Help with planning...

a short tour of western Austria-historic towns at the beginning of July.

I%26#39;d be grateful if someone could give some suggestions.

We are 2 60yr old couples. We%26#39;ll be arriving from Lindau by car:

1st day Lindau Feldkirch Silvretta Hochalpenstr.( What%26#39;s this drive like? There are 14% slopes ) Imst

2°Imst Hall Gerlosspass Zell

3° Zell Grossglockner Lienz

4° Lienz Spittal Nockalmstrass Radstatt

5° Radstatt Werfen Salzburg

6° Salzburg hellbrun Kustein

7° Back to Italy

This roughly our plan and we may be able to put 1 or 2 more days.

Thanks in advance

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That%26#39;s a lot of driving. But let me comment on the stages. The Sivretta Hochstrasse is very scenic. At the beginning, from Bludenz, it is fairly steep with hairpin curves.. Personally, I prefer to drive it in the opposite direction.

Gerlospass is a toll road, easy to drive. Great views.

I would reverse the Grossglockner, coming from Lienz instead from Zell am See and Bruck. To do that, I suggest you take the road (B-108)from Mittersill to Lienz, it%26#39;s over a pass, but an easy drive on a good road. Spend the night in Luzern or Heiligenblut, and skip Spiital and Radstatt.

Instead, the next morning take the Grossglockner. This direction has the advantage that %26quot;uphill%26quot; you have fewer busses to content with. They are SLOW and -coming from Bruck - you are bound to get stuck behind one or more for a pretty long time. Few places to pass.

Spend the night in Zell or Saalfelden if you don%26#39;t want to drive too much that day. In any event, for the next stretch to Salzburg go: Zell, Saalfelden, Lofer, then on the Austrian B-178/German B-21 and B-305 (Deutsche Alpenstrasse) to Berchtesgaden and Salzburg (coming into town the %26quot;back way%26quot;). It%26#39;s a shame just to spend the night in Salzburg. Add a day.

When leaving Salzburg, head on the Salzbug - Munich autobahn (A-8) either as far as Bernau and take the detour to Prien and the Herrenchiemsee palace of King Ludwig on an island in the lake, or continue on the A-8 as far as the Inntal Dreieck interchange and head on the Innsbruck autobahn southwest to Innsbruck, Brenner, and Italy.

Unless there is another rason why you want to visit Spittal etc., you will see plenty of beautiful mountain scenery along the above described route.

If you want to reverse the whole itinerary (i.e. entere Austria from Undine or Cortina d%26#39;Ampezzo, let me know, and we can work out some other routing that would put you to Lindau last (and traverse the Silvretta the easier way).

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Just a few sugestions to add to the good comments above.

Be certain you buy a highway use sticker - a Vignette - mandatory for driving on major roads in Austria- available at or near border in gas stations , stores etc.

10 day vignette is 7,70 euro

Also the Inntal autobahn ( A-12)east of Innsbruck / Hall has large construction ongoing - this can cause delays , slow traffic etc.

an alternative is the lesser highway #171 - it runs directly next to the autobahn- and perhaps a little easier from Hall to Jenbach where you probably turn into the Zillertal to get to the Gerlos Pass

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Thanks Treplow and Vertical!!

Now I%26#39;ll take a look of the itinery on my map as soon as I can and may get back for further help! The reason why we%26#39;re giving Salzburg only 1 night is that we%26#39;ve already spent a short holiday there. But it was winter so we missed Hellbrun%26#39;s water games!

We have put Spittal and Radstatt in because they are among the small historic towns suggested in the KHS Tour

Bye.

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Sounds great! You will visit very beautiful and impressive regions of Austria. Beside the motorway toll sticker you will also have to pay of the usage of the mountain roads (Gerlos, Großglockner).

http://www.gerlosstrasse.at/

http://www.grossglockner.at/

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Thanks for these links Mickey!

I hadn%26#39;t found them. I%26#39;ll give them a look. Do you too think we should drive the Glossglocker the other way round?

Bye.

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