To use motorways and expressways in Austria, a motorway vignette is required by law. The 2026 vignette is fire red.
(Image: Vignette 2026)
Prices for 2026
(Valid from 1 December 2025 to 31 January 2027)
Annual vignette for passenger cars: € 106.80
Annual vignette for motorcycles: € 42.70
2-month, 10-day and 1-day vignettes are also available (e.g. passenger car: 2-month vignette € 32.00; 10-day vignette € 12.80; 1-day digital vignette € 9.60).
The vignette is available at sales outlets (e.g. ÖAMTC service centres, tobacconists and border crossings) as well as online in digital form: https://shop.asfinag.at/
Validity: The vignette must be affixed or digitally registered by 31 January 2026 at the latest. It is valid until and including 31 January 2027.
The Vignette should be placed in the upper left or right corner or in the upper middle on the inside of your front windscreen. www.vignette.at;www.oeamtc.at
Mobile phone
Calling with the mobile phone is prohibited by law while driving a car in Austria. If you like to call although you have to buy either a handsfree set or park the car. Watch out: Also when you are waiting at traffic lights or in a traffic jam calling on the mobile phone is forbidden.
Winter tires
It is obligatory to use winter tires from 1st of November to 15th of April. Drivers who violate this law will get fines from € 35,00 to € 5.000,00. In case of an accident, when driving without winter tires during winter season, although the driver isn't guilty, the insurance company won't pay any damages and the driver will be criminally prosecuted.
Area Vienna: 414,78 km2 (half of it is green space) Austria: 83.878,99 km2
Language: German
Currency: Euro (EUR, €)
Average inflation rate 2025: 3,8 %
1 Euro (€) = 1,17 US-Dollar ($) (as of 07.01.2026)
Source: Statistik Austria
Costs and prices in Austria
Broadcasting fee (ORF contribution) to receive signal for radio and TV ORF contribution from January 2024: € 15,30; depending on the federal state, monthly extra contributions are possible (specifically Styria, Burgenland, Carinthia and Tyrol: between € 3,00 and € 5,00)
Magenta internet and TV starting at€ 45,00/month (+ annual internet service fee)
A1 internet and TV from € 29,90/month (+ annual internet service fee)
Household insurance (insurance cover according to squaremeters) Approximately € 12,00 to €16,00
Other additional costs
Deposit The deposit serves as security for rent payments or damage to the rental property. Three gross monthly rents (net rent plus operating costs plus 10% VAT) are customary, but in principle up to six gross monthly rents may be demanded - as a bank guarantee or as a transfer to the rent account.
Rental agreement set-up fees These are being charged more and more frequently and range from around € 200,00 to € 600,00 (single payment to the property management).
Quality of living in Austria
Vienna remains one of the cities with the best quality of life worldwide.
1.
Copenhagen, Denmark
2.
Vienna, Austria (together with Zurich)
3.
Melbourne, Australia
Source: Economist's annual index, 2025
Safety in Austria
Austria has recently been ranked the third safest country in the world. (Listed below in this order: ranking, country)
1.
Iceland
2.
Ireland
3.
Austria
4.
New Zealand
5.
Singapore
Source: Global Peace Index, 2025
Did you know?
Siren Alarms in Austria
In Austria, sirens are tested regularly: every Saturday at 12:00 noon in all federal states, except in Vienna. In Vienna, the test takes place only once a year – during the Civil Defense Test Alarm on the first Saturday in October. Three signals are always transmitted: “Warning,” “Alarm,” and “All-clear”.
These tests ensure the system's functionality and help familiarize the public with the signals.
So, if you hear a siren, there’s no need to worry – it’s just a routine test for your safety.
Since March 2022, we have comprehensive short-stay parking zones throughout Vienna and the parking sticker for the respective district residents. Parking time booked with cell phone or parking ticket maximum 2 hours. Parkpickerl holders are allowed to park in their own district indefinitely. Separate rules apply in designated business streets.
You have to buy parking tickets to be allowed to park in the short term parking zones. Permanent Parking stickers are available for the district in which are you living in, at your “Bezirksamt”. The team of RANDOS Relocation will be pleased to help you with the application.
Since October 2023, parking stickers no longer need to be affixed. The license plate will be scanned by parking enforcement officers using a smartphone. The data is not stored.
Parking tickets
Parking tickets can be bought at “Tabak Trafik” (Engl. tabacco shop) or at the ticket machines in all metro stations. They should be put on the dashboard of your car. The parking tickets are available for:
½ hour (€ 1,70)
1 hour (€ 3,40)
1 ½ hours (€ 5,10)
2 hours (€ 6,80)
15 minutes (free of charge).
It is not allowed to use more than one 15-minutes-parking-ticket at the same time. Fill in the date and year and the arriving time (If you arrive at 12:16h, you fill in 12:30h, that means the next full quarter of an hour). It's allowed to use several parking tickets, depending on the maximum parking duration. Then on every parking ticket should be filled in the same arriving time.
Mobile-parking
m-parking is a service of the city of Vienna, which makes it possible to buy parking tickets with sms. www.handyparken.at
Speed Limits
130 km/h on motorways
100 km/h on country roads
80 km/h on city motorways
50 km/h in cities and built-up areas, unless otherwise indicated.
Public transportation
The public transportation system in Vienna is very well developed. It is highly recommended in the inner city districts because of short term parking zones. The “Wiener Linien” offers several types of tickets.
climate ticket: € 1.000,00 (one-time advance payment) With the climate ticket Ö you can travel environmentally friendly by public transport for 365 days on all regular services (public and private rail transport, city transport and transport associations) throughout Austria. In Vienna, it also entitles you to as many trips as you like by subway, streetcar and bus.
In addition to the options mentioned above, there are also a variety of discount tickets (e.g. for students or senior citizens).
Please note that all tickets can also be purchased digitally as e-tickets. As a rule, these then also cost one lane less.
