🇮🇹 Cross-border drive · Italy → Austria 🇦🇹
Driving from Naples to Linz
Drive from Naples to Linz via Italy and Austria. Navigate A1, A14, A23, A13, and A4 motorways, watch for tolls and speed limits.
- Drive time
- 13h 6m
- Distance
- 1,284 km
- Same day?
- Split it
- 12 h+, plan a stop
- Fuel cost
- ≈ €171
- petrol · diesel ≈ €155
- Tolls
- ≈ €92
- mixed
- 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.
Avoids motorways
+5h 51m- Distance:
- 1,195 km (−89 km)
- Duration:
- 18h 58m
Via: SS309 · B99 · B320 · SS690
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.
13h 6m
1.284 km · €171 fuel
See details ↓
Not realistic
1.284 km is far beyond a typical multi-day cycle tour. Try a shorter pair like a day or weekend stage.
No direct service
Our coach data (FlixBus + BlaBlaCar) doesn't list a direct service for this pair. National operators (e.g., National Express in the UK, Eurolines feeders) may still cover it — check their site directly.
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.
The moment you leave Naples and join the A1 northbound, the Italian countryside unfurls, a dramatic shift from the bustling city. You'll continue on the A1 for a considerable stretch, eventually transitioning to the A14 near Bologna as you head towards the northeast. Keep an eye out for the 'Autostrada' tolls; Italy's extensive motorway network is almost entirely tolled, so budget accordingly. Speed limits here are generally 130 km/h, but can drop to 110 km/h in construction zones or in adverse weather.
As you approach the Austrian border near Tarvisio, you'll merge onto the A23, a vital artery that hugs the foothills of the Alps. Upon crossing into Austria, the A23 becomes the Austrian A2 Süd Autobahn for a short section before you pick up the A13 Brenner Autobahn heading north. This is where the landscape truly transforms. The A13 is famous for its spectacular mountain scenery and the numerous bridges and tunnels required to traverse the Alps. Remember that Austria requires a vignette for its motorways, which you must purchase before or shortly after entering the country. Fuel prices in Austria tend to be slightly higher than in Italy.
Continuing north, you’ll transition onto the A4 (Ostautobahn) near Innsbruck, which will eventually lead you towards Linz. Speed limits in Austria are typically 130 km/h on motorways, but be aware of lower limits in tunnels and around urban areas. The drive through Austria offers a different visual tapestry than Italy, with rolling hills and picturesque villages replacing the dramatic Italian coastline and Apennine peaks. Keep your vehicle well-maintained; the Alpine climbs and descents can be demanding. The final approach into Linz on the A1 will see the motorway gradually giving way to the urban landscape of your destination.
Route highlights
- The Italian Autostrada network and its toll system
- Crossing the Alps on the A13 Brenner Autobahn
- The mandatory Austrian vignette requirement
- Varying speed limits and enforcement in both countries
- Fuel price differences between Italy and Austria
- The scenic mountain passes and tunnels in Austria
Trip plan
How to think about the drive: one day, split, or overnight.
Overnight recommended
Too long for a single-driver day. Plan on 1 overnight stop(s) to do this trip right.
A natural overnight stop near the halfway point: Manzano (it).
- Distance:
- 1,284 km
- Duration:
- 13h 6m (free-flow, no traffic)
Where to stop
Places along the route that make natural breaks for coffee, lunch, or a night.
-
Anagni 🇮🇹 it
≈161 km≈ 5.6 km detour from the main route
-
Orvieto 🇮🇹 it
≈321 km≈ 6.3 km detour from the main route
-
San Donnino 🇮🇹 it
≈482 km≈ 2.4 km detour from the main route
-
Rovigo 🇮🇹 it
≈642 km≈ 9 km detour from the main route
-
San Giorgio di Nogaro 🇮🇹 it
≈803 km≈ 11.1 km detour from the main route
-
Villach 🇦🇹 at
≈963 km≈ 5.3 km detour from the main route
-
Hallein 🇦🇹 at
≈1,124 km≈ 6.4 km detour from the main route
Key moves
Things to know before you set off — borders, sides of the road, tolls.
Multi-country chain · IT → AT → SI
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.
Tolls on motorways in IT
Budget for motorway tolls — France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal charge per-km, Croatia and Greece by section. Contactless cards work almost everywhere; have one loaded.
