VAN-COMPARATOR Guide
Motorway Vignettes in Europe: Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, Czechia, Hungary
From 40 Swiss francs in Switzerland to four durations in Austria: the mandatory motorway vignettes for driving a motorhome across Central Europe, 2026 prices and the pitfalls to avoid.
Crossing a border by motorhome can spring an unpleasant surprise: past Basel or Salzburg, you cannot legally drive on the motorway without a vignette stuck to the windscreen or registered to your number plate. Unlike French or Italian tolls, billed by the kilometre driven, several Central European countries charge a flat fee paid upfront — and the prices, formats and weight thresholds differ from one country to the next.
Switzerland: a single sticker, valid for fourteen months
The Swiss vignette comes in only one format: 40 Swiss francs (about €44.50) to drive the entire motorway network, whatever the length of your stay. The 2026 sticker is valid from 1 December 2025 to 31 January 2027 — generous cover for a road trip of several weeks around Lake Geneva and the Valais, through Graubünden or the Bernese Oberland. It applies to any motor vehicle up to 3.5 tonnes, motorhomes included. A classic trap: a towed trailer or caravan needs its own separate vignette, distinct from the towing vehicle's. Above 3.5 tonnes — a handful of large A-class motorhomes — the vehicle falls under the heavy vehicle fee (RPLP/LSVA), calculated differently; see our guide on when you need a C1 licence for the exact thresholds.
Austria: four durations, from a weekend to a full year
Austria offers more flexibility, with four durations for 2026: €9.60 for 1 day, €12.80 for 10 days, €32 for 2 months and €106.80 for a year, for any vehicle under 3.5 tonnes. For a quick pass through the Grossglockner and Salzburg or Tyrol, the 10-day sticker is more than enough. One thing to know: the 2026 sticker is the last one issued as a physical vignette, as Austria moves to a fully digital system afterwards — and for private buyers, the 2-month and 1-year vignettes bought online only activate eighteen days after purchase (the EU's statutory withdrawal period), unlike the 1-day and 10-day versions, which are active immediately. Vehicles over 3.5 tonnes fall under a separate system, the GO-Box, requiring an onboard electronic unit.
Slovenia, Czechia, Hungary: fully digital vignettes
Three Central European countries now require an exclusively digital vignette, linked to the licence plate, with no sticker to display at all:
- Slovenia: roughly €16 for a week or €32 for a month, purchasable only on the official site evinjeta.dars.si before joining the network — essential for reaching Lake Bled from Ljubljana.
- Czech Republic: about €12 for 10 days, €17 for a month, €56 for a year — useful for linking Prague and Bohemia into a wider Central European loop.
- Hungary: from €21 to €67 for 10 days depending on vehicle category (weight and axle count both matter), from €33 to €95 for a month — worth checking before arriving in Budapest.
All three are bought online before the trip: keep the purchase confirmation, since a roadside check has no physical sticker to look for.
France, Italy, Spain, Germany: no vignette, but…
Nothing to stick on the windscreen in these four countries — but that does not mean the roads are free. France and Italy charge tolls by the kilometre through traditional toll booths, Spain mixes free and toll motorways, and Germany levies no toll at all on vehicles under 3.5 tonnes, motorhomes included (only heavy trucks pay the LKW-Maut). Our fuel and tolls guide breaks down these per-kilometre costs, which work very differently from a flat vignette fee.
Why this expense catches so many travellers out
A €40 or €45 vignette barely dents the overall budget of a two-week road trip — and that is exactly the problem. Research by economist Raj Chetty and his co-authors on "tax salience," published in 2009 in the American Economic Review, shows that a cost with low visibility at the moment of decision is systematically under-weighted by consumers, even when its amount is known in advance (Google Scholar page). Booked weeks ahead of departure, a Swiss or Austrian itinerary shows this line item nowhere — until the first tollgate crossed without a vignette, where the fine far outweighs the fee it was meant to avoid.
Avoiding a fine at the border
- Check the rental agreement. The vignette is almost never included — our departure checklist and our deposit and insurance guide spell out what stays your responsibility.
- Buy before the border, online on the official sites or at a service station just before the crossing — never after you have already driven on the motorway.
- Check the vehicle's actual weight on the registration document, not its empty weight: a loaded A-class motorhome can cross 3.5 tonnes and fall into a heavy-vehicle system (Swiss RPLP, Austrian GO-Box).
Three routes that cross these borders
- Switzerland to the Dolomites: routed through Austrian Tyrol, our Dolomites guide from Venice or Innsbruck stacks a Swiss and an Austrian vignette on the same trip.
- Vienna, Budapest, Prague: the Central European loop crosses Austria, Hungary and Czechia — three vignettes to plan for before setting off.
- Slovenia and Dalmatia: from Lake Bled, the Dalmatian coast is reached via Croatia, which charges classic tolls rather than a vignette.
Good to know
Always keep the purchase confirmation of a digital vignette (Slovenia, Czechia, Hungary) on your phone or printed out: at a checkpoint, it is the only valid proof. For a physical sticker (Switzerland, Austria), it must be placed on the inside of the windscreen, driver's side, without folding it — a folded or poorly stuck vignette is treated as invalid at some checks. Finally, if your route only crosses a country briefly — an hour of Swiss motorway on the way to Italy, say — there is no such thing as a "transit" rate: the full-duration vignette is still due, even for a few kilometres.
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