München – Bologna through Brenner pass

I’ve said it before, and I’m sticking to it:

Brenner is the worst. You can follow the Römerstraße out of Innsbruck for a bit, but you can’t avoid the Bundesstraße from like Matrei am Brenner onwards. It’s narrow, there’s lots of traffic and Austrian (especially Tyrolean) and Italian drivers are full of hate and aggression towards cyclists. 

The Tyrolean regional government is incapable of building a bike lane. I think the plans for building one go back about thirty years, but they just can’t get it done.

From the Brenner onwards there is a lovely network of bike lanes, so if you’ve got your mind set on crossing the Brennero, my advice is to take the train (S-Bahn S3) from Innsbruck main station to Brenner. It’s a scenic 45min ride, costs about 11€, including the bike.

Otherwise, for crossing the Alps, I would suggest taking the Via Claudia Augusta. If you absolutely want to go through Innsbruck, you can join the Claudia Augusta in Imst, which you can easily reach from Innsbruck, it’s actually a nice ride along the Inn river.