Roads in Austria?

[bluesman]

Colleagues,
I plan to do 7-10 days tour to Austria this year as I kinda always went around and never came in to see more of (I think) very beatiful country.

I do not have much details yet, but we plan around first half of July and plan to avoid at all costs big roads, or let say big motorways.
Here is question. I have 2 bikes and can't decide which one to take.
One is touring-setup VTR1000F honda, another Suzuki DR800 that setup to use supermoto wheels when paved roads planned, also touring setup but quite better for bad roads of course thou slower a lot.
I want to take VTR, but question that bothers me is - are roads in good state in Austria, e.g. mountain passes or I shall expect same level of deterioration as you see on Norway backroads often (for example), e.g. badly damaged surface, deep roots etc.? Will I feel good on VTR there or...?
I been to French, Swiss and Italian side and those seemed OK, but I prefer to ask. For example in Belgium where I live you may find suprisingly bad roads for such small and rich country

[Bonez64]

Hi

Me and my husband offer gone to Austria, for lunch we live in Slovakia and the roads in Austria are much better then where we live. We have a BMW GSA 1150 and my husband really enjoys riding in Austria as the roads are so well maintain. As for country tracks and going off road have yet to try that on our bike. but you have to be careful where you ride as Austria, as it does have stricted laws about motorbikes going off road.
Regards
Julie

[bluesman]

Thank you! This is now decided then I will take VTR.
Glad to hear my expectation for Austria to be good rideout confirmed!

[Beej]

Hi there,

We were also in Austria last year for part of our trip and we found the roads to be fantastic... even the mountain passes showed no signs of the cold winters.

Maybe the U.K. could learn something from them!

Beej

[Threewheelbonnie]

Originally Posted by Beej

Hi there,


Maybe the U.K. could learn something from them!

We could start by learning to charge Austrians to use our motorways?

I'd head round the far end, Slovakia, Croatia, NE Italy etc. Same countryside, half the cost, dont meet little booths with cash registers every 200 yards along any road with an incline, more than 2-lanes, street lighting etc.

Andy

[Beej]

Very true Andy... we especially liked the way that they always put the toll booth inbetween the 2 tunnels that your being charged to use... you can't really say no then!

Beej

[Knight of the Holy Graal]

Bluesnman, I can tell you that if I had to sign to have the Austrian roads here in Italy, I'D SIGN IMMEDIATELY!!!

[everywherevirtually]

Originally Posted by Threewheelbonnie

We could start by learning to charge Austrians to use our motorways?

I'd head round the far end, Slovakia, Croatia, NE Italy etc. Same countryside, half the cost, dont meet little booths with cash registers every 200 yards along any road with an incline, more than 2-lanes, street lighting etc.

Andy

Originally Posted by Beej

Very true Andy... we especially liked the way that they always put the toll booth inbetween the 2 tunnels that your being charged to use... you can't really say no then!

Beej

Coming from a Yorkshireman and a Scotsman these comments are hardly surprising It's €4 fellas to use some of the best roads in Europe. Every 200 yards is just a lie. I recently rode from Linz to Graz and came across one toll booth. A distance of 221km (137 miles). That's hardly unreasonable!

For those not fully informed let me tell you how it really is. You only pay on the Autobhans, the rest of the roads are free, free, free. You need a Vignette for a motorbike and for most holidays a €4.50 Vignette will cover you for all of Austria for 10 days. A fair price in my book to enjoy some of Europes finest roads. There are some instances where on the Autobhan you have to pay an additional €4 for some long stretches of tunnel. There are options to avoid this in the same way you can avoid the M6 Toll or a Peage.

All that said the best riding is had off the Autobhan and this is what you can expect to find...

[Threewheelbonnie]

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

[buebo]

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

[Beej]

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

[Donmanolo]

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!

[bluesman]

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.

[everywherevirtually]

Originally Posted by Threewheelbonnie

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

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

[dave08]

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