Christmas travel in Germany reaches its peak between Thursday afternoon and Friday evening. The Christmas holidays have already started in Baden-Württemberg, Berlin, Brandenburg, Hesse, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saarland, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia.
For travelers this means: stress, traffic jams and delays.
Bremen, Hamburg, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate and Schleswig-Holstein will follow on Friday. In Bavaria, travel starts on Friday afternoon, because the school holidays start at noon.
Where are there already traffic jams on the freeways?
There will already be delays and flowing traffic on the A1 (Trier and Saarbrücken), the A5 (Frankfurt and Kassel) and the A3 (Passau and Nuremberg) on Thursday.
Where should travelers expect traffic jams?
If you are traveling by car or coach, you have to expect traffic jams on the most important travel routes in Germany.
According to the ADAC, the metropolitan areas of Hamburg, Berlin, Cologne, Frankfurt and Munich are affected.
There is a risk of traffic jams on the following motorways:
- A1 Cologne – Dortmund – Bremen – Hamburg
- A2 Dortmund – Hanover – Braunschweig – Berlin
- A3 Cologne – Frankfurt – Nuremberg – Passau
- A4 Kirchheim triangle – Erfurt – Dresden
- A5 Hattenbacher Dreieck – Karlsruhe
- A6 Heilbronn-Nuremberg
- A7 Hamburg – Hanover and Würzburg – Füssen/Reutte
- A8 Karlsruhe – Stuttgart – Munich – Salzburg
- A9 Munich – Nuremberg – Berlin
- A10 Berlin Ring
- A24 Hamburg – Berlin
- A61 Mönchengladbach – Koblenz – Ludwigshafen
- A81 Stuttgart – singing
- A93 Inntal triangle – Kufstein
- A95 /B2 Munich – Garmisch-Partenkirchen
- A99 Bypass Munich
If you travel abroad by car or long-distance bus, you must expect traffic jams and delays on the following routes:
- On the Tauern, Inntal and Brenner autobahns in Austria,
- on the Fernpass route,
- on the Tyrolean, Salzburg and Vorarlberg federal roads.
In Switzerland, on the
- gotthard route,
- the access roads to the Graubünden ski areas,
- of the Bernese Oberland,
- in Valais and Central Switzerland longer waiting times are to be expected.
Also at the Furka, Lötschberg and Vereina car loading stations.
Colleagues from the CHIP editorial team have made sure that you reach your destination safely The most important traffic jam apps are compiled for you here.
Where are train delays imminent?
On train routes with intermediate stations in the metropolitan areas of Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Karlsruhe, Cologne, Munich and Rostock, travelers should definitely reserve a seat from Thursday afternoon.
The trains could be busier than usual. At the same time: The more people are traveling on trains, the longer it takes to get on and off. This causes delays that you should allow for when planning your itinerary.
FOCUS online advises: It is essential that you plan sufficient transfer time. Find out in good time about alternative train routes if you should miss your connecting train.
How about the return trip?
On the afternoon of Boxing Day, all drivers are threatened with slow-moving return traffic.
Many travelers then return from their Christmas vacation or family visits. However, the volume of traffic will not be as strong as at the beginning of the Christmas weekend, according to the ADAC in a press release.