Vignette required in AT / SI
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.
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
ZTL cameras read your plate from any country
Must knowItalian historic centres (Florence, Rome, Milan, Bologna, Pisa, Siena, Verona, Naples, Turin, Palermo and dozens more) are ringed by automatic Zona Traffico Limitato cameras. Driving in without a permit triggers €80–120 per crossing, and the fine reaches your home address up to a year later via cross-border collection. Treat any city centre as off-limits unless you've confirmed your hotel offers a permit, and ask the hotel to register your plate the day you arrive.
Italian historic-centre ZTL — confirm your hotel registers your plate
Must knowNaples
This city's old town is encircled by automatic ZTL cameras. Crossing without a permit triggers €80–120 per pass. Ask your hotel the day you arrive: "Can you register my plate for ZTL access?" Some only register the entry, not parking — clarify both. Cameras read plates from any country and Italian fines reach foreign addresses up to a year later.
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.
You'll hit three different toll systems on this trip
Must knowThis route crosses countries with mismatched toll mechanics — France's ticket-and-pay, vignette stickers, electronic-only stretches. There's no single transponder that works everywhere, but a Telepass EU device covers FR/IT/ES/PT and a Bip&Go covers the same plus a few more. For a one-off trip, contactless cards plus a Swiss vignette and Austrian e-vignette is the simplest mix.
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.
Telepass saves you the toll-booth queue
UsefulItalian autostrade work like France: ticket on entry, pay on exit. Contactless cards work at most modern lanes (look for "Carte" — avoid yellow "Telepass" lanes without the device). For long routes, a Telepass EU transponder works in IT/FR/ES/PT and pays for itself across two days; at minimum, keep your insurance card and registration in the door pocket — booth attendants occasionally ask.
What your car must carry
Hi-vis vest mandatory before stepping out
Must knowItalian law requires you to wear a reflective vest before exiting the vehicle on a motorway shoulder, day or night. One warning triangle in the boot is also required. Both items are typically €15 at any Autogrill or fuel station — don't arrive without them.
Driving rules & habits
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.
Fuel stations
"Servito" pumps cost about €0.20/L more
UsefulItalian fuel stations split between fai-da-te (self-service) and servito (attended). The same station typically offers both, with attended pumps charging a 10–15% premium. Off-hours, attended turns into self-service automatically. If a pump is out of paper or won't take your card, try the next station — Italian banking sometimes refuses foreign chip cards on first attempt.
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.
Off-motorway stations close at lunch and on Sundays
TipOutside motorways, expect 12:30–15:30 closures and most of Sunday off. Motorway service areas (autogrill) run 24/7. If you're cutting through a small town in the early afternoon, fuel before noon or push to the next motorway entrance.
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.
-
A1 Autostrada del Sole649 km
-
A10 Tauern Autobahn177 km
-
A4 Autostrada Serenissima124 km
-
A23 Autostrada Alpe-Adria119 km
-
A13 Autostrada Bologna-Padova116 km
-
A1var Variante di Valico33 km
-
A2 Süd Autobahn25 km
-
A14 Ramo Casalecchio10 km
-
A7 Mühlkreis Autobahn5 km
-
SS7bis Via Nazionale delle Puglie2 km
Route character
How much of the drive is motorway vs. secondary vs. rural.
Motorway drive — fast, predictable, uneventful.
- Motorway
- 98%
- Secondary
- 1%
- Other / rural
- 1%
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: 13h 6m behind the wheel at free-flow speeds.
- Cross-border: IT → AT. Keep documents accessible and check border rules.
Fuel & tolls
Rough cost expectation for a typical EU passenger car. Treat as an estimate — pump prices change weekly.
Petrol (RON 95)
≈ €171
96.3 L × €1.78 / L · 7.5 L/100 km
Diesel
≈ €155
77 L × €2.02 / L · 6 L/100 km
Electric (DC fast)
≈ €141
225 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
≈ €92
- IT — €0.08/km on the motorway network (≈ 873 km in-country ≈ €65)
- AT — Vignette (motorway sticker / e-vignette) — €10.10 for 10 days Annual vignette is €103.80 if you drive often
- SI — Vignette (motorway sticker / e-vignette) — €16.00 for 7 days Annual vignette is €117.50 if you drive often
Prices last refreshed 2026-05-04.
