Alps mountain passes road trip: Munich to Zurich via the Grossglockner, Dolomites and Stelvio

Route Munich, Germany → Zurich, Switzerland

Distance 700 miles

Estimated fuel $170

A 7 to 9 day, roughly 700-mile Alps mountain passes road trip from Munich to Zurich over the Grossglockner, the Dolomites, the Stelvio and the Swiss passes. Here are opening seasons, tolls and vignettes, hairpin etiquette, ZTLs and licence rules for American drivers.

An Alps mountain passes road trip from Munich to Zurich takes 7 to 9 days and covers about 700 miles, crossing the Grossglockner High Alpine Road in Austria, the Dolomites (Passo Giau and the Sella Ronda) and the Stelvio Pass in Italy, then the Julier, Oberalp, Furka and Grimsel passes in Switzerland. Go between late June and mid September, when all the high roads should be open. Budget for the Grossglockner toll (EUR 46.50 per car in 2026) and Switzerland's CHF 40 e-vignette, keep out of Italy's camera-enforced ZTL zones, and get an International Driving Permit, which Austria and Italy require for Americans.

Alps mountain passes road trip at a glance

Item	Detail
Distance	About 700 miles (1,130 km) as routed here; your mapping app may differ
Trip length	7 days minimum, 9 days recommended
Best months	Late June to mid September
Grossglockner toll	EUR 46.50 car day ticket (2026 price)
Vignettes	Switzerland CHF 40 e-vignette (required); Austria only if you use its motorways
Fuel estimate	About $170 (35 US mpg, explained below)

When the passes are open

Snow decides everything. Check each road's status the morning you drive it.

Grossglockner High Alpine Road: the operator says it is open from the start of May until the start of November; it is currently closed until early May 2027. Hours are 6:00 to 20:00 until 31 May, 5:30 to 21:00 from June to August, and 6:00 to 19:30 from 1 September, with last entry 45 minutes before closing. Night driving outside those hours is banned.
Stelvio Pass: Anas runs the Bormio side and the Province of Bolzano the Prato allo Stelvio side. South Tyrol's official tourism board says winter closures on passes above 2,000 metres, including the Stelvio, can run from November to June, and Anas has reopened its side in late May in past years after snow clearing. There is no official 2027 date yet, so plan the Stelvio for late June or later and check Anas and the Province of Bolzano's traffic centre.
Dolomites: Passo Gardena (2,121 m) and Passo Sella (2,240 m) are part of the Sella Ronda with Pordoi and Campolongo. Dolomite passes that stay open in winter require winter tires or chains on board.
Swiss passes: Switzerland Tourism lists the Julier (2,284 m) as open all year. The Furka (2,429 m), Grimsel and Oberalp are summer passes; if the Furka is shut, a car-train runs from Realp to Oberwald. Live status is on alpen-paesse.ch.

9-day itinerary

Day 1: Munich to Zell am See

Take the A8 toward Salzburg, exit at Bad Reichenhall and drive via Lofer and Saalfelden. This avoids Austrian motorways (see vignettes below). Overnight in Zell am See so you can pick the clearest morning for the Grossglockner.

Day 2: Grossglockner High Alpine Road to Cortina d'Ampezzo

Pay at the Ferleiten toll station above Fusch and drive the 48 km High Alpine Road to Heiligenblut, with detours to the Edelweiss-Spitze and the Kaiser-Franz-Josefs-Höhe glacier viewpoint. Continue via Lienz and Toblach (Dobbiaco) into Italy to Cortina d'Ampezzo, or split the day with a night in Heiligenblut.

Day 3: Passo Giau to Arabba

Climb Passo Giau early, then descend via Selva di Cadore and Colle Santa Lucia to Arabba for two nights.

Day 4: The Sella Ronda loop

Loop around the Sella massif over Pordoi, Sella, Gardena and Campolongo and back to Arabba. It is short but slow, with constant hairpins, cyclists and motorcycles; start before 8 a.m. in summer.

Day 5: Val Gardena, Bolzano and Merano to Prato allo Stelvio

Cross Pordoi and Sella into Val Gardena, descend past Ortisei to Bolzano and Merano (park outside the centres), then follow the Val Venosta to Prato allo Stelvio or walled Glurns (Glorenza).

Day 6: Stelvio Pass and Umbrail into Switzerland

From Prato allo Stelvio, 48 hairpins climb to the pass at 2,757 metres, Italy's highest road pass according to South Tyrol's tourism board. From the summit, drop a short way toward Bormio and turn onto the Umbrail Pass into Switzerland's Val Müstair, then take the Ofen Pass through the Swiss National Park to Zernez and St. Moritz.

