🇩🇪 Cross-border drive · Germany → Austria 🇦🇹
Driving from Berlin to Vienna
Drive from Berlin to Vienna via the Czech Republic. Find route details, highlights, and practical advice for your cross-border journey.
- Drive time
- 7h 28m
- Distance
- 678 km
- Same day?
- Yes, doable
- under 8 h
- Fuel cost
- ≈ €93
- petrol · diesel ≈ €74
- Tolls
- ≈ €23
- vignette
- EV charging
- Unknown
- not yet surveyed
On this page
Route map
Route options
Other paths OSRM found between the two cities — handy when traffic, tolls, or scenery matter more than raw speed.
Alternative
+1h 8m- Distance:
- 704 km (+25 km)
- Duration:
- 8h 36m
Via: 37 · A18 · S3 · A 15
How else can you make this trip?
Driving is the focus of this guide; here's how cycling, coach, and (soon) train and plane stack up for the same pair.
7h 28m
678 km · €93 fuel
See details ↓
Not realistic
678 km is far beyond a typical multi-day cycle tour. Try a shorter pair like a day or weekend stage.
8h 10m
FlixBus-eu
See details ↓
2h 6m
from €40
See details ↓
8h 44m
DB Fernverkehr AG · Deutsche Bahn AG
See details ↓
What the drive is like
Drafted from the route's computed data on April 24, 2026 and reviewed against the route summary card. Read our methodology.
Leaving Berlin, you'll immediately pick up the A 113 heading southeast towards Dresden. This motorway smoothly transitions into the A 13, then the A 4, forming a direct line through Brandenburg and Saxony. The landscape gradually shifts from the flat plains around Berlin to the more undulating terrain as you approach the German-Czech border. Keep an eye out for signs pointing towards the A 17, which is your gateway to the next country.
Your route takes you across the border into the Czech Republic, where the A 17 becomes the D8 motorway. This is a significant section of your drive, and it's here you'll notice a change in the driving environment. While the D8 is a modern expressway, it winds through picturesque, sometimes hilly, countryside. Be aware of the speed limit differences as you enter the Czech Republic; standard limits apply but ensure you're familiar with any local variations. Tolls in the Czech Republic are handled via a digital vignette, which you'll need to purchase in advance or immediately upon entering the country.
Continuing south, the D8 connects to the D1 motorway, which will be your main artery for the final stretch towards Vienna. The D1 is a major Czech highway, and you’ll experience similar speed limits and driving conditions to the German Autobahn in many sections. As you get closer to the Austrian border, the scenery will start to hint at the Alpine foothills, even though Vienna itself is relatively flat. Upon crossing into Austria, the D1 becomes Austrian autobahn, and you'll need an Austrian vignette for toll roads.
Route highlights
- Elstergebirge hills section of the D8
- Views of the Ore Mountains from the D8
- Prague skyline visible from the D1 (slight detour)
- Transition from German Autobahn to Czech D8
- Entering the flatter plains approaching Vienna
Trip plan
How to think about the drive: one day, split, or overnight.
Consider splitting over two days
Technically a one-day drive, but it is a slog. Splitting overnight halfway makes it a much better trip and lets you see the middle, not just the endpoints.
A natural overnight stop near the halfway point: Prague (cz).
- Distance:
- 678 km
- Duration:
- 7h 28m (free-flow, no traffic)
Where to stop
Places along the route that make natural breaks for coffee, lunch, or a night.
-
Kalawa 🇩🇪 de
≈113 km≈ 9.9 km detour from the main route
-
Dohna 🇩🇪 de
≈226 km≈ 8.5 km detour from the main route
-
Čakovice 🇨🇿 cz
≈339 km≈ 3.9 km detour from the main route
-
Humpolec 🇨🇿 cz
≈452 km≈ 11.9 km detour from the main route
-
Pohořelice 🇨🇿 cz
≈565 km≈ 4.1 km detour from the main route
Key moves
Things to know before you set off — borders, sides of the road, tolls.
Multi-country chain · DE → CZ → AT
You'll cross 3 countries on this drive — each with its own toll system, fuel pricing, and motorway rules. Skim the must-know section below before you set off, and have your registration plus insurance card in the door pocket for any roadside check.
Vignette required in CZ / AT
Austria, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Bulgaria, and Romania require a sticker or e-vignette for motorway use. Buy at the border — missing one is a heavy on-the-spot fine.
Long rural stretch on D1 Brněnská
Plan for about 193 km of two-lane country roads. Slower than motorway, but often the pretty part — fewer overtakes after dark.
