Questions about driving the Grossglockner High Alpine Road (from the south)

The total driving time (without any stops) between Lienz and Zell am See, including the detour to Kaiser-Franz-Josefs-Höhe, would be about 2½ hours, under the assumptions that there is no traffic congestion, good weather, and your mountain driving skills are adequate.

Thank you. Do you have any suggestions on where to overnight if we want to do the Krimml waterfalls day hike the next day? Do you see our dilemma? We want to stay close to the trailhead for the Krimml waterfalls day hike. But we're concerned about driving from Lago di Braies (after having done the day hike there) and driving the entire Grossglocker (with some stops), and then all the way to some place near Krimml. Just not sure that's realistic. What do you think?

First question: The left turn is how you see the main view of the Großglockner up close. There is a parking garage up at the view point, so when you start seeing parking spots on the road you should ignore them and drive right up to the end to save time not having to walk.

Second/Third question: Doing a hike, driving almost 2 hours to the start + the actual scenic drive (I’d allow a minimum of 3 hours) + getting near Krimml is a lot. The drive out of the road to the north is very slow going with tolls, tunnels and winding mountain roads. The main problem with your plan is that the Grossglockner is notoriously socked in with clouds. This last July we stayed in Kals am Großglockner for 12 days with the intention of doing the road as our top priority. Out of 12 days, we had zero good weather days for the Großglockner. It was always under cloud cover. We decided to suck it up and do the drive anyway and got to see views for literally 10 minutes that morning before the road was under fog again the rest of the day. All that to say, the chances that your weather is perfect that day for a hike plus late afternoon visibility on the road is less than 50%. Your better chance is taking your time with your hike in Lago, driving late that afternoon to the start of the road to stay overnight so that you can get a super early morning start on the road when you have a better chance with visibility and then make your way to Krimml for mid afternoon.

We stayed at Gasthof Finkenhof near Krimml Falls once. We enjoyed it there. https://www.finkenhof.at/ We never did walk up the falls, but saw it from afar at several points from the road. From Fusch an der Großglocknerstraße to Krimml is about a one hour drive, but there can be a lot of traffic near the Zeller See. In the area near Krimml is a nice relatively easy walk to the Gletscherblickalm from near Hochkrimml (good Kaspressknödelsuppe). Another nice stop is Familienhotel Finkau and around the small lake there. The drive there is narrow and unpaved. Avoid the toll on the New Gerlos Strasse.
https://gletscherblickalm.at/
https://www.finkau.at/

We stayed in a beautiful place just outside of Heiligenblut, if you’d rather get an early morning start on the Grossglockner Road.

https://ederhof-heiligenblut.at/en/

Wow. That's helpful to know about the cloud cover. We'll definitely have to drive it early in the morning as suggested and hope for the best. If we drive it in the morning, we'll be able to stay at a hotel closer to Krimml.

Are there any other drives in the area that are at least as scenic as the Grossglockner and that generally offer clearer views?

I'll look into the Gletscherblickalm hike (from near Hochkrimml). If anyone has the link to the mapped-out hike on All Trails or another website, I'd appreciate it.

An alternative drive would be to Kals am Großglockner. A small toll road but you can get to Alpengasthof Lucknerhaus. Walk to the Lucknerhütte like a climber for the Großglockner: https://lucknerhuette.at/

https://www.foto-webcam.eu/webcam/lucknerhaus/

Just check internet maps for Gletscherblickalm if you go that way. Its just up and down maybe 2-3 km each way from Hochkrimml.

The view of the Großglockner is far superior from Lucknerhutte. Even just from the parking lot there. However, if it’s clouded over on the Großglockner Rd it will be clouded from everywhere. In regards to scenic drives, nothing is going to compare to the actual G Rd. in terms of the drive, but there are many places in Austria with amazing views, so it just depends on if you want to spend your time driving and stopping for views vs going somewhere for a day hike.

Where are you staying in the Dolomites and for how long, before doing this drive?

I ask as the Dolomite Passes offer spectacular scenery and drives. Such as the Giau Pass.

In the Dolomites, the rough plan is to stay in Chiusa.

Based in Chiusa, by the Val Gardena, you can drive a few of the spectacular Dolomite Passes. One circle route would be the Gardena Pass to Corvara, then the Campolongo Pass to Arabba, then the Pordoi to Canazei and then the Sella Pass.

In my opinion the Gardena Pass is one of the most spectacular drives in the Dolomites. In my opinion, it rivals the Grossglockner Road. Different type of alpine scenery of course.

How would you work the best of those drives into this rough itinerary? We have to stay around two weeks. Maybe we could go a couple days over, but a full three weeks is not realistic.

