Driving in Austria
Useful information for driving in Austria: rules, limits and the motorway sticker. Plus practical directions for getting to Vienna by car.
If you are planning to drive in Austria in your own car or in a rented car and drive on motorways or motorways, you will need to purchase the vignette (which many people mistakenly call the Vignette), the motorway sticker that replaces the classic toll. It is a simple sticker, which you stick on the windscreen of your car so that it is constantly in view, and you can buy different types, depending on the length of your stay in Austria and the type of vehicle.
The vignette (or vignette) is a motorway toll payment system in force in several European countries, including Austria. Basically, you will not find classic toll booths at the entrance to motorways and motorways, because it is assumed that vehicles driving on them have acquired the right of transit by purchasing the vignette.
The vignette is, however, a toll payment method valid only for passenger cars with a total weight of up to 3.5 tonnes and for motorbikes. If you plan to travel in Austria with another vehicle, such as a camper van, lorry or any vehicle with a mass exceeding 3.5 tonnes, the vignette is no longer valid. In such cases, you will have to use the GO Box to pay the toll, a device similar to our Telepass that calculates the toll according to the motorway kilometres actually driven.
Please note that the vignette is not compulsory for driving in Austria, so if you do not want to buy it, simply avoid motorways and motorways. If, however, while driving on motorways or motorways you are stopped at a control and you do not have a valid vignette, you will have to pay a fine ranging from EUR 300 to EUR 3,000. You will also be fined if you have a valid vignette, but have not displayed it correctly. So make sure it is clearly visible by sticking it on the windscreen from the inside out.
The map below shows the roads where the vignette is required in brown and the toll sections in green.
There are three types of vignettes for toll payment, depending on the duration of validity:
The sticker must be validated by punching a hole in it, as if it were a bus ticket, at the time of purchase. Remember to check that it is validated by the shopkeeper who sold it to you!
There are some toll roads in Austria where the vignette alone is not enough. These are:
To access these roads there are classic toll stations, where you can pay the toll in cash or by card. More details can be found on the Austrian motorways website.
The cost of the Austrian motorway sticker varies depending on the type of vehicle and its duration.
Remember that passenger cars are vehicles with a mass of less than 3.5 tonnes. As you can see, the 10-day vignette is already quite cheap: travelling by car, for less than 10 euros you can drive freely on motorways. It is ideal for a week or even a weekend trip, but we recommend purchasing an annual vignette if you plan to return to Austria at least 10 times in the course of a calendar year: you will save time and money.
For buses, lorries and motorhomes over 3.5 tonnes there is a toll system called GO-Box, which works in a similar way to our Telepass.
The vignette for Austria can be purchased in paper or digital form. We recommend that you buy it before entering the country.
The digital vignette can be purchased online on the website of Asfinag, the Austrian company that manages the country’s motorways, or via their free downloadable app.
To purchase the sticker, you will first have to select the type of vehicle with which you intend to travel in Austria (i.e. car or motorbike), and then choose whether to purchase the 10-day sticker, the two-monthly sticker or the annual sticker.
You then have to select whether you are a ‘consumer’ or an ‘entrepreneur’, i.e. a private individual or a company, and finally fill in the details of the form: you again have to enter the type of vehicle (car or motorbike), and then fill in the fields concerning the country of registration, number plate and the desired start date of validity of the sticker.
Beware that if you purchase the sticker online, it will only be valid after 18 days, so plan your purchase well, especially in the case of the 10-day sticker.
The paper sticker, made of special adhesive paper, can be purchased at service stations near the border that display the relevant sign. If you need to buy it while you are already on Austrian soil, you can do so at any service station – also in towns – at tobacconists or motorway toll booths.
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