Venice to Romantic Road in Bavaria

The main route through the Brenner pass might be the only practical option by car in winter and is also served by train. Are you returning to Italy? If not, I'd take a train to Munich (the afternoon train departure runs direct) and pick up a car there, to avoid a second-country car rental drop off fee.

I would avoid the alpine driving and get a train from Venice to Munich, perhaps stopping at Innsbruck en route.
Pick up your car in Munich and set out on a circular touring route ...
Munich > Garmisch > Fussen > Augsburg > Rothenburg > Wurzburg > Bamberg > Bayreuth > Nuremberg > Munich

If you book early, flights from Venice to Munich start at 50€ per person on AirDolomiti, a subsidiary of Lufthansa. If you’re trying to compare prices, don’t forget to include that passing through Austria in a car will require you to spend 9€ for a Vignette and 9€ for the toll to use the Brenner Autobahn on top of car rental, gasoline, and the drop off fee.
If you do decide to drive, you can take the very scenic road from Innsbruck through Mittenwald and stop at the abbey of Ettal and the village of Oberammergau before you drive to Füssen.

Hi,

We have driven a couple times trough the Austrian and Bavarian alps and the Dolomites in Italy in late November and early December. We never encountered any problems, even with a few days with some snowfall. The Brenner Pass is a multi-lane highway. You should have no problems.

You will be passing by a few very charming old town Christmas Markets in Italy, such as the ones in Bozen/Bolzano, Brixen/Bressanone and Sterzing/Vipiteno. We went to the Brixen and Sterzing markets in Dec. 2013.

Here's the main question: If you get the car in Italy, where are you going to return it? Drop off fees from one country to another (pick up in Italy, return in Germany or Austria) are steep, meaning very expensive.

Also, it's the law to have winter tires on your car in both Austria and Germany. Renting in Venice will not guarantee your car will have them. Probably won't. Take a trasin to either Innsbruck or Garmisch and get the car there. Cheaper and it will have the proper tires.

Keep in mind places like Fuessen, Mittenwald, etc., meaning small towns and villages, do not have a Christmas Market everyday, or even every week. Some have just 1 weekend, some are weekends only, etc. Check before making plans. Bozen/Bolzano, Brixen/Bressanone, Sterzing/Vipiteno are everyday starting in late November. Innsbruck, Hall in Tirol, Salzburg and Munich are everyday starting various dates in November. I believe Innsbruck starts mid November.

Paul

Thanks to all of you for the great information. Here's the situation: My husband & I will be disembarking from a cruise in Venice. My thoughts were to rent a car, drive up to the Romantic Road with a stop in Innsbruck. Maybe going as far as Dinkelsbuhl, then returning to Venice for our flight home to the US. After reading your suggestions, I'm thinking 'why come back to Venice'? Why not fly out of Munich or maybe even Frankfurt. I would like to drive the most scenic road, depending on the weather, but I'm not sure which route that would be. Thanks again for the inspiration.

of course fly into one city and out of another. A rental car will be really expensive to pickup in Italy and drop in Germany because you'll have the foreign drop fee added to your rental. Either take the train from Venice to Munich or jump on an Air Dolomiti flight. AD is a great airline.

. I would like to drive the most scenic road, depending on the weather, Rural scenery is generally not at it's best in late autumn-winter. The atmosphere is often very damp, and coupled with the low angle of the sun in the sky, everything tends to look kind of dullish gray, with rather limited visibility (this doesn't preclude the possibility of sunny skies, but don't count on them). And the Romantic Road itself isn't all that scenic even in optimal weather conditions. It's just an ordinary rural secondary route that links together some attractive towns.. hardly a rare thing in Germany or Bavaria in particular. So... don't really worry about picking the absolute most scenic route. The Brenner Pass will give you some spectacular views, and even the Autobahn routes can provide some good scenery (weather permitting). The only specific recommendation I'll make is if you decide to fly out of Frankfurt, try to drive down the Neckar river valley between Bad Wimpfen and Heidelberg. It isn't nearly as well known as the more famous Mittelrheintal, but provides some of the same ambience... steep valley walls with vineyards, attractive towns and about a dozen or so castles.

We went the opposite way but our stops (in reverse order) were Venice, Verona, Hall in Tyrol, Salzberg, Munich, Reutte, Romantic Road (stops were Rothenburg, Dinkelsbuhl, Nordlingen and Wurzburg) then the Rhine.

We drove the Brenner Pass. It's a major road and I'd expect them to keep it in good condition for winter travel.