Munich flood of holidaymakers: Never go to Italy on weekends or public holidays

When is the best time to go to Italy? The answer is clear: never on weekends, public holidays or at the beginning of vacation. The people of Munich see the Inntal and Brenner autobahn more as an extension of their driveway than an autobahn and are known for driving permanently in the middle or on the left. The result is massive traffic jams. Instead of losing half a day’s holiday in a traffic jam, you should start driving anti-cyclically!

Feudal middle lane driving style of Munich causes traffic jams

The worst thing you can do when choosing the holiday route A9 > Inntal autobahn > Brenner autobahn is to start driving with everyone. Every long weekend, a number of Munich residents, residents of the Munich commuter belt or other southern Bavarians decide to go to Lake Garda or somewhere else in northern Italy. Befitting their status, Munich residents never drive on the right with their car on the three-lane A9, because this lane is not worthy of their royal vehicles. The vacation then begins, even if you try to be the first to start on the first day of vacation, always nerve-wracking. if you drive transferred to all Bavarians going on, you usually have the major autobahns to yourself. [Kann Spuren von Ironie enthalten.]

“I foar ned right”: Southern Bavarians are the frontrunners in permanent middle driving

Never set off at the weekend or at the beginning of the holidays! Better 1.2 days later

The trick for a stress-free journey is quite simple. If the start of the holiday (regardless of which holiday) is on a Saturday, you simply set off on the Friday. If you have children with you, you should radically wait until Monday. Saturday and Sunday would be wasted as traffic jam days instead of vacation days anyway. Long weekends should be avoided anyway when driving south on Bavarian autobahns. The fact that there are no trucks on weekends is no argument: heavy truck traffic during the week is still much more relaxed than a day among the southern Bavarian middle drivers.

You can overtake on the right in convoy traffic

In normal traffic flow, overtaking on the right should be avoided as much as possible! However, if there is a traffic jam, it is also permitted to overtake on the right at low speeds (up to 60 km/h). You should also do this in order to get past the permanent middle drivers and thus at least create some space on the road to the rear, if the flow of holidaymakers is at least spread out a little.

Paying quickly by credit card at the mouse station is worthwhile – without PIN and signature!

Pay toll with video toll!

If it has to be the holidays after all, you have to at least try to make some time at trouble spots like the toll booths. For example, you can book the toll for the Europa Bridge online at home and then only have to drive through the toll station in a lane that is not frequented much, because the travelers who permanently block the motorway in the middle lane pay with small change anyway and not video toll or card payment to use.

In an emergency: drive at night

If there is no other way and you want to make the most of every day during the holidays, you can also drive at night. At this time, the Brenner motorway in particular is almost empty and you can drive through it practically non-stop. Depending on the destination, an overnight stay is also an option; we have put together the best hotels for a stopover here. However, our tip remains to simply travel 1-2 days after the start/end of the holiday!