Timmel Transit - Passo del Rombo Experience

The panoramic road across the 2,509-metre-high Passo del Rombo, an Alpine pass connecting the Val Passiria valley in South Tyrol with the Oetztal valley in North Tyrol, boasts a fascinating history. Construction of this road spanned six decades, interrupted by the turmoil of the First and Second World Wars. Its opening in Corvara in Passiria finally took place on September 15, 1968.

Local Val Passiria director Philipp Pamer documented this history in the film "Wenn Grenzen verbinden" (When Borders Connect). A few years ago, the Timmelsjoch Pass Museum opened on the Austrian side of the pass summit, even extending 16 metres into South Tyrol. It's Austria's highest museum at the country's highest road border crossing. It is complemented by four other locations in the Val Passiria: "Walkway", "Smuggler", "Telescope", and "Garnet".

These locations provide information about the region, its documented 10,000-year transit history, and the construction of the Passo del Rombo Road. Smuggling along centuries-old paths is a key theme. For the road's 50th anniversary in 2018, the Timmel Transit Museum was inaugurated on the South Tyrolean side. It complements the Pass Museum and completes the concept of the "Passo del Rombo Experience". The museum is housed in a former barracks dating back to 1930.

How to get there: You can reach the various Timmel Transit locations by driving the toll road, the Passo del Rombo High Alpine Road, from the end of the Val Passiria to the Oetztal in North Tyrol in Austria. The locations are signposted. The Timmel Transit Museum, like the Bunker Mooseum and the Stieber Mooseum, is part of the UpperPassiria Museum.