Suggestion 1 night stop between Fussen Germany & Lake Garda

[Shauno44]

Hi All,

As part of a 16-night trip to the Italian Lakes.

Struggling to find an Austrian stopover point to experience an authentic relaxing Austrian valley/meadow. We've planned to go via brenner pass & jaufenpass then onto Garda. Just struggling to identify a "really nice" stop over.

All other stops for the 16 nights I'm happy with, just this little leg I need some advice on :-)

Thanks

[mr pg]

If you went further east you could look around Zell am Zee and then take the Grossglockner towards Garda.

[dcb]

Shauno44 said:

Struggling to find an Austrian stopover point to experience an authentic relaxing Austrian valley/meadow. We've planned to go via brenner pass & jaufenpass then onto Garda. Just struggling to identify a "really nice" stop over.

All other stops for the 16 nights I'm happy with, just this little leg I need some advice on :-)

Thanks

Brenner pass dead boring it's the lorry route.

I like Imst & Landeck.

Reschenpass quite good, Stelvio too full of tourists. Umbrialpass a lot easier now it's been tarmaced.

Livigno IMHO well worth avoiding. Bormio a good shout. At least you will be on the correct
(South) side of the Alps for some decent scoff and a glass of vino paralytico rosso tres ordinario.

[Shauno44]

Thanks for the replies so far.

I've now got three routes in mind. & even more choice of my original Q about 1 overnight stopping place on the way to Lake Garda ha ha.

Things I need to consider:

Driving a Range Rover Sport, even in dynamic mode, it's still a wide swaying boat.
2 young children.
Get the wife to her balcony in Limone
Try to tick some good driving/view for myself

Route 1 via brenner & Jaufenpass (quickest, maybe most boring, but child friendly?)
Route 2 via Timmelsjoch pass (my preferred, but slightly concerned the RR will even make me nauseous? and not sure of road width ?)
Route 3 via Reschenpass & Stelvio pass (longest way, but maybe most scenic?)

Either way, still looking for suggestions for a nice scenic stop over point :-)

[mr pg]

The Stelvio is great to look at but poor to drive. The east side is very narrow in places and hairpins very sharp too.
Can't comment on Timmelsjoch as that's one of a few we've not done yet.

[omniflow]

Timmelsjoch to Garda is very tedious once you've done the scenic bit at the top of the mountain. It seems to take an absolute age and the roads are busy, twisty and narrow. Not enjoyable at all.

[dcb]

Shauno44 said:

Route 2 via Timmelsjoch pass (my preferred, but slightly concerned the RR will even make me nauseous? and not sure of road width ?)

Your concerns are unfounded. I got a 17 foot land yacht (aka Jaguar XJ8) over that no problem.
Remember the local council have to get lorries up there to repair the road from time to time.

Of course, the road surface will be as usual immaculate on the Austrian side and very poor
on the Italian side. Don't expect much on the Italian side in the way of markers for the edge
of the road, either. One 20 cm diameter stone every 10 meters or so, in my experience.

Watch out for the bikers, especially the Norwegians. Suicidal. Doing hairpins slightly
more difficult than usual due to steering wheel on the wrong side. Having an open
top car or a helpful passenger does matter. You have been warned.

[AlexIT]

My personal suggestion (strictly off-weekends though) would be:

Spend the night in Füssen

in the morning Füssen -> Fernpass (Road is in a nice scenery, but not tight, easy to drive considering you've children) -> Reschenpass
QUick stop-over at the Reschensee with its bell tower in the lake



From there you may drive down the valley to Bolzano, if you wish you can stop along the route in Glurns, a typical medieval town near the crossroad between the Venosta Valley and the Stelvio-Pass


and stop for lunch at the Forst Brewery near Meran.




And from there you can enter the motorway in Bolzano Sud to Rovereto Nord and from there down to Riva del Garda.

Without stops it's a 5 and a half hours drive, Forst brewery is about 2:30 hours from Füssen, so if you leave at 9, you may comfortably stop for some sightseeing along the way and be there by 1 pm for lunch. From there it's then quite a straightforward drive to Lake Garda, you will arrive mid-afternoon there.

I did it several times when my son was a child and it's an easy way to get there.

From Reschensee you may also drive to Switzerland towards Santa Maria and either the Umbrail Pass to Bormio or a little further and drive through the tunnel to Livigno and then to Bormio. From Bormio you then can drive either from the Aprica or the Gavia crossing the the Alps west to east, but it adds a good 3 hours to the drive. It's a nice drive, mind, but I'd rather do it with a sports car without kids who might get tired.

Edited by AlexIT on Thursday 11th May 08:27

Edited by AlexIT on Thursday 11th May 08:28

[psi310398]

mr pg said:

The Stelvio is great to look at but poor to drive. The east side is very narrow in places and hairpins very sharp too.
Can't comment on Timmelsjoch as that's one of a few we've not done yet.

The driving fun on the Stelvio is also often rather compromised by the peletons of cyclists riding six abreast and the fleets of camper vans driven by German pensioners.

Before anybody jumps down my throat, both groups, of course, are perfectly entitled to use the road but they are factors to consider if it’s a good driving experience the OP is after.

[AlexIT]

psi310398 said:

The driving fun on the Stelvio is also oftenalways rather compromised by the peletons of cyclists riding six abreast and the fleets of camper vans driven by German pensioners.

Before anybody jumps down my throat, both groups, of course, are perfectly entitled to use the road but they are factors to consider if it’s a good driving experience the OP is after.

FTFY

[skidskid]

AlexIT's suggestion is very good.

I'd swap the Fernpass for a longer trip via Reutte and the Hahntenjoch pass into Imst. The Fernpass has roadworks at the moment and is worse than normal.

The brenner is long and dull but does make swift progress. If you wanted to go that way a nice hotel just off that route would be int he Stubaital, Vitalhotel Edelweiss in Neustift in Stubaital.

I live in that area and my normal route is the Timmelsjoch, stop for pizza in San Leonardo and then head to Garda via Merano. I would say this is a good compromise between the Brenner and AlexIT's suggestion as its 50/50 pass and autobahn.

Whatever you choose you cant go far wrong!

[AlexIT]

skidskid said:

I'd swap the Fernpass for a longer trip via Reutte and the Hahntenjoch pass into Imst. The Fernpass has roadworks at the moment and is worse than normal.

I take note for the next time, I didn't even know about this route

[skidskid]

Its a great little pass! Has a mix of open sections, forest, tunnels etc. Carfection did a good video on it.