CapitolHill

For the third year in a row we will arrive at Munich airport on a Sunday morning, pick up a car and drive towards Salzburg. For the last two years we have hit terrible traffic on the ring road heading south from the airport, as we got closer to the junction with the Salzburg road. Does anyone have recent experience on the ring road from the airport? Were the last two years exceptions or is the volume such that delays are now a fact of life? Thanks for any insight and/or advice you can give.

logos999

>now a fact of life
Yes, definitively. Friday afternoon and Sunday are worst. No trucks on Sunday though.

treplow

Probably not too bad heading toward Salzburg on Sunday in the AM. Sunday the "backflow" from out of the city heading north, and the "inflow" from mountains goes the other way.

If you get yourself a good map, or watch for the road signs that say "U", you can get round some of the Staus (jams). Besides, some of these backroads are quite scenic.

JN

Why not avoid the hassle and take the train to Salzburg? You can get a cheap BayernKarte or Happy Weekend ticket that allows up to five of you to train there for less than 30 Euro. If you need to rent a car in germany, you could take the short trip next day to Freilassing across the border (or Berchtesgaden) and pick up a car there. This would save you money over an airport pickup as well.

Larryincolorado

As long as you are not going into another German state, or to the border area in the Czech Rep, there is no reason for a Schönes-Wochenend Ticket. The Bayern Ticket is valid all day long on the weekend. The Bayern Ticket costs less and is also valid to Salzburg. If you buy it at the airport you can use it for the S-bahn into the Ostbahnhof in Munich, where you catch the train to Salzburg. From a ticket automat at the airport it costs only €25; it cost €2 more at a ticket counter.

CapitolHill

Thanks for the advice about taking the train. We've done that before---but on this trip we need to stick with the car since we'll be cutting south to the Brenner Pass en route to the gorgeous Val Gardena. Tried to arrive there from Milan but traffic in Italy was so horrendous we swore we'd never do that again. We have our fingers crossed that Munich traffic won't be bad this year.

logos999

>We have our fingers crossed that Munich traffic won't be bad this year.
What makes you belive it would be different.