Hi
As advised by Paul am staying night at Zell Am See and then doing the Grossglockner drive. In all have only 5 days.. Doing 3 nights in Salzburg, 1 each in Innsbuck and Zell Am See. I'm driving from Munich (rental car) to Salzburg to Zell Am See and Innsbuck and back to Munich.
My question is when I drive the Grossglockner from North to south .. To get to Innsbruck need to go back the same route or is there a less winding route by driving all way to Helingbut??
What is your advice?

Drive down to Lienz, take the main road to Innichen - Aicha and finally the Brenner motorway to Innsbruck

Thanks for this. Will this take much longer
than traveling back up. Also what Woukd
your reco be to spend 5 days. Defi want
to do the Grossglockner drive. Tks

Hi,
The route given by neckervd is no longer than any other route. Just a matter of preference. You could drive to Heiligenblut, turn around, come back and drive west to Zell am Ziller then to Innsbruck or drive to Heiligenblut, Lienz and then head north again via Matrei in Osttirol and on to Innsbruck. They all take about 5 hours.

Thanks pja... Which route Woukd u recommend? Is the one through Lienz got much less mountain driving and more scenic. Or is it simpler to just trace back our route and go to innsbruck. Also is it worth stopping at Krimml waterfalls and doable?
Thanks a lot

Hi,

We've done all the suggested routes. The one "neckervd" recommended has the least alpine driving. The route backtracking, meaning over the Grossglockner and back again of course takes the longest and has the most alpine driving. The route via Matrei in Osttirol is nice and the Gerlos Pass is pretty enough. It's really what you prefer. Less alpine driving or more. The scenery on all the routes is very good. For me, it's a tough choice. The part of the drive "neckervd" suggested I really like is the BrennerPass (a mult lane highway) but as you near Innsbruck, the scenery in front of you is outstanding.

Sorry I couldn't be more decisive. Probably why we've done a number of trips to the areas.

Paul

Thanks Paul. I noticed part of the brenner pass is thru Italy... Hope no issues with that.
Also is it worth doing the Krimml falls?
Thanks again for all your help !

The Brenner Pass is just a highway. There is a toll for the Europa Bridge along this stretch. About 9 Euro as I recall. There are manned toll booths to collect this.

The route "neckervd" proposed includes driving about half the route in Italy. A little west of Lienz, Austria is the Italian border. You'll stay in Italy until you get to the Brenner, maybe 20 to 30 minutes south of Innsbruck.

If going this route, be sure to tell the rental car company you plan to drive in Italy. Some rental cars are forbidden to be taken into Italy, usually their higher end BMW's, Benz's, etc. We've never come across this, as we rent either economy cars or compact cars. Let them know of your plans to be in Italy regardless.

We never went to the Krimml Falls. You can see it in the distance from the Gerlos Pass.

Paul