Munich to Bolzano: Please critique our itinerary
 

I am planning a trip that transects the Alps from Munich to Bolzano and am looking for critiques of the draft itinerary. Our non-stop flight from Toronto arrives in Munich on April 21. We will travel by train.

Salzburg three nights (after landing in Munich)
Innsbruck two nights
Bolzano three nights (possibly rent a car for a day to see the Dolomites)
Garmisch-Partenkirchen four nights (We plan to do some birding here.)
Munich four nights then fly home

The timing was dictated by an event in Vienna that I had planned on attending, and booked the flights for, but is now not happening so the trip is being reworked. I realize that later in the season would have been better for activities at higher elevations. We decided to drop Vienna because we have been there before and all of the places in the revised itinerary are new to us. Any constructive comments on the structure of the draft itinerary are welcome.

Being stuck in Innsbruck and Bozen for several days requires at least some interesting Museums to visit. Ötzi maybe. Garmisch can be seen in a day. You'd need a car for the better places.

It looks very doable. Not sure what to recommend because in that area I prefer a car and do some of the incredible drives. Timmelsjochstraße which is about 100 km from Innsbruck. Grossglocknerstrasse 80 km south of Königssee.
I've been to Innsbruck twice and don't know that I'd want to spend any days there. From Bozen I'd try to visit the area around St Ulrich/Ortisei. I've driven from Innsbruck to Bozen and while the scenery is beautiful, the driver doesn't get much of a chance to see much and the traffic can be troublesome, so taking the train and renting a car there is a good idea. I hope this is some help

If you drive from the Brenner to Innsbruck, during peak season there will be a traffic jam each and every day!! once you apporach Innsbruck. Most of the rest of the year, however, the Brenner road has little traffic, the traffic is on the Autobahn.

I would highly recommend, not driving on the Brenner state road, but using the old (original) roman road (L38) on the other side of the valley. It merges with the state road at Matrei/Brenner.

I did the drive very early in Sept headed south and the traffic was very bad at the toll plaza. That's a drive I doubt I'll ever do again. The full drive (not all the same day) was Munich to Siena. Train the next time!

Your plan is certainly doable, but I wouldn't do it that way.
I would only spent one night in Innsbruck and 2 at most in G-P. I love the Dolomites and I would spend the rest of my time there. I often recommend trains, but in and around this area I would recommend a car, even with the potential traffic problems. Just plan ahead for possible delays.

Yes, the state road isn't nearly as bad as the Autobahn. It's only a short drive of about 30km on the state road with no toll at all. Traffic jams on the state road can be avoided too, if you use the old roman road. (Which is very scenic too, just turn left at Hall, coming from Kufstein). Just stay away from the Autobahn and that toll plaza Innsbruck south. :-).

Did everyone read that the poster stated "We will travel by train."?

If your going to Balzano, do not miss Utzi, the 5000 year old, freeze dried alpine hiker. Also, continue on to Trent for an overnight then back to Salzberg.

>Did everyone read
Yes, which would mean they'll be stuck. :-).

Yeah sometimes we get chatty and off topic

Off topic:
If Ötzi is 5000 years old and he was brought to the surface due to melting glaciers a few years ago, it must have been warmer 5000 years ago, right?. Who caused global warming 5000 years ago? ;-) Your car?

Thank you everyone for your insights. It looks like Innsbruck may not warrant the time we had alloted. Perhaps we will just go for a walk and have lunch while passing through. Trento looks like it could be interesting; I'll do some research. I had not thought of more extensive car use and will give that some thought.

Continuing the off topic discussion: The Earth's climate has undergone much change over geological time long before we began altering the atmosphere. The Earth will get along just fine after we "liberate" all the fosil carbon back into the environment but we might not be happy with the results.

Trento is more interesting in respect that it's a typical north italian town. No more Tyrolean athmosphere there. Last time I was there, it was loud, full of life and somewhat dirty. I'm sure that has changed. But then, it's just a small town and it's no Verona. And Verona isn't far by train..

Off topic: Imho, the mission of mankind is to liberate those carbons, this will limit the human infestation of earth and give other creatures a better climate and more space to live! But can those carbons alone do the job?

Verona looks good. I had given it some thought when planning last year's trip to Italy but it had lots of competition further south.

Everytime I do a trip I think I will have time to write a proper trip report and then other priorities take over...like planning the next trip. Rather than a full report that will never happen, here is brief synopsis of how it worked out.

We did the itinerary listed in my original post with Verona taking the place of Innsbruck. In the end we both felt it was very good trip with about the right amount of time in each place. If I were to add any days it would be to G-P and Bolzano/Bozen to spend more time hiking in the mountains. Only having a car for one day did not feel like any great handicap although one does not know what is missed on the road not taken.

The quick visit to Verona was a nice counterpoint to the rest of the trip in German-speaking lands. Upon our arrival there we had the unexpected sight of a large collection of Second World War equipment and men who looked like they had come from the set of Band of Brothers. Appearently they have a hobby of maintaining this ancient war machinery and move it further north through Italy each year and this year was Verona's turn. We spotted a red maple leaf painted on one Jeep and chatted with its driver who, it turns out has a brother living not too far from us in the Toronto area. He took our photo holding his Red Ensign (Canada's flag before 1965).

I will try to add more later.

If you have the time do the whole journey bu car. It is worth the while. You can drive via Madonna di Campiglio or Cortina D'Ampezzo. Better than spending 4 days in Munich. Once you've seen the centre or Marienplatz, you've seen the best of Munich.

Glad to hear you enjoyed your trip!