Road Construction from Munich/Innsbruck to Dolomites

Just remember that if you rent a car in one country and drop it in another, you will get hit with an international drop fee, and it could be large.

I have heard there is a major highway project over the Brenner Pass. It will likely be major stau (traffic jam), but you can get through. Just takes patience.

Thank you…would an alternative be to take train from Innsbruck to Balzano (and then pick up rental car there)?

Curious to hear more thoughts on this Brenner Pass road construction and how much of a headache it would be.

Alternatively would flying to Venice or Milan and heading north make more sense and allow us to avoid traffic jams due to construction?

Thx!!

They are in the multi-year process of rebuilding a very long viaduct without stopping the traffic; this means that a long section of the Innsbruck-Brenner highway is downgraded to two or three lanes instead of four or six, with strict speed limits. Also a tunnel near Innsbruck is being reworked. When I mean strict, I really mean very strict limits, electronically monitored. Two years ago I got a fine for going at 56 km/h (that's 34 mph), on a steep descent, when the limit was 50. I was not really speeding, I had just released brakes a bit. Generally speaking, it should add 20 to 30 minutes to the itinerary; unless you are driving in a July/August weekend, and you should not as the traffic is always terrible in summer weekends. Pay attention that in some sections, in order to keep traffic loads balanced and not overstress some bridges, the ordinary flow of traffic is inverted, trucks must stay on the left and cars on the right; there are light signals for this.

There is no real alternative to the highway. The ordinary road is very slow and curvy in the first section, less so near the pass, but residents do not want long distance traffic to overflow from the highway to the ordinary road, so often in summer months (and always during the weekends) the ordinary road is open only to local traffic, with frequent police controls. Again, I had to show several times my Innsbruck guest card or discuss with local police that I was going not to Italy but to to a supermarket, in order to justify my Italian licence plate on forbidden roads.

The train from Munich is very easy. We are actually going the opposite direction in September. Do you need a car in the Dolomites? It all depends on where you're staying and how much driving you need to do there.

Thank you. Where would you advise we take train to (from Munich or Innsbruck, can get to either) —and can you recommend a good base in Dolomites? Would be there maybe 2-3 days do a hike, maybe some rafting, and general exploring of towns, shops. I should add that we are willing to pick up a car (though that roadwork doesn’t sound so pleasant) but if train to get to the region is straightforward, I would prefer that.

To get to Ortisei, a popular spot, you need to take a bus from Bolzano or Ponte Gardena. Trainlines only skirt the Dolomites in the valley to the west and to the north. Bus service is frequent and very efficient in the Dolomites.

Trains go from either Munich or Innsbruck. the Railjet express trains go every 2 hours from Munich to Bolzano (also stopping at Innsbruck). From Innsbruck, there are also frequent regional trains with a change at Brennero and stop at Ponte Gardena.

If you stay in or around Ortisei, take the train from Munich to Bressanone/Brixen. (Book through RailJet or Deutsche Bundesbahn.) From there you can take the bus or book a taxi. If you do a search for Dolomites, the forum has quite a few recent posts and lots of information and good advice.