The ''Deutsches Eck'' ("German Corner") is the name given to the shortest and most convenient road and railway link between the

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n metropolitan region of

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the ...

and the

Tyrolean Unterland The Tyrolean Unterland (german: Tiroler Unterland) is that part of the Austrian state of Tyrol east of its capital city, Innsbruck, excluding East Tyrol. Extent and language The Tyrolean Unterland should not be confused with the Tyrolean Lower I ...

with the state capital

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol (state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the ...

. Due to the mountainous landscape and the irregular course of the border, the main transport routes to the western Austrian states of

Tyrol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...

and

Vorarlberg Vorarlberg ( , ; gsw, label=Vorarlbergisch, Vorarlbearg, , or ) is the westernmost States of Austria, state () of Austria. It has the second-smallest geographical area after Vienna and, although it also has the second-smallest population, it is ...

pass through the territory of the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

state of

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

. While an alternative, albeit longer, all-Austrian

Salzburg-Tyrol Railway {{Infobox rail line , box_width = auto , name = Salzburg-Tyrol Railway , native_name = Salzburg-Tiroler-Bahn , native_name_lang = de , image ...

exists, there is no continuous, intra-Austrian motorway route between the states of

and Tyrol.

Großes Deutsches Eck

A larger

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

and

autobahn The (; German plural ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official German term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track'. ...

(motorway) link runs from Salzburg westwards along the northern rim of the

Chiemgau Alps The Chiemgau Alps (german: Chiemgauer Alpen) are a mountain range in the Northern Limestone Alps and therefore belong to the Eastern Alps. Their major part is situated in Bavaria, Germany and only a small section crosses the Austrian border into t ...

to the Bavarian town of

Rosenheim Rosenheim is a city in Bavaria, Germany. It is an independent city located in the centre of the district of Rosenheim (Upper Bavaria), and is also the seat of its administration. It is located on the west bank of the Inn at the confluence of the ...

, then turns south through the

Inn Inns are generally establishments or buildings where travelers can seek lodging, and usually, food and drink. Inns are typically located in the country or along a highway; before the advent of motorized transportation they also provided accommo ...

valley to reach the Tyrolean border at

Kufstein Kufstein (; Central Bavarian: ''Kufstoa'') is a town in the Austrian state of Tyrol, the administrative seat of Kufstein District. With a population of about 19,600 it is the second largest Tyrolean town after the state capital Innsbruck. The great ...

. Since the conclusion of an 1851

treaty A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between actors in international law. It is usually made by and between sovereign states, but can include international organizations An international organization or international o ...

between the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central-Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence, ...

and the

Kingdom of Bavaria The Kingdom of Bavaria (german: Königreich Bayern; ; spelled ''Baiern'' until 1825) was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1805 and continued to exist until 1918. With the unification of Germany into the German E ...

,''Allgemeines Reichs-Gesetz- und Regierungsblatt für das Kaiserthum Oesterreich. VII. Stück. Ausgegeben und versendet am 31. Jänner 1852.''
at alex.onb.ac.at. Retrieved 30 August 2022. so-called "corridor-trains" of the Austrian Railways (ÖBB) use the Rosenheim–Salzburg and

Rosenheim–Kufstein railway The Rosenheim–Kufstein railway (German: ''Bahnstrecke Rosenheim–Kufstein'') is a 32 kilometre-long double-track main line of the German railways. It connects the Munich–Rosenheim and the Rosenheim–Salzburg lines at Rosenheim with the ...

lines maintained by the German

Deutsche Bahn The (; abbreviated as DB or DB AG) is the national railway company of Germany. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). The Federal Republic of Germany is its single shareholder. describes itself as the se ...

company against payment of a regular fee. At the Rosenheim rail junction a direct connection (the ''Rosenheimer Kurve'') was erected in 1982 to allow express trains to pass quickly without a stop at

Rosenheim station Rosenheim station (german: Bahnhof Rosenheim) is the main railway station in the city of Rosenheim in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seventh largest passenger station in Bavaria and an important railway hub between the Munich–Rosenheim railway lin ...