Day 7: Julier and Oberalp to Andermatt

Cross the Julier to Tiefencastel, continue via Thusis and the Rhine valley to Disentis, and climb the Oberalp to Andermatt.

Day 8: Furka and Grimsel

Over the Furka to Gletsch, straight up the Grimsel, then down via Innertkirchen and Meiringen and over the Brünig to Lucerne.

Day 9: Lucerne to Zurich

About an hour on the motorway to drop the car in Zurich.

Doing it in 7 days

Drive Munich to Cortina in one long day, combine Giau with the Sella Ronda, and finish Furka, Grimsel and Zurich in a single day.

Tolls and vignettes

Charge	Price	What to know
Grossglockner day ticket, car	EUR 46.50 (about $52)	2026 price; EUR 36.50 after 6 p.m.; e-cars EUR 40
Grossglockner + Felbertauern round trip	EUR 56	One trip on each road within 30 days
Austria 10-day vignette, car	EUR 12.80 (about $14)	2026 price; valid immediately if bought online
Austria 2-month vignette, car	EUR 32.00	Online purchase valid only from the 18th day
Switzerland annual e-vignette	CHF 40 (about $49)	Valid 1 December of the prior year to 31 January of the next

Grossglockner: a day ticket covers several trips the same day. The 3-week and season tickets cannot be bought for rental cars, and camping along the road is not allowed.

Austria's vignette is going digital. The Austrian government says that from the 2027 vignette year it is sold only as a digital vignette linked to your plate. A digital annual or 2-month vignette bought online is valid only from the 18th day after purchase; 1-day and 10-day vignettes bought online, and any vignette bought at a sales point, can start immediately. Penalties run from EUR 300 to EUR 3,000 if you don't pay the substitute toll. This route avoids Austrian motorways, but if you use the A10 or A12, buy a 10-day digital vignette for your rental's plate. 2027 prices had not been published at the time of writing.

Switzerland: the e-vignette costs CHF 40 at e-vignette.ch and is valid immediately; you need the vehicle category, country of registration and plate. Swiss rental cars usually have one, but a German rental will not, so buy it before the Umbrail and type the plate exactly.

Hairpin etiquette and mountain-road rules

Uphill traffic has priority. Switzerland Tourism says vehicles going down must stop if necessary and give way to vehicles going up. The Swiss touring club TCS adds that the descending car reverses unless the ascending one is next to a pull-out. Italy's Highway Code (article 150) is similar: where passing is difficult, the downhill driver stops and pulls right unless the uphill driver has a pull-out.
Heavy vehicles and the PostBus come first. TCS says trucks, coaches and vehicles with trailers have priority over cars in both directions. The yellow PostBus always has priority on narrow Swiss mountain roads and sounds its horn before bends; follow the driver's instructions if passing is tight.
Honk before blind bends. Swiss traffic rules (Article 29 of the Traffic Rules Ordinance) call for an audible warning before narrow, blind bends outside towns. A short tap is enough; unnecessary or excessive honking is not permitted.
Save your brakes. Use a low gear on long descents to avoid overheating the brakes, keep to your half of the road in hairpins, and expect cyclists and motorcycles.

Italian ZTLs

A ZTL (zona a traffico limitato) is a limited traffic zone, usually a historic centre, enforced by plate-reading cameras. The US Embassy in Italy warns that rental companies receive the request and identify the renter, and visitors' fines are often handed to debt collectors. Expect a rental-company admin fee, then the fine months later. Larger towns on this route, such as Bolzano and Merano, have restricted centres; look for the round white sign with a red border at each ZTL entrance. Park in a public garage at the edge of the centre and walk in, and if your hotel is inside a ZTL, ask it to register your plate before you arrive.

New for the Dolomites: South Tyrol is planning a seasonal limited-traffic zone on Passo Gardena. A closure planned for 1 September 2026 was suspended for a trial, and the motoring press reports a May-to-October scheme with about 150 paid, pre-booked visitor spaces could start in 2027. Nothing was final at the time of writing, so check before you drive the Sella Ronda.

Renting a car and cross-border fees

Sixt, for example, allows cross-border travel on most rentals, lists Italy and Switzerland as permitted, says luxury and sports cars typically cannot cross borders, and warns that a one-way fee may apply. Munich to Zurich is an international one-way, so get the total, including one-way and cross-border fees, in writing before booking. The State Department warns that taking a rental into a country the contract prohibits can bring fines or theft charges. Book an automatic early; manual is still standard in much of Europe.