Long rural stretch on D8
Plan for about 98 km of two-lane country roads. Slower than motorway, but often the pretty part — fewer overtakes after dark.
Must-know before you go
The things a driver from another country wouldn't think to ask about — fines, stickers, payment cards, opening hours.
City access & emission zones
Berlin Umweltzone covers everything inside the S-Bahn ring
Must knowBerlin
Green sticker required, no exceptions. The zone runs 24/7. Old diesels (Euro 4 and below) are banned outright. Foreign plates can order the sticker online at umwelt-plakette.de — about €13 plus shipping. Allow 7–10 days. Without it you're looking at a €100 fine even for parked cars.
Berlin, Munich, Stuttgart need a green Umweltplakette
Must knowGermany's low-emission zones (Umweltzone) are simpler than the French system but stricter on entry. You need a colour-coded sticker physically on your windscreen before entering. The vast majority of zones today require a green sticker (Euro 4+ petrol, Euro 6+ diesel). Order via TÜV / DEKRA / certified workshops — about €6–13, ships in days. Driving without one costs €100 even if your car would qualify.
Whole-city paid parking — no free street spaces inside the Gürtel
Must knowVienna
Vienna extended its short-term parking zone (Kurzparkzone) to all 23 districts in 2022. Foreign plates pay via Handyparken app or paper "Parkschein" tickets at trafiks (newsagents). Daytime parking is €2.50/hour, max 2 hours per ticket — meaning practically you need a private parking garage for any stay over 2 hours. Garages average €4–6/hour or €25/day.
Tolls, vignettes & road payment
Digital vignette before crossing the border
Must knowAustrian motorways need a vignette — €10.10 for 10 days, €30.40 for 2 months, or €103.80 annual. The digital version (linked to your plate) is bought online at asfinag.at and activates from a chosen date — if you buy on the Austrian side of the border, it's only valid 18 days later under consumer-protection rules. Buy ahead.
Czech e-vignette is plate-linked, no sticker
Must knowCzechia replaced paper vignettes in 2021. Buy on edalnice.cz with your plate, valid from the chosen date. 10-day is CZK 290 (~€12), annual CZK 2,300 (~€95). Police read plates electronically — no display required. The first 90 minutes after purchase, the system sometimes hasn't synced; keep your purchase confirmation accessible.
Brenner, Tauern and Karawanken tunnels are extra
UsefulEight Austrian routes charge separate tolls on top of the vignette: Brenner (A13, ~€11.50), Pyhrn (A9, ~€6.50), Tauern (A10, ~€14), Karawanken (A11, ~€8.50) and others. Pay at the booth — no vignette discount. If you're heading south to Italy via the A13, budget for it.
What your car must carry
Triangle, first-aid kit, hi-vis vest — all three
Must knowGermany requires a warning triangle, a first-aid kit (compliant with DIN 13164, with a "use by" date — €10 at any pharmacy), and a reflective vest in every passenger car. Roadside checks do happen at borders. The first-aid kit is the one foreign drivers most commonly miss.
Driving rules & habits
Left lane is for overtaking only — return immediately
UsefulOn unrestricted Autobahn sections (where you'll see no speed-limit-end signs), faster cars expect to use the left lane unobstructed. Drift into it without checking the mirror and a 911 closing at 250 km/h becomes your problem. Indicate, overtake, return right — every time. Slowing in the left lane to "make space" is more dangerous than predictable speed.
Phone-mounted radar warnings are illegal
UsefulActive radar-detector apps (and the "police nearby" feature on Waze / Google Maps) are technically banned in Germany — fines hit €75. Most drivers leave them on without consequence, but if you're stopped for any reason, the officer can ask to see your phone. Switch the warning layer off when crossing into DE if you want to play it strict.
Plan your stops, not just your finish time
UsefulOSRM gives you free-flow drive time. Realistic add: 10% on motorway-heavy routes, 25% if you're crossing two cities. Eat at off-peak hours (11:30 lunch, 18:00 dinner) — service-area queues at noon kill 20 minutes. EU fatigue research is consistent: 15-minute break every 2 hours, full 45-minute break before 6 hours. The drive between hours 7 and 9 is where avoidable accidents cluster.
Bicycles on the right — turn right with extreme care
TipVienna
Vienna built out a Copenhagen-style bike network from 2020–2024. Most major streets now have a separated bike lane on the right. Right-turning cars must yield to a bike going straight in the bike lane — the rule that catches most foreigners. Look over your right shoulder before turning.
