Road trips are as much a part of our culture as apple pie and Johnny Cash, blue jeans and Ford pickups. Ask any American kid to tell you a favorite childhood memory and you’re likely to hear a story about piling into the battered, olive-green Plymouth Belvedere for a road trip to a national park, a weekend on the coast, or just a leisurely drive to parts unknown. After moving to Europe, we realized that public transportation certainly has its benefits, but we still prefer the freedom of the good old fashioned road trip. That said, a leisurely drive across France or Germany is quite different than driving in the US. Knowing these 12 tips for driving in Europe might help you have a more pleasant experience on the road if you’re planning your own European driving adventure.
#1. Know which European countries require a driving vignette.
In Hungary, road vignettes are printed on a paper receipt after drivers register their vehicle information at the border upon entry.Many European countries require that you purchase a driving vignette, either a sticker that goes on your car window, as is the case in Switzerland and Slovenia, or as is the case in Hungary, a paper “receipt” that you must keep in your car to prove you’ve paid to drive on that country’s road. Usually these are just for the larger motorways, which Americans would refer to as freeways. Some of these are actually privately owned.
Depending on the country, you can either purchase the vignette online before your travel dates, buy it upon entry at the border crossing, or pick one up at a nearby gas station before entering your destination country. However, don’t assume you can buy it directly at the border crossing – they’re frequently unmanned.
The fine for driving without a vignette is hefty and is heavily enforced in countries like Slovenia where they use radar and sketchy traffic “police” to dole out hefty tickets from the back of a van to unsuspecting foreigners.
With the exception of Switzerland that only offers a single duration annual vignette for 40 chf, other countries offer multiple options – weekly, 10-day, monthly, or yearly vignettes.
I have to give a shout out to Romania here because they not only keep it simple by requiring a vignette for driving on any of their roads, but they offer the cheapest short-term vignettes: €3 for a week or €7 for an entire month. It’s just one of many reasons you should visit Romania.
Plus, driving in Romania is more fun than driving just about anywhere in Europe!
This vignette check point in Slovenia near the Italian border crossing at Gorizia uses radar cameras to detect cars without a vignette. Slovenia’s vignette requirement is poorly posted prior to entry, you’ll be allowed to enter without a vignette, and when you arrive at this check point, private security forces demand immediate payment of fines, which can be steep – up to €800. Don’t let this happen to you – buy a vignette!#2. Be prepared to pay road tolls in certain countries.
Toll tickets in Italy look like a hassle to fill out on the back, but you just get it at one toll machine and deposit it with change at the next booth.European countries that don’t require a driving vignette often have road tolls instead. Keep loose change available in the currency of the country you’re visiting, as well as a universally accepted credit card such as Visa.
Of the countries that require tolls, Spain stands out as a place where we really enjoyed driving. Though they do have some tolls on privately owned freeways, they’re infrequent and fairly inexpensive.
We find France quite challenging, on the other hand, due to the frequency of tolls and overall cost of driving across much of the country.
If you’re looking to avoid tolls and vignettes altogether, head to Monaco, Andorra, Liechtenstein, or Germany.
For first-time visitors, the complicated signage at Italy’s frequent road toll stops can be difficult to decipher when trying to choose the correct lane.#3. Find out what kind of fuel your car requires and the word for it in the language of the country you’ll be visiting.
If you’re driving a rental car, remember to ask the agency what fuel it takes or check the inside of your gas cap: it’s not uncommon for European cars to have a list of terms for that car’s required fuel in different languages. Gas is often referred to as petrol, essence, natural, sans plomb, or any number of terms referencing either benzene or 95/98 for the octane.
Diesel is typically more easy to recognize – either diesel or dizel. It can also be gazole, nafta, or simply fuel oil.
Since it’s much more common for compact cars in Europe (than in the US) to be diesel, it’s also much more common to find diesel at most gas stations. In particular, watch out when you you’re traveling in Spain or Italy since their words for diesel can be confusing: gasóleo and gasolio, respectively. They’re referencing “gas oil,” not gasoline.
New to driving in #Europe? These 12 tips might be useful to ensure a more pleasant driving experience. #drivingtips #rollwithus#4. Know the general speed limits of the countries where you’ll be traveling.
Slovakia’s speed limit signs are typical for Europe. Here, 130 kmph is the max speed for autobahns (motorways or freeways). 90 kmph is the limit for highways and lesser roads outside city limits. 50 kmph is the max within city limits.Another of the most important tips for driving in Europe is that unlike in the United States where speed limit signs are posted at numerous locations on all types of roads, signage is much less frequent throughout Europe.