Choose a compact car for hairpins and village streets, and consider a dash cam.

Fuel cost estimate

The European Commission's Weekly Oil Bulletin for the week of 26 October 2026 put Euro-super 95 petrol at EUR 2.006 per litre in Italy, EUR 2.167 in Germany and EUR 1.772 in Austria. At a blended EUR 2.00 per litre and the 4 November 2026 euro reference rate ($1.1267, Banca d'Italia), a compact car averaging 35 US mpg uses about 20 gallons (76 litres) over 700 miles: budget about $170. Swiss prices are not in the EU bulletin, so treat this as a ballpark.

For American drivers

Licence and IDP rules, country by country

Country	US licence alone?	Source
Germany	Yes, for up to six months	US State Department
Austria	No. Carry an International Driving Permit or an official translation	US State Department
Italy	No. Get an International Driving Permit before leaving the US, or carry an official Italian translation	US Embassy in Italy
Switzerland	Yes, for up to one year after arrival	US State Department

Get an International Driving Permit from AAA before you fly and carry it with your US licence.

Driving side, speed limits and other rules

All four countries drive on the right. Speedometers and signs are in km/h. According to ÖAMTC (November 2026):

Country	Rural roads	Expressways	Motorways
Germany	100 km/h	Posted	No general limit; 130 km/h advisory
Austria	100 km/h	Posted	130 km/h
Italy	90 km/h	110 km/h	130 km/h
Switzerland	80 km/h	100 km/h	120 km/h

Fines are steep: ÖAMTC says 20 km/h over costs at least EUR 175 in Italy and EUR 195 in Switzerland. The State Department notes that turning right on red is illegal in Austria, hand-held phone use is illegal in Austria and Germany, and Germany's drink-drive limit is 0.05% blood alcohol. In Austria you can be fined for not using winter tires between 1 November and 15 April, depending on where you drive, which matters if you push the trip into November.

Insurance

Liability cover is included, but the collision damage waiver usually has a high deductible. Check in writing whether your credit card's rental coverage applies in all four countries, and photograph the car at pickup.

What drivers who've done it say

Stay at Zell am See and wait for a clear day. In a 2024 Rick Steves Travel Forum thread, one regular called the drive pointless on a rainy day and suggested a night in Zell am See to keep the choice open. A Munich-based poster reached Fusch around 8 a.m. and Heiligenblut around 1 p.m. with stops; another found the number of motorcyclists and cyclists alarming in August 2023, and a Colorado driver gave up one September when an early storm left it icy.
It is engineered for stopping. A 2019 trip report found plenty of pull-offs, took about four hours with stops, and noted steep drops without the guard rails Americans expect.
Expect bikes in the Dolomites. In an older Rick Steves forum thread, one poster ranked Gardena first and Sella second; another, writing from Val Gardena, warned of very narrow roads full of motorcycles and road cyclists.
Time the Stelvio carefully. In a 2023 thread, a regular said Stelvio opening dates vary between late May and 10 June, so early June is a gamble. Another called the Val Müstair route to Zernez the easiest way into the Engadine and warned that the Munt la Schera tunnel runs one way on a timetable. One driver disliked the stark summit, so opinions differ.
ZTL fines arrive late. In a Rick Steves forum thread from 2015, a renter was billed a EUR 42 rental-company admin charge months after the trip, before any fine arrived; replies explained the fine follows separately and grows if unpaid. Amounts have changed since.

What to watch out for

Planning the Stelvio for early June. It may still be closed.
Buying an Austrian 2-month or annual vignette online at the last minute. It won't be valid for 18 days.
Forgetting the Swiss e-vignette on a German-plated rental.
Arriving at the Grossglockner late. Last entry is 45 minutes before closing, and night driving is banned.
Not pricing the one-way fee. Compare it with a Munich round trip plus a train to Zurich.
Ignoring the weather. South Tyrol's tourism board says Stelvio temperatures can drop close to freezing even in August.

Bottom line

This is one of Europe's great drives and very doable with an IDP, a compact automatic and a flexible schedule. Go between late June and mid September, buy the Swiss e-vignette before you cross, keep out of Italian town centres, and give way to uphill traffic and the PostBus. For another slow, scenic drive, try the North Coast 500 in Scotland.

Sources

Last updated November 5, 2026. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.