I have heard that the Autobahn can become very congested at or around the Italy border. Has anyone experienced this and if so please let me know what to expect. Does anyone know if there a specific time of the day when congestion is usually at its highest or if there are any sites I can look to in order to monitor traffic. My travel plans are fairly opened and I would like to plan aroung heavy traffic hours if I can.

OMG we needed 3 hours to go 3 kilometers once, waiting to go through the ST Gotthard tunnel. Everybody was outside their cars playing soccer. It was the ``first weekend of summer'' and much of Europe wanted to go through that little hole to get to the beach, apparently.

Definitely avoid weekend traffic in summer. I have heard that the San Bernardino tunnel is less troubled by congestion, but haven't tried it myself.

Try this fror traffic updates: http://www.gotthard-strassentunnel.c...frameseite.htm

Hopefully now that Switzerland is in the Schengen Accords to facilitate easy border crossings this may help alleviate the backups? That is if they were due to border formalities which by now i think should be largely gone?

not sure when Suisse are fully implementing Schengen that they agreed to a few years back

It wasn't a border-crossing thing. It was a squeezing 3 lanes into the one-lane tunnel thing. That, and, they would alternate letting cars and semis go through (they only want trucks in one direction at a time), which led to a lot of stopping and starting.

sounds like they need a new tunnel - like one where cars go on train cars like at Lotschberg Tunnel

Has anyone gone the San Bernardino route, and if so how does it compare to Gotthard?

I don;t think the problem is border crossings - I think it is the limited space in the tunnels - which are 10 to 12 miles long. We went through from Italy to Switz in early May and waited only a few minutes (but the road to the tunnel had been close to empty).

Ah yes, the notorious traffic jams before the Gotthard. They exist on every weekend that includes a public holiday or a school holiday. That's a lot of weekends.

During the summer and fall months, the traffic jams can be avoided by leaving the A2 in Altdorf and taking the side road into Andermatt and over the Gotthard, and vice versa. The trick is to leave the autobahn before getting caught in the traffic.

I would only do the San Bernardino if the Gotthard pass is closed.

Also, if there's a traffic jam at the Gotthard, there's sure to be long lines at the border crossing in Italy.

Some people have made it a challenge to go to Italy during the high frequency weekends without getting caught in a jam. They leave in the wee hours of the morning (4am) to avoid any congestion.

OK so I an willing to take the Gotthard Pass (weather permitting). Any recommendations for avoiding becoming insanely lost? I can find no effective way to use internet mapping tools to chart out a course that I can safely assume avoids the tunnel. I suppose the easiest thing to do is get a map upon my arrival in Zurich, but if any one can provide me with enough waypoints I may be able to map it out on-line. BTW- Schuler thanks for the input, I will get off of the A2 in Altdorf and wind my way to Andermatt, any other way points that I should look out for?

Our roads are quite easy to follow on a map. I'd definitely get one.

Avoid weekends, avoid local vacations and national festivities, avoid the weekedn of August 1st and 15th. Tune your radio to FM 103.3 and lesson to traffic reports in English and every 30 minutes. As well avoid rush hours during the week. Good luck.

Directions. A map? What a novel idea in this internet age. I suppose I'll have to break down and buy one at the airport.

Follow up question- Will be traveling in about a week, if the weather is good how much longer is the trip over Gotthard Pass then a traffic free trip through the tunnel?

Without using mappy, routeplaner, etc., I'd say about 40 min.