Fuel stations
Contactless cards work at virtually every motorway pump
TipMajor brand stations (Shell, Total, BP, Repsol, Cepsa, OMV, Eni, Esso) take Visa and Mastercard contactless without an issue. American Express and Diners are spotty south of the Alps. A €100 pre-authorisation hold is normal — it releases within 5 days. Carry €50 cash for the rare independent station.
Money & connectivity
EU roaming covers calls, texts and data at no extra cost
TipYour home EU SIM works at home rates across every EU member, plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. The "fair use" cap on data only applies if you're abroad more than four months. For a 2-week road trip, just use your phone normally — but switch off "data roaming" if you're leaving the EU into UK / CH for any segment.
Emergency & breakdown
112 works everywhere in the EU and continental neighbours
TipSingle number for police, ambulance, fire — works from any phone, any network, any country. On motorways, the orange SOS pillars every 2km connect direct to the regional traffic control centre and pinpoint your location. Use them over your phone if you can — it speeds the response.
Rules, fees, and thresholds change. Always verify against the official source the day before you drive — this page is a checklist, not a legal reference.
Main roads
The highways this route spends the most kilometres on.
-
D1 Brněnská193 km
-
A 13 —150 km
-
D8 —98 km
-
A5 Umfahrung Drasenhofen52 km
-
A 17 —44 km
-
52 Vídeňská44 km
-
A 113 Autobahnzubringer Dresden19 km
-
A 4 —14 km
-
S1 Wiener Außenring Schnellstraße8 km
-
601 Průmyslová7 km
-
S2 Wiener Nordrand Schnellstraße7 km
-
A 100 —3 km
Route character
How much of the drive is motorway vs. secondary vs. rural.
Mixed motorway + secondary — varied pace, some scenic stretches.
- Motorway
- 43%
- Secondary
- 46%
- Other / rural
- 11%
Drive difficulty
At-a-glance feel: how demanding is this drive for one driver?
Overall
Demanding
Tough drive — multiple complicating factors compound fatigue. Strongly recommend splitting across days.
- Long drive: 7h 28m behind the wheel at free-flow speeds.
- Cross-border: DE → AT. Keep documents accessible and check border rules.
- About 352 km on non-motorway roads where speeds and conditions vary.
Fuel & tolls
Rough cost expectation for a typical EU passenger car. Treat as an estimate — pump prices change weekly.
Petrol (RON 95)
≈ €93
50.9 L × €1.83 / L · 7.5 L/100 km
Diesel
≈ €74
40.7 L × €1.82 / L · 6 L/100 km
Electric (DC fast)
≈ €75
119 kWh × €0.63 / kWh · 17.5 kWh/100 km
Public DC fast charging — slower AC charging at home or hotels typically costs about half.
Motorway tolls & vignettes
≈ €23
- CZ — Vignette (motorway sticker / e-vignette) — €13.00 for 10 days Annual vignette is €88.00 if you drive often
- AT — Vignette (motorway sticker / e-vignette) — €10.10 for 10 days Annual vignette is €103.80 if you drive often
Prices last refreshed 2026-05-11.
Weather by month
Average daytime high / overnight low and typical monthly rainfall, over the past five years.
🇩🇪 Berlin
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
5°
0°
|
7°
0°
|
11°
2°
|
15°
6°
|
20°
10°
|
24°
14°
|
25°
15°
|
25°
15°
|
22°
13°
|
15°
8°
|
8°
3°
|
5°
2°
|
| 69mm | 52mm | 45mm | 36mm | 45mm | 65mm | 112mm | 49mm | 37mm | 65mm | 61mm | 61mm |
hot mild cold
🇦🇹 Vienna
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
5°
-1°
|
8°
1°
|
13°
4°
|
16°
7°
|
20°
10°
|
26°
16°
|
28°
18°
|
28°
17°
|
23°
13°
|
17°
9°
|
9°
3°
|
5°
1°
|
| 37mm | 28mm | 49mm | 76mm | 74mm | 62mm | 62mm | 47mm | 130mm | 53mm | 50mm | 46mm |
hot mild cold
Next 5 days at Vienna
Live forecast — refreshes every few hours.
-
Fri 22
⛅
23° / 16°
—
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Sat 23
⛅
26° / 14°
—
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Sun 24
⛅
31° / 16°
—
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Mon 25
⛅
29° / 19°
—
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Tue 26
☀️
31° / 20°
—
Forecast: MET Norway
Directions
Turn-by-turn summary of the main manoeuvres, generated by OSRM.
