Grossglockner Alpine Road
Discussion
We stayed a night in Heiligenblut, Austria before hitting the glockner. We stayed here, loved it - http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g608655-...
We did the Gossglockner in late June last year. Visability wasn't great with drizzel, fog (even in the tunnels) and sleet. We were driving on instruments (sat nav saves the day again) at the top as I couldn't see beyond the bonnet but I can imagine it's epic on a good day. Be sure to do the leg up to the glacier (that was great).
We did the Timmelsjoch the next day. We did a loop from Innsbruck up the Brenner then left where the trucks board the train to Italy over Juefenpass then onto the Timmelsjoch from the south.Great day. Can't help with hotels as we were camping.
Top of the Timmel'
We did the Timmelsjoch the next day. We did a loop from Innsbruck up the Brenner then left where the trucks board the train to Italy over Juefenpass then onto the Timmelsjoch from the south.Great day. Can't help with hotels as we were camping.
Top of the Timmel'
I can recommend this town:
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Badgastein,+Au...
Also has an excellent Spa with an outdoor pool providing a view of the mountains. You can also have a massage, which is perfect after a good day's riding and a 'proper' sauna to finish off.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Badgastein,+Au...
Also has an excellent Spa with an outdoor pool providing a view of the mountains. You can also have a massage, which is perfect after a good day's riding and a 'proper' sauna to finish off.
nightflight said:
I'm planning to do the Grossglockner road this summer, and want to ask about where to stay. I'll be doing it on my Triumph Explorer, and want to stay somewhere with access to this road, some other good alpine roads, and a good town with bars/restaurants etc.
Lienz is fine. There are a couple of interesting roads thatrun west of there into Brunico.
Be warned the GG is running at an eye popping EUR 33, last time I checked.
Decent bars and restaurants all over the place. Watch out
for the Austrian rum on sale in the petrol stations - it's not
really for drinking, it's mostly for launmowers ;->
As ever, alpineroads.com has it all.
dcb said:
Lienz is fine. There are a couple of interesting roads that
run west of there into Brunico.
Be warned the GG is running at an eye popping EUR 33, last time I checked.
Decent bars and restaurants all over the place. Watch out
for the Austrian rum on sale in the petrol stations - it's not
really for drinking, it's mostly for launmowers ;->
As ever, alpineroads.com has it all.
€34.50 now - Stroh Rum (the 80% one) is good for using in Rumtopf ;-)run west of there into Brunico.
Be warned the GG is running at an eye popping EUR 33, last time I checked.
Decent bars and restaurants all over the place. Watch out
for the Austrian rum on sale in the petrol stations - it's not
really for drinking, it's mostly for launmowers ;->
As ever, alpineroads.com has it all.
AdiT said:
We did the Gossglockner in late June last year. Visability wasn't great with drizzel, fog (even in the tunnels) and sleet. We were driving on instruments (sat nav saves the day again) at the top as I couldn't see beyond the bonnet but I can imagine it's epic on a good day. Be sure to do the leg up to the glacier (that was great).
We did the Timmelsjoch the next day. We did a loop from Innsbruck up the Brenner then left where the trucks board the train to Italy over Juefenpass then onto the Timmelsjoch from the south.Great day. Can't help with hotels as we were camping.
Top of the Timmel'
AdiT anywhere you'd recommend for camping? I'll be there via bike and camping this summer.We did the Timmelsjoch the next day. We did a loop from Innsbruck up the Brenner then left where the trucks board the train to Italy over Juefenpass then onto the Timmelsjoch from the south.Great day. Can't help with hotels as we were camping.
Top of the Timmel'
We stayed 2 nights here just outside Innsbruck...
http://www.kranebitterhof.at/de/camping-de
Best camp-site bar and restaurant I've come across.The pitches were a bit stoney but we've had worse.
http://www.kranebitterhof.at/de/camping-de
Best camp-site bar and restaurant I've come across.The pitches were a bit stoney but we've had worse.
trialsta said:
In an incredible coincidence that's where I camped last time I went to Northern Italy! There was one pitch that was quite grassy so I was lucky. Fantastic restaurant though.
