Austria and Vienna by car, parking and cheap accommodation

Most of us like driving around by car, from the passenger’s perspective anyway, but how does the driver feel about it, when he has so much responsibility on his hands, every time he goes behind the steering wheel? As we continue, we’ll try to show those of you who would like to visit Austria by car, a few precious pointers in order to have a pleasant holiday.

Useful information and tips for drivers at Vienna

Driving in Austria and Vienna is simple, the overall state of the infrastructure is in very good shape, the roads are properly signalized and everything is according to regulations. The first step towards a civilized traffic is showing respect for other drivers, by having a correctly functional vehicle, from all technical points of view.

Don’t forget about winter tires and public roads vigniette

It’s important to remember that each year, during the 1^st of November and the 15^th of April, all vehicles are obligated by law to be equipped with winter tires, no matter what the weather manifests itself. Speaking of obligations, if you drive on the highways or the national roads, you are also obligated by law to have a valid vigniette for your vehicle, sticked to your upper middle or upper right of your windshield. Not sticking it but having it is subjected to fines, but if you don’t have it, you could easily be fined from 300€ to 3000€, depending on how the police officer decides. It is generally good to purchase the vigniette, because you may never know how an unexpected maintenance action is performed on the road that you’re currently taking, and you could be diverted on a highway or a national road, and if you find yourself there, you will most surely be checked if you own a vigniette, through a very state of the art system of cameras, found on pillars, usually along with radars. Also, the price is not high, for a 10 day vigniette, for vehicles under 3,5 tons, the price is 8€, so it’s affordable.

As soon as you enter Vienna, as a driver, you find yourself in a very privileged position, since you are now taking part of a very intricate well established driving system, equipped with cameras, sensors and a very well correlated traffic stops system, that ensures the car flow is done according to traffic, depending on weather conditions, time and density of traffic or direction. Although the lanes ar a bit narrow than those in Romania, they are well calculated for a medium-large car, so that drivers don’t experience unpleasant situations while being forced to drive in parallel.

The traffic here has a tendency to flow at a higher rate of speed than we are used to in Romania, mainly because everybody knows where they’re going, how to get there and no sloppy manoeuvres are made, to slow the others down. All drivers are polite, and they will appreciate if you are also polite, and show manners while driving. Also very important is obeying traffic signs, and mostly those that indicate bikers and their lanes, since bikers are numerous and the infrastructure has adapted very well for them.

How parking your car in Vienna

The areas where parking is permitted or not are always marked very clearly, no matter if it’s a main street or a small dead end street, just to rule out any other uncertainties that could occur later, so make sure you read the signs clearly before attempting to park, or you could find yourself with a large fine, license plates picked up or even worse, the car towed away. The police is always vigilant, and it succeeds in maintaining a state of safety even through a passive state. At night, not only that the streets are safe, but they are all lit up, and this makes driving at night seem a lot easier. Usually, after 2 consecutive days, every driver that is used to drive around in a crowded city, will see that driving in Vienna can be a real pleasure.