Driving in the Alps in June, 2011

Lo...May i suggest the Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse in Austria. We drove over from the Zillertal (Mayrhofen) via Kimml to Zell am See and then followed the road to Lienz and then back north and west to our home base. Beautiful drive if the weather cooperates. I just love driving those winding roads anywhere, getting lost, stopping and taking in the great vistas, staying in little out of the way places for lunch, dinner or overnight. Germany, Austria, France. I have never really done the Italian alps but only the Appenines. I would love to include the Italian Alps on my next trip. Enjoy it and just be careful with the cyclists. The bikers can take care of themselves.

Hi, I'd suggest flying into/out of Munich. From here drive down to Zell am See for a night or 2. Then drive the Grossglockner Hochalpenstrsse and into the Italian Dolomites. My opinion is that the Dolomites not only have the best alpine passes, but they are all pretty much concentrated in a relatively small area. We love Alta Badia as a base in the Dolomites. Central to a number of terrific passes (Falzarego, Gardena, Sella, Campolongo, Giau, etc. All are very easy from Alta Badia. We love staying at the Ciasa Montanara in La Villa, Alta Badia. [INVALID]-www.montanara.it[INVALID][INVALID]After a few nights here, drive over to the Vinschgau/Val Venosta (just west of Meran/Merano) for a couple of nights. More castles here then anywhere we've been outside the Rhine area of Germany. From here drive the Timmesljoch Pass into the Oetztal in Austria. We stayed in Soelden in the Oetztal. In the Oetztal is the Panoramic Glacier Road, another good drive. Hope this helps get you started. Paul

Austria has two amazing Alpine drives: the Gloßglockner and Silvretta. From there, you can easily access the Dolomiti, as some suggested. Also not to miss is Central Switzerland passes, if they are already opened by then.

I drove over the pass from Anency to Chamonix and it was good drive. What did you search on? I searched driving alps switzerland and found some interesting forums. Check out this one: http://www.englishforum.ch/travel-day-trips-free-time/17792-driving-alps-some-advice-please.html You might also want to post this question on TripAdvisor. They have a forum for the Swiss Alps http://www.tripadvisor.in/ShowForum-g188077-i652-Swiss_Alps.html Also, it seems to me that the boys at Top Gear ought to have some advice on this. ; ) I tried searching their site and didn't have much luck, but then I did find this link. http://www.redlineblog.com/top-gears-worlds-best-driving-road-in-detail/ So, maybe it's just an excuse to watch Top Gear on BBC America every chance you get. ; ) Pam

Thanks to everyone who has responded so far and I hope to hear from more of you. As to the Top Gear guys, I think I have them to thank for this idea of my husband's. We love their show and I do have the RedlineBlog World's Best Driving Road posting saved in my favorites. I can't totally credit them, though. Our train trip from Munich to Venice through the Dolomites last September was also a big influence.

We LOVE Top Gear!! We took the Fern Pass (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fern_Pass ) after visiting Neuschwanstein and headed over to the Brenner Pass, via the Europabrücke (unfortunately, it was dark one way and fogged in the way back so we didn't see much, but we came through in winter.) We stayed in a very small town (Rasun) in the Dolomites, that I knew of from a previous stay with family (in the springtime). It is right next to Brunico, which has more shops. Cortina d'Ampezzo is a bigger "ski resort" town that closes up more in the spring- I enjoyed the personality of the town, when we visited but that was years ago. We visited Bolzano, but I don't know if I would recommend actually staying there. I came much closer to being robbed there than I did in Venice! I prefer being more in the mountains. Here is a site to search accomodations in the area we were in, under "Search and Book": http://www.kronplatz.com/en/ I usually Google to see if they have their own websites. I used this one to find our place, and we were very happy with it: http://www.redrooster.it/en/

If you are likely to stay into July, wait until after October 19 to plan your route. That is the day they announce the route of the Tour de France. That could affect hotel bookings etc.

Just respect the grades on these mountain roads and don't get the cheapest car option. You'll the drive more with a car that has a bit of growl under its hood.