It's the unfairness of ripping us off when we let Austrians use our roads for free that hurts and the hassle of having to stop to buy the thing. I noted last time you couldn't buy online in advance from the UK, they were trying to get you to buy their petrol too. The amount isn't important, it's the feeling of being ripped off. I will therefore spend my €4.50 in other countries if possible.

Nice pictures BTW, but they could be any of the Alpine or Nordic countries.

Andy

How exactly is it a rip-off if everybody has to pay, even the locals?

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My husband & I actually thought that the vignette was infact very cheep and we had no issues with buying it.

We only went on the Autobahn once - to get to Salzburg as we where weary and wanted to get there quickly - , but we hit a toll booth inbetween 2 large tunnels who wanted €9 each even though we had our vignette. We just presumed that since we had bought our vignettes that that would be it! Alas no!

The other time we got stung €9.50 each, this time for tunnels on a normal road.

Maybe we were unlucky!?!?!

Beej

That would have been the Tauern -autobahn. Those tunnels are easily avoidable, by driving up the pass and down again. A very beautiful 45 minute detour which is quite well indicated.

Although in many cases there is an easy alternative, it is true that some tunnels cost extra and not included with the vignette.
Some of the best mountain roads also charge a toll, usually not very much considering the sheer beauty of some of them, and what it must cost them to keep them this well maintained. (the gross glockner is well worth paying for)

I find it funny that people can get annoyed by having to pay €4.50 for a vignette.....back in Italy this wouldn't even get me from one major city to the next by motorway!

First of all - thank you all for replies, I knew I will get information from fellow riders like nowhere else!

Second...those photos...
OH MY GOD! Is this roads I am going to ride? Oh, I can't wait.
This looks even better than some of roads I rode in france in numerous rides I had in alps.


As for motorway charge - to be honest I believe it is totally reasonable to charge for motorways since they do not charge for departamental roads and I do not relate it to particular national or foreign drivers since everyone has to pay.
Same in France and I can't complain. It's cheap in Europe, vigniette for Austria for 10 days won't make me poor... bearing in mind that 1 fill up of fuel tank costs me 22 euros nowadays
I think Austria vigniette system still in process thou it is slow and at one stage online purchasing will be available too.
On other hand I checked what they charge for caravans a lot and I won't complain about it either since I must admit I kinda hate caravans on road. Everyone who had to ride around canyon Verdon or any gorges in France will know what I mean last time I was in Norway some nutcase attempted to tow caravan on Trollsteigen road with little mazda and got stuck right in the midle of single lane road because car had not enough power to pull caraven up anymore and then cooked cluth. Can you imagine jam he created? I was happy that I was on bike. Few guys pushed his car and caravan to road pocket. I have no idea how he got back. If he would be charged to go there perhaps he would leave caravan in camping.

Our roads are not comparable. Considering the road tax we pay they are in a shocking state. Also there are very few Austrians using UK roads. This is not a tit for tat thing. Every country is not the same. Austria is a small country that is bordered by many countries that use it to transit their goods and services. This puts an enormous strain on Austria's road system and thus has to be paid for. Compared to Switzerland where you can only buy an annual Vignette I actually think the Austrian system is a good one.

Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary and Romania also charge for a Vignette and the Balkan countries also charge for border insurance which is invariably more than €4.50. So it looks like you're going to have to do some big detours to avoid a few Euros

As for inconvenience you can buy the Austrian Vignettes in Germany a long way before you get to the border and you can also buy them online;

Vignette Austria

Often after a long run through Germany I stop, stretch my legs, get some fuel, have a bit to eat, get the Vignette and push on to my final destination. Hardly an inconvenience. Certainly easier than sorting road tax with the DVLA!

For more information on Vignette requirements across Europe see the link below.

Vignette (road tax) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

i don't have any issues with vignette/road tolls in any country, when in rome and all that

I may be wrong but I though the motorbike's where exempt from the Vignette in both Slovakia and Romania??? I believe that they are also exempt in Czech Republic!?!

I know that we bought vignette's in both Slovenia and Austria last year... although I'm not sure about wether bikes need one in Hungary? Can anyone confirm?

Beej