The signs that are posted typically list the maximum speed limits for that country for the 3 main types of roads: freeways, highways, and city streets. It’s not always clear if you’re within city limits or what type of highway you’re traveling. When in doubt, drive conservatively until you figure out the legal limit.
While in the States a speed limit reduction is marked by a sign with the new maximum speed, in Europe it’s often more frequently marked with a sign signifying the speed reduction has simply ended without posting the new limit. It’s expected that drivers will already know the speed limit before it was reduced on the road they’re traveling and that they’ll know the absolute limit for that particular road.
On European freeways, it’s also very common to see round white signs with multiple diagonal grey lines indicating a speed reduction has ended. This typically means resuming the maximum speed of 120 or 130 kmph. On Germany’s autobahns, it means the speed limit is again completely unrestricted.
#5. Be prepared for higher maximum speed limits on freeways than those allowed in the US.
Though Germany is famous for its “Autobahn,” which lacks speed limits, autobahn is simply German for motorway, or what most Americans would refer to as a freeway. While it’s true that many sections of Germany’s autobahn system have unrestricted speeds, nearly half actually post restricted speeds.
Not only do German-speaking countries like Austria also have autobahns, but European motorways in general have maximum rates of speed of either 120 kmph (Switzerland) or 130 kmph (Austria, Hungary, and many other countries). In Poland, the max limit in some places is 140 kmph.
This is the equivalent of 75 or 80 mph, faster than the legal limit on almost all US freeways, regardless of the state.
It’s pretty fantastic, but it also means staying to the right at lower speeds and staying alert as traffic moves much faster in general than you might be accustomed to.
A cattle truck in the Swiss Alps is parked in our lane.#6. Allow extra drive time.
Anywhere you drive, you’re likely to encounter delays at some point from rush-hour traffic, accidents, and periodic road construction. While driving in Europe, you’ll also want to allow additional travel time to stop to buy vignettes, pay at toll booths, wait in line at border crossings, and sit at red lights when you want to turn right, pondering why it isn’t permitted! If you take rural roads, you’re likely to pass through what at times feels like an endless stream of tiny towns with reduced speed limits and inconvenient and random corkscrew turns. Of course, this is the case for small towns on rural roads the world over. We actually prefer those kinds of roads, but for those used to city driving, you might be venturing into new territory.
Particularly in countries like Romania and Ukraine, you can expect to experience delays from road closures, detours, and poorly maintained road surfaces.
After leaving a remote campsite in Bucegi Natural Park, Romania, we abruptly reached a road block where workers had closed the entire road for repairs. High in the mountains, we were forced to turn back and take an alternate unpaved, ungraded road that added over an hour to our route. Keep this in mind if you have tickets for an event or if your sight-seeing is time-sensitive.
Potholes and work crews don’t give a hoot about your travel plans.
Extensive road construction and heavy traffic cause delays while driving through Cluj-Napoca, Romania.#7. Driving across Europe with a pet? Don’t forget Fido’s pet passport!
The red passport is for our dog; blue for our cats.If you’re like us and prefer to take your dog or cat with you on vacation, they’ll need a pet passport for unrestricted transit throughout Europe. The primary purpose of the passport is to serve as proof that your pet has been vaccinated against rabies.
Getting a passport is as simple as taking your dog, cat, or ferret to a veterinarian, having him implanted with a European microchip (if he doesn’t already have it), and getting a current rabies vaccination or booster. Your vet will document this in a little booklet – the passport – and likely charge a small fee for the passport itself.
We paid about 25 chf apiece for our dog and cats’ passports in Switzerland.
Though the passport is technically intended for use within the EU, many other European countries accept it: Andorra, Monaco, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, etc.
We’ve been asked for our dog’s pet passport at border crossings in Hungary, Romania, Ukraine, and Slovakia; all allowed her entry.
#8. Have a trust-worthy way to navigate your route.
This crazy road interchange near Venice, Italy looks less complicated on our map app than it is in person.Finding your route in Europe can be a challenge. Signs are in a variety of languages you may or may not understand, roads frequently branch off with little notice, and if you happen to miss your exit, the next chance to turn around might be 20 km further up the road, on the other side of a 10-km tunnel, or in an adjoining country.
Whether you choose an app for your phone, rely on the navigation system in your rental car, or are old-school and prefer paper maps, make sure you have a reliable way to help you get from point A to point B.