We had two great meals there. The beers not bad either and the staff are very good (free schnapps always goes down well and was a bit of a theme of last years tour).I've got a TYRE itinerary for the loop we did over the Jufenpass and Timmeljock if you want.
nightflight said:
I'm planning to do the Grossglockner road this summer, and want to ask about where to stay. I'll be doing it on my Triumph Explorer, and want to stay somewhere with access to this road, some other good alpine roads, and a good town with bars/restaurants etc.
There are plenty of places on both the Italian and Austrian sides which are also explicitly biker friendly.Toll is high but covers you for an entire day so worth riding it each way a couple of times. It's an awesome piece of road.
If you want a feel for what it's like:
http://www.bbot.co.uk/ride-reports/dolomites-june-...
and these are photos from 2 years ago when the sun was shining:
Halfway up from the North
Looking North from the observation point
Looking South from the observation point
Looking towards the observation point.
Enjoy it when you get there!
We did the GrossGlockner Hochalpenstrasse in late May after a dump of snow a few days before. The fee was €35 and the views sensational, stunning, words fail territory.
A few notes. It was a Sunday (May 21) and we went north-south and back again. We were staying at Alpbach and drove to Zell Am See, via Kitzbu-hell and Mittersill ...
[Mittersill roundabout sculpture.....]
... intending to head south to the GG. The road signage was diabolically bad and our road atlas petty useless. In the event we set the sat nav to take us to Heiligenblut on the south side of the pass and that got us out of Zell Am See, onto the 311 to Salzburg and then 107, the road south to the GG.
As it was a Sunday, we found out, there were no coaches heading south, they tend to run in the week and would make the road hell on the switchbacks to come. There were four types of traffic;
- (Motor)bikers; the most numerous, and they hunt in packs of 5 to 15 or more
- Ordinary cars/SUVs, and the odd RV,
- Cyclists
- Sports cars and exotica - we saw numerous 911s, an Audi R8, a Caterham and a beautiful Marcos.
The drive south from Zell am See is through beautiful lush farmland meadows up a flat-bottomed valley with forested sides. You pass through Vorfusch, pass Rolberg and Gaisstat to reach Fusch where you pay your €35 at a plaza with multiple lanes and space for many coaches; visions of traffic hell. The toll people take credit cards.
And off you go to Wolflern where the valley narrows and the road starts climbing to reach Ferleiten. Shortly after that the real fun begins as the gradient steepens and hairpin bends start coming at you as you climb the side of the valley.
We say snowy peaks ahead and the traffic was not too bad. When it's busy overtaking slower traffic is impossible. In lighter traffic it can be a nightmare of weaving your way through streams of bikers and cyclists coming up and down the pass. And on the steep exits from a hairpin the 911 Carrera felt under-powered. Higher up I double-declutched down to 1st to try and get some grunt exiting a climbing hairpin.
The main hairpins- kehre - are numbered but you don't know how many there are so the numbers are useless. We found out there are 36 in total, meaning up one side and down the other.
As we got higher we passed the snow line and the scenery was dazzling in the sunshine, with plenty of pull-offs so you could enjoy it;
It's mostly a 2-lane road though there are some 3-lane sections.
The driving is challenging, and we met banked snow at the side of the road higher up which was thawing in the warm sunlight, sending streams of water across the road, which made the driving more interesting.
