lienz to innsbruck

Hi all,

i am looking for some advice about driving between Lienz and Innsbruck. We are staying the night in Lienz (after driving down through the Zillertal valley and Grossglocknerstrasse) and need to be back in Innsbruck in the afternoon for a flight home. I was thinking of driving back through Italy via Vipeteno and the Brenner pass - it seems a similar distance and driving time to that of the road north through the Felberntauern tunnel, but would give us a glimpse of some different scenery and maybe even lunch in Italy! But then I read that this could be a long drive in traffic, since the brenner pass can be blocked with trucks and not much fun.

Does anyone out there have any experience of these roads and any advice? Thanks in advance.

Cheers

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I think the travel via Brenner Pass is the most convenient. There is no motorway until Franzensfeste/Fortezza so calculate some time. Usually the driver over the Brenner pass is no problem at all, you will have many trucks on the right lane, that%26#39;s it. Mind that you have to switch on the lights in Italy even if the sun is shining!

The part of Italy you will drive thru was part of Austria until 1918 and German is the first language in the Province of Bozen/Bolzano (South Tyrol), so not real Italy but very pleasent villages and towns... for example Bruneck or Sterzing (Vipiteno in Italian language).

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Using the Brenner route could be perhaps faster than using the Felbertauerntuneel route in my opinion.

A factor that you do not mention is the expected date of travel.

Note that portions of northern Italy - the Sudtirol was formerly part of the Austrian Empire until the end of World war 1.

Your probable route passes near towns where names will be in both german and italian

examples Vipiteno in italian - Sterzing in german

Bressanone / Brixen

The Brenner does get a large amounts of trucks, but normally this is not really a great problem.

Some now use the %26quot; Piggy Back %26quot; train system through this area where they are loaded on train cars in Italy and transported in this manner to several areas in Austria like Worgl.

In addition, the old 2 lane roadway that the Brenner Autobahn replaced still exists. This road closely follows the same route of the newer autobahn but of course is much slower passing through many towns now bypassed by the autobahn.

But it could be used as an alternative in the event of traffic troubles ( you and all the others knowing this way. )

The autobahn is a multi lane roadway in both directions and trffic normally moves quickly.

Austria also has strict rules regarding truck traffic on Sundays and this often means less trucks on the austrian roadways and major highways leading to it.

I would not hesitate to use the Brenner way. Perhaps a little less scenic but still nice and you see some different places too. Some interesting old castles and some remnants of structures from the World War 1 era.

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Thank you both very much for your help. I still haven%26#39;t made a decision on which route to take, I will talk to my fellow travellers about it, but now we have more of an idea of the roads etc. We are going this weekend and looking forward to it!

thanks again

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Weather prognosis does not look bad for this weekend.

partly sunny, cool , perhaps a chance of a shower by Innsbruck on Sunday.

No note of it , but sometimes some morning fog in valley areas.