Driving from Salzburg to San Candido (Italy)
 

Can you help with first-hand driving advice?
My husband is very sensitive to motion sickness on winding mountain roads.

We are hoping to rent a car in Salzburg in Late May and drive to San Candido in Italy.

Can you help me to better understand the best road options?
Thank you!

The shortest itinerary would be the Felber Tauern road. But if you don't like curves, you may prefer the Tauern motorway up to Spittal plus the Gailtal - Pustertal road E66

But why not go by train from Salzburg to the Austo-Italian border station of Innichen/San Candido?
It takes 4 1/2 hrs with 2 train changes in small stations (short ways).

We are also considered the train or a hybrid of train and car. I think a car would be helpful to explore the Salzkammergut for 4 days. My primary concern about the train is traveling with luggage (age 65+) with so many transfers for non-German speaking folks. Thanks for your reply!

As non-German speakers close to your age group who often visit German speaking countries and only travel by train and bus, I encourage you to give public transport a try. Less stressful, no worries about finding parking, and the driver can enjoy the scenery as well. It's really not a big deal, unless you're heavy packers.

You can easly get around the Salzkammergut by bus and ferry. We did this one Christmas with a base in St Gilgen. Easy peasy.

Unless you plan to drive back to Salzburg or elsewhere in Austria to return the car, you might want to see what the one-way, multi-country charge(s) would be.

You won't have any trouble with the roads if you take the A10 / E55 south from Salzburg, and then the 100 from Spittal to the border and San Candido. A car is a good idea in the Salzkammergut but there are some curvy roads there. The bus system there is very good but you would have to learn it. If you drive south from San Candido you'll be in very mountainous terrain with slow, curvy roads.

Good comment on where to drop the car. If you rent in Salzburg, could you go on to Innsbruck and drop it there?

Our vacation in September (2023) included renting a car (Hertz) in Innsbruck, driving through the Dolomites and Salzkammergut, and dropping the car in Vienna. Except for getting lost in the cities and needing Google Maps to find our way, driving was pleasant and trouble free. While at our hotels in the Dolomites we sometimes used the bus instead of the car. The hotels gave us a free bus pass and parking is always a challenge.

We're both over 70 and understand your comment about schlepping luggage around trains and busses perfectly.

Innichen/San Candido is a italo/austrian border town. I suppose that the car can be dropped on the Austrain side of the border, somewhere between Sillian and Lienz in Osttirol.