Driving to Sölden: the vignette, the Ötztal road and the Timmelsjoch
What do I need to drive to Sölden?
In winter, one road. The Timmelsjoch above the village can close as early as the end of October and cannot reopen before the end of May, so the B186 up the Ötztal is both the way in and the way out, and it carries no vignette and no toll of its own. What you pay for is the motorway before it: coming down the A12 from Germany, a vignette from the Kufstein-Süd junction as far as the Ötztal exit.
In winter the Ötztal has one way in and one way out
The Timmelsjoch High Alpine Road climbs from the upper Ötztal above Sölden into South Tyrol, and its operator, Timmelsjoch Hochalpenstraßen AG, says plainly that it is not a winter route into or out of the valley. The closure goes on as early as the end of October and the road can reopen no earlier than the end of May, with the exact dates set at short notice by the snow. Sölden's own listing gives the 2026 season as 13 May to 20 October.
For a ski week that settles the shape of the drive: you come up the B186 and you go back down it, and a satnav offering the Timmelsjoch in February is offering a road with a barrier across it. The Timmelsjoch is a private road with a toll of its own, charged separately from anything ASFINAG levies, but that is a summer question.
The vignette runs from Kufstein-Süd to the Ötztal exit
The standard drive from Munich runs down the A12 Inntal Autobahn past Innsbruck to the Ötztal exit. The A12 is exempt from the vignette only between the border at Kufstein and the Kufstein-Süd junction; from Kufstein-Süd south you need one, and you need it as far as the exit.
From there it is roughly 35 to 50 km up the B186 Ötztaler Straße to Sölden. The B186 is an ordinary federal road: no vignette applies to it and no separate charge is levied on it.
That is the whole of the Austrian road charge for a week in the valley, in and out. A 10-day Austrian vignette started on the day of the outward drive covers ten consecutive calendar days including that one, which is enough for a Saturday to Saturday transfer.
For those 35 to 50 km neither Sölden nor Land Tirol publishes a winter equipment rule of its own, so what governs the B186 is the national law, and our Austrian ski trip guide is where we set it out.
The Fernpass carries no charge yet
Drivers who want to keep off the A12 use the Fernpass. The B179 over it is a Tyrolean state road outside the ASFINAG network, so no vignette applies to it and no section toll is charged on it today.
Land Tirol has published a plan for a Fernpass-Durchzugsmaut, a through-toll on the B179 that the state would levy itself once the planned Fernpass summit tunnel opens to traffic. It is not in effect, and no opening year for that tunnel is published, so treat it as something to check before a future trip.
Parking is managed across the whole village
Sölden has run a village-wide parking scheme since 1 February 2024. The municipality's own parking-management page sets the blue short-stay bays near the municipal office, the shops and the sports facilities at a 120 minute maximum, charged from 8am to 7pm with the first 30 minutes free. Those are municipal terms and Sölden can change them by ordinance.
For a week's stay the answer is one of the all-day and multi-day car parks instead: Freizeit Arena, Granbichl, the Stufenparkplatz, Zwieselstein and Vent. Your accommodation will know which of the five it sends guests to.