andresusilo

Me, my wife, and my 3 daughters (16,14 and 10) will be driving from Venice to Prague in mid December.
It's a long trip, so we are thinking to stop by somewhere around Austria.
Would any experienced travellers give good advices which road / toll way that we should take so we could enjoy the scenery while we drive ?
Also which good recommended city that we have to stop by along the way to Prague ?
My plan is, if we leave Venice (for example on Monday), then we can arrive Prague by Wednesday or Thursday. Depends on which city that we will stop over to stay overnight.
At the moment, our idea so far is to stop over at Salzburg, stay there for a night or two, then drive directly to Prague
Please share if this is a good idea so far, or if you have any better idea to share, please...you are mostly welcomed...

michelhuebeli

In Italy you are supposed to have the IDP (International Driving Permit) in addition to your drivers' license. In the US it is only available from the AA, cheap and no hassle. Better to have it than not, even if no cop or anyone else may want to see it (which means you're lucky).

In Austria your car needs to display a "VIGNETTE" (road tax sticker), you can buy a short-term one at the border, you only need it on major freeways but your trajectory probably can't help but involve some of those.

The Czech Republic has its own system of road tax stickers, make sure you get one as you enter, or they'll hammer you upon leaving.

Keep an eye on www.viamichelin.com for road conditions, and on the internet if you have access, winter can be tricky with road closures etc.

Salzburg is a must for a stop, overnight with an excursion in the region! Others are Linz, Cesky Krumlov (slight detour) and Ceske Budejovice, to name just a few.

nytraveler

You do realize that you are going in midwinter. Through the mountains you are likely to run into snow (you don;t want to drive in it unless you have to) and the scenery will be winter - not summer (no leaves or flowers and brown crunchy grass).

And you will have to check for road closings as you travel.

fourfortravel

Living in Vienna, and having driven your proposed route in winter and summer, I would suggest you plan for either Salzburg and Vienna with hotels that can be canceled. In February we drove into Italy via Graz and Klagenfurt, but returned via Innsbruck and Salzburg because the weather and road conditions were better. Also keep in mind that the drive time always ends of being longer than calculated.

We have driven from Vienna to Prague in winter; while we did not have snow, there was considerable fog for a long portion of the drive.

As others have said, both Austria and Czech Republic require vignettes for travel on the autobahns; there are multiple places close to the border where the vignettes can be purchased (typically only with cash, and the Czech side will accept Euros).

neckervd

There are 2 main itineraries (both go through the Alps:
Brenner motorway via Verona - Innsbruck - Munich
and
Pontebbana - Tauern motorway via Udine - Villach - Salzburg.
Munich and Salzburg are the most interesting towns for stop overs. As you have only 3 days, there will be no time for more. You could just spend a few hours in the towns along your itinerary, either
Verona, Trento, Bolzano, Innsbruck, Muenchen, Regensburg, Pilsen
or
Udine, Villach, Salzburg, Linz, Krumlov, Budweis, Karlstein