Even with decent navigation, we’ve accidentally crossed into Austria, arrived at a campground in Hungary that ended up being in the middle of a river, and driven countless miles out of our way because of missed exits.
One tip?
Use a smart phone map app that allows you to access maps offline during travel. This way you don’t have to use data or incur roaming fees. Just make sure you download the maps you think you’ll need while you have internet before you travel!
We’ve used Maps.me for years and haven’t yet found anything to beat it. Give it a try; you won’t regret it.
Tired of getting lost while driving? Want a good free offline map app? Give #Mapsme a try. Check our blog for more great trips for driving in Europe! #traveltips#9. If you’re going to drive in Italy, forget everything you’ve ever learned about road safety.
I don’t know why, but Italians are crazy creative drivers. I think their style of driving must have spawned the phrase, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” It’s common practice to ignore all street signs, lights, and official directions.
One of our favorite memories of driving in Italy is from a traffic incident in Turin. While waiting at a red light in the left turn lane, a steady stream of drivers came up next to us on the right, which had a green light. Sharply cutting in ahead of us, they simply parked in the middle of the intersection at our red light. By the time our light turned green, we were no longer the first car at the light – we were the fourth or fifth.
Our advice? Just drive as the Italians do, and you’ll probably be fine.
Driving in Turin, Italy, it isn’t uncommon to be driving in the right lane but suddenly arrive at a line of cars double parked in your lane. If you’re from Vancouver, BC, you’ll likely feel right at home!#10. Expect to pay to use public restrooms along the wayside and at gas stations.
Though many are free, some are not, especially at the nicer, larger gas stations. If you see a mega gas station that resembles a Flying J for truckers in the US, you’ll likely have to drop in the equivalent of 50 or 75 cents to access the turn-style bathroom.
Some even have paid employees standing guard full-time at the bathroom entrance to ensure that folks don’t try to sneak in, which is ironic. It seems like having to pay an employee to police the bathrooms would cost more than just making them free, but apparently not.
#11. European roads have tunnels – lots of them.
Europe has short tunnels that are liberally sprinkled along the French and Italian Riviera and long tunnels that bore through entire mountains, like Switzerland’s St. Gotthard Tunnel, one of the longest in the world.
I personally still think they’re a fun novelty, but they also tend to add two things to your driving experience. They can add time to your trip because of reduced speed limits and backed up traffic, and many of the larger tunnels charge high fees for passage.
Depending on the season, it’s often possible to drive over a nearby pass, but in the winter, these tunnels are often the only available option for auto travel.
Switzerland’s St Gotthard Tunnel is the 5th largest road tunnel in the world, stretching for 10.5 miles. It held the record as the world’s longest road tunnel for twenty years, from 1980-2000.#12. Fixed cameras with radar speed detection are common throughout Europe.
We found this to be the case particularly in France, where we saw more traffic cameras in a single day than an entire year living in Switzerland. We also learned that they can be quite unforgiving. Though we thought we remained within the legal limit during the duration of one of our road trips through France, we apparently exceeded the speed limit at some point because a month or so after our visit, we received a speeding ticket in the mail. Options to contest these tickets are minimal and can cost more than the original ticket.
I paid that ticket, but thinking about it always reminds me of one of my mom’s stories about driving through Montana when my sister and I were kids. Speeding, she was pulled over by a police officer who clearly felt some sympathy for the distraught woman driving and her two grubby little girls in the back seat. At the time, my mom was a single working parent who didn’t have two nickles to rub together. A speeding ticket would have eaten up money needed for the monthly heating bill or groceries. Rather than giving her a ticket, the officer let her off with a warning, gave us coloring books, and sent us on our merry way.
Ahhh, Montana in the ’80s…
Even this farm road near Jaun Pass, Switzerland is in good condition, typical of most western European roads.These 12 tips round out the biggest differences we’ve noted about driving in Europe. Hopefully you’ll find some of them useful.
If you happen to be a fellow American driver, one final suggestion is to ratchet down the impatience. We’ve driven in about 15 different countries in Europe, and across the board, Europeans in general tend to adhere to speed limits, drive more cautiously, and be just plain nicer on the road. If you’re a bit of an aggressive driver, try to ease off the lead foot, turn up the radio, and enjoy the fact that you’re hopefully enjoying a fantastic road trip across Europe!
- For a general list of European countries that require a driving vignette or have tolls, see here.
- A pet passport simply allows your pet to travel throughout Europe and is different from the process of importing a pet into Europe. For information about international pet travel, www.pettravel.com is a fantastic site.