Show all 29 manoeuvres
- —
- (A 100) 3 km
- Autobahnzubringer Dresden (A 113) 19 km
- (A 13) 62 km
- (A 13) 34 km
- (A 13) 55 km
- — 0.8 km
- (A 4) 14 km
- (A 17) 44 km
- (D8) 98 km
- (601) 4 km
- Průmyslová (601) 4 km
- Jižní spojka 5 km
- Spořilovská (243) 3 km
- Brněnská (D1) 193 km
- Vídeňská (52) 4 km
- Brněnská (52) 41 km
- Umfahrung Drasenhofen (A5)
- Umfahrung Drasenhofen (A5) 5 km
- (B7) 3 km
- Nord/Weinviertel Autobahn (A5) 47 km
- — 0.7 km
- Wiener Außenring Schnellstraße (S1) 8 km
- Wiener Nordrand Schnellstraße (S2) 7 km
- Südosttangente (A23) 3 km
- Ost Autobahn (A4) 0.1 km
- Schüttelstraße (B227) 3 km
- Marc-Aurel-Straße
- Jasomirgottstraße
By coach from Berlin to Vienna
Indicative duration of the fastest direct long-distance coach found in the FlixBus and BlaBlaCar Bus EU schedules.
- Travel time
- 8h 10m
- Direct
- Operator
- FlixBus-eu
- Departures / day
- ~2
- Approximate based on the published schedule.
Show coach corridor on map
Schedules sourced from the FlixBus and BlaBlaCar Bus GTFS feeds via transport.data.gouv.fr. Times are indicative; verify on the operator's site before booking.
Booking link coming soon.
By plane from Berlin to Vienna
Indicative travel time on a non-stop flight, based on great-circle distance, average commercial cruise speed (850 km/h), and a 90-minute allowance for taxi, security, and boarding.
- Total time
- 2h 6m
- Door-to-door from :from airport.
- In the air
- 37 min
- At ~850 km/h cruise speed.
- On the ground
- 90 min
- Taxi + security + boarding (typical short-haul).
- Route
- BER → VIE
- 524 km great-circle.
Indicative fare: from €40 — fares vary by season, day of week, and how far ahead you book. Always check the airline or a meta-search before planning around this number.
Show flight path on map
Estimate-only. We don't pull live schedules or fares for flights — see the methodology page for how this number is computed.
Air travel emits roughly 5–10× the CO₂ per passenger-km of rail for the same distance.
By train from Berlin to Vienna
Fastest cross-border rail itinerary from the public Transitous planner. Times reflect a typical Monday-morning departure on the next available service-day.
- Fastest journey
- 8h 44m
- 3 changes
- Lead operator
- DB Fernverkehr AG
- + 4 more
- Alternatives
- 5
- Itineraries returned by the planner.
Trains on the fastest itinerary
- ICE 1507
- ICE 1225
All operators across alternatives
- DB Fernverkehr AG
- Deutsche Bahn AG
- Železničná spoločnosť Slovensko, a.s.
- DB Regio AG
- Ceske Drahy
Includes a high-speed rail leg (TGV, ICE, AVE, Frecciarossa-class).
Show route on map
Routing via the public Transitous OTP planner (community-run MOTIS instance). Cached 24 hours; verify on the operator's site before booking.
Frequently asked
Do I need a vignette for the Czech Republic and Austria?
Yes, both the Czech Republic and Austria require a vignette for using their motorways. You can purchase these digitally online in advance or at border points and fuel stations.
What are the typical speed limits on the German, Czech, and Austrian motorways?
Germany has a recommended speed limit of 130 km/h on the Autobahn where no specific limit is posted, but many sections have no limit. The Czech Republic generally has limits of 130 km/h on motorways, and Austria also has a standard limit of 130 km/h on its autobahn.
Are there any significant fuel price differences between Germany, the Czech Republic, and Austria?
Fuel prices can vary. Generally, you might find slightly lower prices in the Czech Republic compared to Germany and Austria, but it's always wise to check current prices as you travel.
Will I encounter tolls other than vignettes on this route?
On this specific route (A 113, A 13, A 4, A 17, D8, D1), the primary toll system is the vignette in both the Czech Republic and Austria. There may be occasional specific toll points for bridges or tunnels in certain countries, but the vignette covers most motorway usage.
Are there low-emission zones in Berlin or Vienna?
Berlin has low-emission zones (Umweltzonen) that may require a sticker for older vehicles. Vienna also has low-emission zones. Check the specific requirements for your vehicle before entering these cities.
How this page is built
Compiled by COD Solutions Oy from open European data — OSRM over OpenStreetMap for the route geometry, Open-Meteo for monthly climate normals, EU Weekly Oil Bulletin for cross-border fuel-price bands, and Google Gemini drafts the narrative and FAQ from the computed route data. See our methodology for refresh cadence and limitations.