At the almost-top there is a vast parking plaza on the left - Fuscher Torl I think - complete with cafe-bar-restaurant-terrace, and a cobbled road with 6 or 7 more (tight) hairpins going to a view-point (Edelweiss Spitze, 2,571m) which is worth a trip for the panoramic view
You can see the road ahead (picture above) to the actual high-point (about 2,500 metres) where the road turns back on itself and then snakes out across, for us, a snowy plateau with two tunnels visible in the distance (picture below);
The descent to Heiligenblut seems less open but just as exciting, with hairpins a plenty, heavy braking, and the joy of following cyclists down right-hand hairpin bends. There are various stop-and-admire-the-view places. Before Heiligenblut a road goes off right at a roundabout, heading to a dead-end and view point of a glacier and GrossGlockner mountain. Heiligenblut is charming and the road carries on down the gradually widening valley to Grosserkirchheim. You can hammer the car on sections here, traffic and inclination allowing.
We went as far south as Aichorn and its waterfall (Jugenfernsprung) before turning back, determined to get our €35-worth.
We did not set the sat-nav to Zel am See or other place north of the pass, thinking we know the way and can get the clunky sat-nav mount off the windscreen. Big mistake, as we came screaming up the road at 5pm, now with much lighter traffic, saw the roundabout and a big GrossGlockner sign and went off to the left to the damned glacier viewing point several kilometres up the road. It was nice driving but not where we wanted to go, as we realised when the road ended at a multi-story car-park and viewing centre-restaurant-cafe-bar-whatnot - the Kaiser-Franz-Josefs-Hohe.
Back we went and made the proper, right, turn from the roundabout to go haring back up the pass and down the other side. The scenery was still fantastic and the driving, with more over-taking opportunities, challenging and overwhelming. You really do enjoy a cold beer afterwards.
If you get the chance just do it. The pass is is normally open from the beginning of May to the end of October, and from 6am to 8pm or thereabouts. Get there early or late to avoid traffic.
PS. The Gerlos pass to the Krimml waterfall is fantastic too. It's also a toll-road and less-populated traffic-wise on the Saturday we did it than the Gross Glockner pass. It's a hoot!
A few notes. It was a Sunday (May 21) and we went north-south and back again. We were staying at Alpbach and drove to Zell Am See, via Kitzbu-hell and Mittersill ...
[Mittersill roundabout sculpture.....]
... intending to head south to the GG. The road signage was diabolically bad and our road atlas petty useless. In the event we set the sat nav to take us to Heiligenblut on the south side of the pass and that got us out of Zell Am See, onto the 311 to Salzburg and then 107, the road south to the GG.
As it was a Sunday, we found out, there were no coaches heading south, they tend to run in the week and would make the road hell on the switchbacks to come. There were four types of traffic;
- (Motor)bikers; the most numerous, and they hunt in packs of 5 to 15 or more
- Ordinary cars/SUVs, and the odd RV,
- Cyclists
- Sports cars and exotica - we saw numerous 911s, an Audi R8, a Caterham and a beautiful Marcos.
The drive south from Zell am See is through beautiful lush farmland meadows up a flat-bottomed valley with forested sides. You pass through Vorfusch, pass Rolberg and Gaisstat to reach Fusch where you pay your €35 at a plaza with multiple lanes and space for many coaches; visions of traffic hell. The toll people take credit cards.
And off you go to Wolflern where the valley narrows and the road starts climbing to reach Ferleiten. Shortly after that the real fun begins as the gradient steepens and hairpin bends start coming at you as you climb the side of the valley.
We say snowy peaks ahead and the traffic was not too bad. When it's busy overtaking slower traffic is impossible. In lighter traffic it can be a nightmare of weaving your way through streams of bikers and cyclists coming up and down the pass. And on the steep exits from a hairpin the 911 Carrera felt under-powered. Higher up I double-declutched down to 1st to try and get some grunt exiting a climbing hairpin.
The main hairpins- kehre - are numbered but you don't know how many there are so the numbers are useless. We found out there are 36 in total, meaning up one side and down the other.
As we got higher we passed the snow line and the scenery was dazzling in the sunshine, with plenty of pull-offs so you could enjoy it;
It's mostly a 2-lane road though there are some 3-lane sections.
