Italy holidays by car 2025

More and more tourists - whether families, couples or individuals - are taking advantage of the convenience of their own transport, where they can plan their entire trip according to theirneeds and wishes, stopping whenever or wherever they choose, but also to spend their holidays in places that are difficult to reach without a car - such as popular Tuscany or the Ligurian Riviera.

Travelling by car is quite comfortable, you are not as limited by weight and number of luggage as with transport companies, it does not disturb you are not disturbed by strangers, so you can talk or listen to the radio without any problems, and you can regulate the temperature and ventilation in the car to suit yourself.

AUSTRIA - tolls, toll charges, vignettes

In Austria, all motorway sections are tolled with a classic vignette. In addition, there are other sections of motorways that you pay extra for. These are mainly Alpine tunnels, bridges, etc. We have selected the most common ones in the table below.

You can buy daily, ten-day, two-month or annualstamps. They can be bought at petrol stations near the border with Austria or at Austrian petrol stations and near Austrian motorways (newsagents, car clubs etc.stick the Austrian vignette on the inside of the windscreen, either in the centre (under the inside rear-view mirror) or in the top left corner. Make sure the stamp is clearly visible from the outside so that it can be easily checked.

Of course, you can also buy stamps electronically online. The online vignette is activated within 30 minutes of ordering. However, in the case of a bank transfer, there may be a delay of several days. Keep this in mind!

Toll for special sections

When travelling to Italy, most tourists will be affected by tolls for the Tauern tunnels between Salzburg and Villach - the so-called A10 Tauern Katschberg and the Brenner crossing - the so-called A10 Tauern Katschberg. The A13 Brenner, which is used by tourists on the Pilsen - Munich - Innsbruck route (suitable for travel to western, central and southern Italy).

For more convenient transit, you can use the digital toll card, which can be purchased online via the official ASFINAG shop. In this way, you can avoid waiting at toll stations and drive in the special lane designated for digital tolls.

How to avoid paying tolls?

If you want to save the fees for these passes, it is possible to avoid them. For the A10 Tauern motorway, you need to turn onto Rennweg/Katschberg and you can bypass the toll tunnels. The route is slightly longer and slower and goes through the mountain resort of Katschberg. Similarly, the Brenner can also be circumnavigated, here you can exit at Innsbruck, continue along the old road to Italy and here take the first exit onto the motorway. It should be noted that in both cases you will lose, depending on the current traffic, some knowledge ofmore than an hour of time, the journey is longer and on worse roads in hilly terrain, which also affects the car's consumption. On the other hand, you will also discover beautiful scenery and unexpected views.

ITALY - motorway tolls

In Italy, motorway sections are toll roads - a toll is collected, the amount of which varies according to the number of kilometres driven on a given section of motorway. When you enter the motorway, you press a button at the gate to print out a ticket. You hand this in at the exit barrier, where you pay for the entire section (you must not lose this ticket during the journey!). Payment can be made in cash or by card. At some gates there is an attendant, elsewhere only a self-service machine. Consistently avoid lanes and ticket offices marked "TELEPASS". These are reserved for Telepass payment terminal holders only, which are placed behind the front window and automatically deduct money from your bank account.

The fastest way to pay is at the "CARTE" ticket offices - you just pull up here, insert the ticket you took when you entered the motorway and then insert your payment card. There's no need to enter a PIN and you're on your way in seconds. If you need a receipt, press the "RICEVUTA" button. There are no queues at these ticket offices and check-in is very fast.

Paying at the automatic ticket machines is very similar, you insert the ticket again, the display shows the toll price and a compartment for small coins opens. Any paper notes are inserted into another compartment. If you pay more, the machine will refund the rest.

When paying at a manned ticket office, you hand the ticket to the cashier, the amount to be paid appears on the display and you give it to the cashier in cash or by card. If you need proof of payment, just ask for a "Richevoot prégo".

If you need to calculate the current price for a motorway crossing, you can use this website or click here for the most common motorway sections.

Driving on holiday - what to look out for

If you're going on holiday by car to Italy, it's obviously important to follow similar guidelines to ours, plus pay closer attention to the roadworthiness of your car before you go (repairs in Italy are quite expensive and often require too much time), don't forget to take out good insurance and avoid traffic offences - the fines in euros for speeding or bad parking can be quite high.

Parking in Italy

Parking, especially during the summer season in seaside resorts, is quite difficult, especiallyespecially on Saturdays and Sundays, the free public car parks tend to be fully booked and often the paid ones are not free. When booking your stay, we therefore recommend that you choose accommodation with private parkingto avoid unnecessary confusion.if parking is included in the price of your accommodation, you can only use one space per room or suite in the reserved parking lot.(unless otherwise stated in the description) and any second car must be parked off-site - on the street or in one of the public car parks.

If you have a specific numbered parking space for your apartment or room, you must leaveonly here and do not give the space to someone else (unauthorised use of the space may result in the vehicle being towed).

Parking in Italy - paid car parks

For trips to the countryside or during stops along the way, you can park either in free public car parks or in places that fallthe blue zone is for a fee and the yellow zone is mainly for local supplies. When parking in the blue zone, we recommend always paying the parking fee - Italians are in control of the parking fee paidand it is often the case that when you return to your car you will find a ticket for unpaid or exceeded parking fees behind the wiper.

We recommend downloading the EasyPark app in advance and setting up your payment card - depending on your mobile phone location, the app will show you available parking lots in the area and you can pay for parking directly through the app. The app is very intuitive and will also alert you when your paid time is about to expire - so you can extend it without having to go back to the machine or risk getting a fine for unpaid parking. The app is available for both Android and iOS devices. You can also use the app in other EU countries.