. The parallel German Bundesautobahn 8 links the Austrian

West Autobahn The West Autobahn (A1) was the first motorway (''Autobahn'') to be built in Austria, originating from plans drawn up for the so-called ''Reichsautobahn'' system. Completed in 1967, today it runs from the outskirts of Vienna via Linz to Salzburg, ...

at Salzburg with the ''

Inntal The Inntal is the valley containing the Inn river in Switzerland, Austria and Germany. The valley has a total length of 517 km and the biggest city located in Inntal is Innsbruck. The valley is divided into the following sections based on ...

'' three-way interchange near Rosenheim, from where the southern

Bundesautobahn 93 is an autobahn in Bavaria with a length of 276 km. It consists of two parts: one is a short track, from the A 8, near the Austrian border, to the Inntal Autobahn (A12) in Tyrol, Austria, the other from Hof A 72 in the north of ...

leads to the border crossing at Kufstein and the Tyrolean

Inn Valley Autobahn The Inn Valley Motorway or Inntal Autobahn A12 is an autobahn in the Austrian federal state of Tyrol and part of Euroroutes E45 and E60. It begins as a continuation of the German Bundesautobahn 93 on the German-Austrian border near Kiefersfel ...

. The road connection to Tyrol on Austrian highways via

Bischofshofen Bischofshofen () is a town in the district of St. Johann im Pongau in the Austrian federal state of Salzburg. It is an important traffic junction located both on the Salzburg-Tyrol Railway line and at the Tauern Autobahn, a major highway route cr ...

and

Zell am See Zell am See is the administrative capital of the Zell am See District in the Austrian state of Salzburg. Located in the Kitzbühel Alps, the town is an important tourist destination due to its ski resorts and shoreline on Lake Zell. While Zell a ...

Saalfelden Saalfelden am Steinernen Meer is a town in the district of Zell am See in the Austrian state of Salzburg. With approximately 16,000 inhabitants, Saalfelden is the district's largest town and the third of the federal state after Salzburg and Hallein ...

is considerably longer.

Kleines Deutsches Eck

A smaller highway connection leads from the southwestern outskirts of Salzburg at

Wals-Siezenheim Wals-Siezenheim () is a municipality in the district of Salzburg-Umgebung (''Flachgau'') in the Austrian state of Salzburg. The double municipality had been founded in 1948 of the places Wals and Siezenheim. In the same year the arm had been confe ...

over the border on the German

Bundesstraße ''Bundesstraße'' (German for "federal highway"), abbreviated ''B'', is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways. Germany Germany's ''Bundesstraßen'' network has a total length of about 40,000 km. German ''Bundesstraßen'' ...

21 along the

Saalach The Saalach is a river in Austria and Germany, and a left tributary of the Salzach. Course The river begins, as the stream, in the Austrian state of Tyrol in the Kitzbühel Alps at the lake below the high Gamshag. From there it flows initi ...

river via

Bad Reichenhall Bad Reichenhall (Central Bavarian: ''Reichahoi'') is a spa town, and administrative center of the Berchtesgadener Land district in Upper Bavaria, Germany. It is located near Salzburg in a basin encircled by the Chiemgau Alps (including Mount Staufe ...

Unken Unken is a municipality in the district of Zell am See (Pinzgau region), in the state of Salzburg in Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying i ...

and

Lofer Lofer is a market town in the district of Zell am See in the Austrian state of Salzburg. Geography Lofer is located in the historic Pinzgau region, in the valley of the Saalach river between the Chiemgau Alps and Reiter Alpe in the north and ea ...

in the Austrian

Pinzgau The Bezirk Zell am See is an administrative district (''Bezirk'') in the federal state of Salzburg, Austria, and congruent with the Pinzgau region (). The area of the district is , with a population of 84,124 (May 15, 2001), and population dens ...

region. As in Austria, studded winter tyres are admitted (while prohibited in the rest of Germany) to avoid drivers having to change tyres. Since Austria joined the

Schengen Area The Schengen Area ( , ) is an area comprising 27 European countries that have officially abolished all passport and all other types of border control at their mutual borders. Being an element within the wider area of freedom, security and j ...

in 1997, all border controls have been abolished, allowing travellers to move freely between both countries.

References

External links

{{Wiktionary, Deutsches Eck Austria–Germany border Road transport in Germany Rail infrastructure in Austria