The driving is challenging, and we met banked snow at the side of the road higher up which was thawing in the warm sunlight, sending streams of water across the road, which made the driving more interesting.
At the almost-top there is a vast parking plaza on the left - Fuscher Torl I think - complete with cafe-bar-restaurant-terrace, and a cobbled road with 6 or 7 more (tight) hairpins going to a view-point (Edelweiss Spitze, 2,571m) which is worth a trip for the panoramic view
You can see the road ahead (picture above) to the actual high-point (about 2,500 metres) where the road turns back on itself and then snakes out across, for us, a snowy plateau with two tunnels visible in the distance (picture below);
The descent to Heiligenblut seems less open but just as exciting, with hairpins a plenty, heavy braking, and the joy of following cyclists down right-hand hairpin bends. There are various stop-and-admire-the-view places. Before Heiligenblut a road goes off right at a roundabout, heading to a dead-end and view point of a glacier and GrossGlockner mountain. Heiligenblut is charming and the road carries on down the gradually widening valley to Grosserkirchheim. You can hammer the car on sections here, traffic and inclination allowing.
We went as far south as Aichorn and its waterfall (Jugenfernsprung) before turning back, determined to get our €35-worth.
We did not set the sat-nav to Zel am See or other place north of the pass, thinking we know the way and can get the clunky sat-nav mount off the windscreen. Big mistake, as we came screaming up the road at 5pm, now with much lighter traffic, saw the roundabout and a big GrossGlockner sign and went off to the left to the damned glacier viewing point several kilometres up the road. It was nice driving but not where we wanted to go, as we realised when the road ended at a multi-story car-park and viewing centre-restaurant-cafe-bar-whatnot - the Kaiser-Franz-Josefs-Hohe.
Back we went and made the proper, right, turn from the roundabout to go haring back up the pass and down the other side. The scenery was still fantastic and the driving, with more over-taking opportunities, challenging and overwhelming. You really do enjoy a cold beer afterwards.
If you get the chance just do it. The pass is is normally open from the beginning of May to the end of October, and from 6am to 8pm or thereabouts. Get there early or late to avoid traffic.
PS. The Gerlos pass to the Krimml waterfall is fantastic too. It's also a toll-road and less-populated traffic-wise on the Saturday we did it than the Gross Glockner pass. It's a hoot!
Edited by Chris944 on Monday 23 May 14:17
Edited by Chris944 on Monday 23 May 14:22
Edited by Chris944 on Monday 23 May 14:38
Chris944 said:
We did the GrossGlockner Hochalpenstrasse in late May after a dump of snow a few days before. The fee was €35 and the views sensational, stunning, words fail territory.
Glad you liked it. Plenty more of same in the Tirol.Chris944 said:
The road signage was diabolically bad ...
Not driven much in Italy, then ? At very least, Michelin, Falk, Kompass and good old ADAC do pretty good maps
of the area.
Suggest pop into any petrol station in Tirol and see what they have.
Chris944 said:
When it's busy overtaking slower traffic is impossible. In lighter traffic it can be a nightmare of weaving your way through streams of bikers and cyclists coming up and down the pass.
I know you were in a 911, but suggest slow down and have a look at the sceneryfrom time to time.
Chris944 said:
And on the steep exits from a hairpin the 911 Carrera felt under-powered.
Crikey. The one litre shopping trolleys driven by the locals must struggle then ;->Chris944 said:
As we got higher we passed the snow line and the scenery was dazzling in the sunshine, with plenty of pull-offs so you could enjoy it;
Snow on the side of the road in June is pretty common that high up.Even in 25C summer, I always pack a coat, boots, jumper and gloves in the higher Alps.
A snowball fight can be fun.
Mind you, I was up there once and a gaggle of Brit registered Caterfields were thrashing about
in the rain. Given its about a 1,500 mile round trip on what amounts to a four wheel
motorbike, I thought that took real commitment !
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