Munich – September 09, 2026 -- Drivers across Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy should brace for heavy congestion this weekend as the return wave from summer holidays collides with ongoing vacation traffic, the ADAC warns.
With school holidays ending in Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and the last Austrian regions, return traffic from the south toward the north is expected to peak. At the same time, outbound traffic toward the Alps, lakes, coasts and low mountain ranges remains elevated.
Friday evening and Saturday carry the highest risk of gridlock
The ADAC identifies the worst congestion windows as Friday afternoon and evening, Saturday morning, and the return rush from Saturday afternoon through Sunday evening.
Around 1,000 construction sites add to the bottleneck
Germany currently has roughly 1,000 active highway construction zones nationwide. Extra congestion is expected around numerous local festivals, the Women's Basketball World Cup in Berlin, and the DTM race at the Sachsenring near Zwickau, where arrival and departure traffic is likely to cause disruptions.
Key German autobahns face the heaviest loads
Major routes flagged include the A1 (Fehmarn-Hamburg-Bremen-Osnabrück-Dortmund-Cologne), A3 (Oberhausen-Cologne-Frankfurt-Würzburg-Nuremberg-Passau), A7 (Flensburg-Hamburg-Hannover-Kassel-Fulda-Würzburg-Ulm), A8 (Karlsruhe-Stuttgart-Munich-Salzburg), and A9 (Berlin-Halle/Leipzig-Nuremberg-Munich), among others.
Alpine crossings in Austria and Switzerland face added strain
In Austria, the West Autobahn (A1), Tauern Autobahn (A10), Karawanken Autobahn (A11), Inntal Autobahn (A12) and the Brenner Autobahn (A13) between Innsbruck and the Brenner Pass are all affected. Ongoing renovation of the Lueg Bridge on the A13 is causing additional delays, as is increased traffic on the Fernpass road (B179).
In Switzerland, congestion risk is highest on the A1 (Bern-Zurich-St. Margrethen), the A2 Gotthard route (Basel-Lucerne-Chiasso), the A3 (Basel-Zurich-Chur) and the A13 San Bernardino route (Bregenz-Chiasso). In Italy, the connections from the Swiss border via Milan to Genoa (A9/A7) and the Brenner route (A22) are also flagged.
Drivers entering Germany may face additional wait times due to border checks.