Where would you recommend my family stop for lunch and to stretch our legs as we drive from Riva to Munich on a Saturday in August (excluding Innsbruck as we'll have visited it on another leg of our trip)? I don't want to take too much of a detour but would we be foolish to miss Merano, Ortisei or Mittenwald? Bolzano seems like a logical choice but will it entail a lot of time and hassle to get into the city during peak travel time?
Thank you.
In your idle car on the Brenner Autobahn ?
Only half joking, a Saturday in August will bring bad traffic, what is normally a five hour drive could well take seven to eight. I would plan on a picnic lunch, and leave early.
But if you are lucky, Northwest of Innsbruck you could take the slower but shorter route via Seefeld and the Walchensee, it is quite scenic round there.
I this car a rental?
Yes, it's a rental. Why?
Expensive to drop it in Germany. It will have to be transported back to Italy before it can be re-rented. Unless of course, you are returning to Italy, or you started in Germany and are on your way back. And then there is the vignette issue as you pass through Austria and use the Motorway. Buy one entering Austria or only use secondary roads.
We are starting and ending our trip in Munich and spending a good portion of it in Austria. When we first arrive, we will pick up the car in Munich and buy a vignette by the border as we drive to Salzburg. I had investigated picking up the car in Germany and returning it in Austria or Italy but you are correct - it was very expensive.
The best places would be a couple of restaurants in Isera, near Rovereto, but they are so close to your starting point that they are not feasible. I had a very good lunch in Chiusa di Val Gardena - midway between Bolzano and Bressanone - and the restaurant at the Brenner highway just a few meters past the border on the Austrian side is not bad at all. But the fellow that said that driving the Brenner on an August Saturday means extreme traffic is right. Leave as soon as possible and have lunch where you can.
Thank you, Iachera. We'll plan to leave very early and will load up on snacks for the car!
