bayern. They have really good traffic reports every 30 minutes, and even if you have little or no German, understanding the basic pattern is easy enough as well as informative.
Sadly, when heading to areas in the eastern Tirol or Salzburgerland, getting round Munich is just one of those things you have to do. Timing the last section is fairly critical in both directions, so planning to get round Munich in the wee small hours of the night is not a bad idea, or leaving the resort at about 15.00 on your last day puts you ahead of the crowds. There are multiple work arounds, but they are best left to the locals to be honest.
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Samerberg Sue, Thanks for the info, it's 20 years since we lived in germany and haven't kept up with all the rule changes.
Got to say munich can be variable. Very slow last february, straight past without even slowing down at christmas this year.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Immer Schuss: check that your Disco tyres qualify as winter tyres which are now compulsory in Germany
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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snowyowl, and austria
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Holy thread resurrection (topical as we're looking at travelling at Easter).......
Have any of you needed to bother with the low emission sticker required on some roads/cities in Germany?
I take it Easter travel is much the same as travelling in the UK? i.e. you can get lucky but plan on the default being slow going.
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You know it makes sense.
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hammerite, shouldn't need the emissions sticker, unless you intend staying overnight inside one of the participating cities en route. Easy enough to pick a hotel outside such a zone.
No sticker needed for any autobahn afaik.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Thanks andy. So I guess a sticker would only be needed if we took a detour for a bit of sight seeing en-route.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Technically yes *IF* it's one of the zones. Every city is a bit different, though, so some have the boundary at the autobahn exit (eg Frankfurt, I think), while others might be the inside of the inner ring road (eg Munich).
http://www.umwelt-plakette.de/ shows the participating zones (with an English PDF map that's half in German)
I don't know anyone with a non-German registered car that has actually bought one for a holiday.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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hammerite, As a foreign-registered car, you should not have a problem. In Munich the emission control zone is inside the B2 Ring (aka Mitteler Ring). I believe Stuttgart is similar, only the inner city area. If you need to go into the centre of Munich, it is way easier to use public transport as parking outside the centre is a)plentiful and b) mostly free. In the control zone parking is a nightmare and strictly controlled, so your car can be towed if you are in the wrong place, even with an Umweltplakarte! Parking in the multi stories or underground car parks is also hellishly expensive! 
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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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andy, that's useful thanks.
The vehicle will be brand new so there won't be any question of it not being "clean".
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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hammerite, mine is 11 years old and gets the green sticker. Seen some Diesel engined cars with a yellow sticker, which must be newer than mine.
Wouldn't worry about it unless you really need to drive in to one of those cities (which I have never needed to do). Fortunately my town is one taking the sensible route, claiming that they see no advantage of the scheme, but have a "no HGV" policy inside a very small area, except for deliveries etc..
Last edited by You need to Login to know who's really who. on Fri 4-01-13 15:40; edited 1 time in total
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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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The vehicle will be brand new so there won't be any question of it not being "clean".
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So it hasn't had an emissions test then? Could be well 'dirty'...
To get to Austria I'd go through Belgium/Luxembourg/Germany, avoiding France
Not had a problem driving/staying in Stuttgart with no emissions sticker either.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Dr Rock, It's a diesel van with a Euro 5 (2011 onwards) rating so should be ok http://www.lowemissionzones.eu/de-foreign-table I won't bother with a sticker though. Was planning to go through Luxembourg as we've never been there, it's not out of the way and we can take advantage of cheap(er) fuel.
Might see if I can get it delivered with winter tyres, then fit some summer ones when we return.
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Might see if I can get it delivered with winter tyres
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Winter tyres are *most excellent*. Well worth it and if you're going to Austria you need them AFAIK.
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Dr Rock, yes they'll be required until mid April I think, so if I get the van delivered with tyres it'll save the faff of swapping them over until summer tyres are needed.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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hammerite, I use the southern Belgium route all the time. I don't bother to get off the motorway in Luxembourg either as the price difference is not worth the hassle of finding a petrol station that is open at the times I drive through. It takes me about 9 hours easy driving from near Salzburg to the channel, although I usually allow for a few stops as I am mostly on my own when I drive back to the UK.
Getting winter tyres or good all-weather ones makes sense if you are ordering from new. We only used winters or all weather tyres in the UK, The stickers only cost about 8Euro for cars and non-commercial vans in Germany. They are only worth it if you are going to be spending a lot of time in towns where they are in force. The rules are mainly there to reduce the amount of fine particles in the urban atmosphere, in other words they are trying to keep out the older dirtier trucks, especially from eastern Europe. In Munich there is no transit traffic for HGVs allowed at all, they all have to go around on the A99. I spotted some being hauled up trying to sneak through town a couple of weeks or so back - the police were really going through all their papers with a fine-toothed comb! Nice little money earner as well for the Munich city coffers 
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Samerberg Sue, thanks. The OH is re-evaluating the drive to Austria thing.....  but we'll see. We drive to the Alps in the summer a fair bit, I think she's being practical about ending up buying a set of tyres when we return and having tyres stacked in the garage doing nothing (which will in fairness take up valuable bike space!)
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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hammerite, I have mine stored by the garage that changes then - the whole change and storage thing costs about 30 Euros each time, so 60 in a year! At least I know they are being properly cared for - washed and stored in the correct position, etc. I change mine around in October and May usually
My route from the Channel by the way is A25 to Lille, then I follow signs to Tournai but do not actually get there as I turn off to follow the southern route to Namur via Charleroi and mons. From Nanumr I use the A4 down to luxembourg, then follow the signs to Germany. The first motorway is the A8 then I make a decision somewhere near Saarbrucken as to how to bridge the motorway gap between the Saarland and the A8 again at Karlsruhe. Sometimes I drive up to Kaiserslautern and Mannheim before dropping back towards Karlsruhe, sometimes I drive on the B10 through the National Park from Pirmaesens to Landau. As I speak fluent German I decided based on traffic reports, weather time of day and mood to be honest! 
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Samerberg Sue, I have a strange aversion to that Pirmasens gap. Now i'm driving and it's my car I push for the motorway straight to Aachen then down via Koln, Frankfurt, Nurnberg, Munchen. it's getting even better now more of it is getting 3 lanes. Incidently just came back that on Saturday 5th and had no trouble from Matrei all the way past Munchen (apart from some serious snow on the felbertauern tunnel road, thank god for snow tyres), mind you we then ran into a 4 hour delay at the tunnel.
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