Weather by month
Average daytime high / overnight low and typical monthly rainfall, over the past five years.
🇮🇹 Naples
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
14°
7°
|
15°
7°
|
16°
9°
|
18°
10°
|
22°
14°
|
28°
19°
|
31°
22°
|
31°
22°
|
27°
19°
|
23°
15°
|
18°
10°
|
15°
7°
|
| 124mm | 82mm | 105mm | 77mm | 102mm | 57mm | 36mm | 49mm | 117mm | 108mm | 134mm | 88mm |
hot mild cold
🇦🇹 Linz
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
5°
-2°
|
8°
1°
|
13°
3°
|
16°
6°
|
20°
10°
|
26°
15°
|
27°
17°
|
27°
16°
|
23°
13°
|
16°
8°
|
8°
2°
|
5°
-0°
|
| 46mm | 43mm | 62mm | 77mm | 92mm | 58mm | 83mm | 80mm | 105mm | 52mm | 75mm | 67mm |
hot mild cold
Next 5 days at Linz
Live forecast — refreshes every few hours.
-
Tue 12
☀️
7° / 5°
—
-
Wed 13
⛅
15° / 3°
0.8mm
-
Thu 14
🌧️
10° / 7°
75.6mm
-
Fri 15
⛅
14° / 7°
5.5mm
-
Sat 16
🌧️
14° / 8°
8.7mm
Forecast: MET Norway
Directions
Turn-by-turn summary of the main manoeuvres, generated by OSRM.
Show all 37 manoeuvres
- Piazza Giuseppe Garibaldi 0.4 km
- Via Galileo Ferraris
- Via Emanuele Gianturco
- Via Emanuele Gianturco
- Via Nicola Miraglia
- Via Nazionale delle Puglie (SS7bis)
- Via Nazionale delle Puglie (SS7bis) 2 km
- — 0.3 km
- SP1 Circumvallazione Esterna di Napoli (SP1) 0.8 km
- Autostrada del Sole (A1) 456 km
- Autostrada del Sole (A1) 36 km
- Raccordo A1-Variante di Valico (A1) 7 km
- Variante di Valico (A1var) 33 km
- Autostrada del Sole (A1) 24 km
- Ramo Casalecchio (A14) 5 km
- Autostrada Adriatica (A14) 5 km
- Autostrada Bologna-Padova (A13) 116 km
- Interconnessione A13/A4 Dir. Venezia (A4) 0.5 km
- Autostrada Serenissima (A4) 124 km
- Autostrada Alpe-Adria (A23) 54 km
- Galleria Lago (A23) 4 km
- Galleria Mena (A23) 12 km
- Autostrada Alpe-Adria (A23) 9 km
- Galleria Raccolana (A23) 8 km
- Autostrada Alpe-Adria (A23) 32 km
- Süd Autobahn (A2) 25 km
- — 0.5 km
- Tauern Autobahn (A10) 121 km
- Tauern Autobahn (A10) 27 km
- Hiefler Tunnel (A10) 2 km
- Tauern Autobahn (A10) 26 km
- — 3 km
- West Autobahn (A1) 5 km
- West Autobahn (A1) 122 km
- Mühlkreis Autobahn (A7) 5 km
- — 0.2 km
- Hauptplatz
Frequently asked
Do I need a vignette for Austria?
Yes, a vignette is mandatory for using Austrian motorways (Autobahnen and Schnellstraßen). You can purchase them online in advance or at border crossings and gas stations near the border.
Are there tolls on Italian motorways?
Yes, Italian 'Autostrade' are almost entirely tolled. You'll typically pay at toll plazas using cash or card, or via an electronic toll collection system.
What are the typical speed limits on Italian and Austrian motorways?
In Italy, the general speed limit is 130 km/h, reducible to 110 km/h. In Austria, it's generally 130 km/h on motorways, but can vary.
What type of fuel is commonly available?
Both countries offer standard unleaded petrol (Benzina/Super) and diesel (Diesel). LPG/Autogas and CNG are also available at many stations.
Are there specific requirements for winter driving?
While not mandatory for this entire route in general terms, Austrian law requires winter tires (M+S) on vehicles during winter conditions (typically November to April). It's always wise to check current regulations for mountain passes.
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.