Day one: Fly in. Get TIM SIM card. Evening activity
Day two: Duomo Di Milano, Santa Maria delle Grazie (to see Last Supper painting)
Day three. Rent car. Drive to Chiusa
Day four. Drive to Adolf Munkel trailhead. Do day hike. Return to hotel
Day five. Drive from Chiusa to Lago di Braies. Do hike, then drive to Heiligenblut (right outside Grossglocker High Alpine Road start)
Day six. Drive the Grossglocker High Alpine Road. Drive on to hotel in Krimml.
Day seven. Krimml waterfalls day hike. Return to hotel
Day eight. Drive to hotel near Wolfsklamm Gorge.
Day nine. Hike gorge, return to hotel.
Day ten. Drive to Tegelberg (Germany) area. Check in hotel
Day eleven. Tegelberg cable car day hike (cable car up, hike down). Return to hotel
Day twelve. Drive to Munich. Return rental car
Day thirteen. Munich
Day fourteen. Fly back to US

To follow up on my previous post, about potential scenic drives in Italy, on day three, we are driving to a hotel in St. Magdalena. I was thinking we could stay there for another night. After our hike the next day, we could go back to the hotel, shower, and eat. Then we could go on a scenic drive. Are there any really good scenic drives in the area that are reasonably close to St. Magdalena?

Your schedule is pretty tight each day. You could drive the Gardena Pass to Corvara to La Villa and then take SS244 to Brunico to Lago di Braies.

On day 3, are you staying in Chiusa or St. Magdalena?

Whether we stay in Chiusa or St. Magdalena depends on whether there is an amazing scenic drive in the area to do. If there is, it seems to be that it would make more sense to stay in Chiusa, would it not? We could do this:

Day one: Fly into Milan
Day two: Milan
Day three. Drive to Chiusa. Do scenic drive that evening potentially?
Day four. Adolf Munkel day hike. Return to hotel in Chiusa. Do scenic drive that evening potentially?
Day five. Drive from Chiusa to Lago di Braies. Do hike, then drive to Heiligenblut
Day six. Drive Grossglocker High Alpine Road. Drive to hotel in Krimml.
Day seven. Krimml waterfalls. Return to hotel
Day eight. Drive to hotel near Wolfsklamm Gorge.
Day nine. Hike gorge, return to hotel.
Day ten. Drive to Tegelberg (Germany) area.
Day eleven. Tegelberg cable car day hike (cable car up, hike down). Drive to Munich
Day twelve. Munich
Day thirteen. Fly back to US

Personally, I’d stay in the Val Gardena instead of Chiusa or St Magdalena (which I’ve never been to fyi). The Dolomites, as well as Austria, are filled with scenic drives. Since you’re in the Dolomites, I’d just try to put driving the Gardena Pass into your plans. This is between the Val Gardena (Selva) and the Alta Badia (Colfosco).

We’ve stayed in St. Christina at:
www,garniariston.com

We also loved our stays in Alta Badia at:
www.montanara.it

After driving the Grossglockner, don’t forget to buy the Austrian Vignette, highway toll sticker for the car. Cost is about $10 for a sticker valid for 10 consecutive days and can be bought at gas stations in or near Austria.

From what I'm seeing on Google Maps, staying at St. Christina or Alta Badia puts us too far away from the trailheads for the Adolf Munkel and Lago di Braies day hikes. It seems like Chiusa is more centrally located between those hikes and the drive you recommended.

Understood.

What about this proposal, which combines some of your suggestions:

Day one: Fly into Milan
Day two: Milan
Day three. Drive to Chiusa or St. Magdalena.
Day four. Adolf Munkel day hike. Return to hotel in Chiusa or St. Magdalena
Day five. Drive from Chiusa/St. Magdalena, to Val Gardena, to Corvara, then to Lago di Braies
Day six. Lago di Braies day hike, then drive to Heiligenblut
Day seven. Drive Grossglocker High Alpine Road. Drive to hotel in Krimml.
Day eight. Krimml waterfalls. Return to hotel
Day nine. Drive to hotel near Wolfsklamm Gorge.
Day ten. Hike gorge, return to hotel.
Day eleven. Drive to Tegelberg (Germany) area.
Day twelve. Tegelberg cable car day hike (cable car up, hike down). Drive to Munich
Day thirteen. Munich
Day fourteen. Fly back to US

From St Magdalena driving the Gardena pass doesn’t make sense.

Is the drive too long or something? I'm trying to work the Gardena Pass into the itinerary.

It’s roughly an hour drive from St. Magdalena to Selva, the start of the Gardena Pass. So it’s up to you if it’s too far or not.

https://www.val-gardena.com/en/dolomites/gardena-pass/

Okay, the Gardena Pass starts on SS242 in Val Gardena. Then, not too far after Hotel Meisules, you turn left on SS243 and continue to Corvara, then then turn left onto SS244 to get to Lago di Braies. Is that right?

I'm thinking that's be, what, a four-hour drive? We can handle that. We won't have any other activity that day with the revised itinerary. And it should be nice scenery, right?

So, if you agree, it's just a matter of Chiusa or St. Magdalena. A poster on here is saying that the east side of St. Magdalena is dangerous. What do you think?

I saw that post. I don’t believe the story at all.

Yes, the directions you posted are correct. Estimated time of 4 hours seems right also. Possibly less.

Yeah, that guy is trolling for some reason. I think the plan is coming together at least. Thanks for your input!

"We stayed in a beautiful place just outside of Heiligenblut, if you’d rather get an early morning start on the Grossglockner Road."

Does this place have dinner service? I can't tell from the website.

They offer breakfast in the morning. No dinner. We had dinner in Heiligenblut. I don’t recall the name of the restaurant. We did sit at an outdoor table though.