Austria WITHOUT a Go-Box

[crob]

We are travelling from Calais to Slovenia/Croatia with our motorhome, over 3.5 tonnes, in the second half of May. I am trying to drive through Austria without the need for their motorways and the Go-Box.

 

Our route may take us through Nancy, Basel and into Western Austria around Feldkirch, then heading to Villach and into Slovenia. On my map, the L97(?) road "Klostertalerstraffe" goes under a tunnel, the Gasteltobel, and tracks the S16/E60 all the way. On my satnav a non-motorway route takes us onto some "un-named" roads - I don't usually go on these in our M/Home.

 

I could go further north through Germany but would then be in the inside lane convoy stuck at 50mph (over 3.5 t). I could use the Austrian motorway, but I would then have to get a Go-Box, deposit €75 on it, take it back, and claim any refund on leaving Austria (different route an return home). This is obviously much quicker, but time is not a constraint for us, but it would involve us in the hassle of the Go-box.

 

Has anyone tried to do what I am aiming for? What is your experience of the Go-Box?

 

All your views will obviously be very welcome, and no doubt some of them will be quite hilarious! Thanks to you all.

[Guest JudgeMental]

you can cross Austria if heading for Italy without using tolls, but for Croatia I would go via Germany....

[hughman]

We had a big Burstner that I took across Austria from Passau to Hungary, not on motorways. It was all do-able but very slow compared with motorway - 2 day job. Had a very nice night wilding right on the banks of the Danube though.

 

Next trip, we had a Go-Box which made it dead easy, but cost a packet - return trip was over E300 with GoBox :'(

 

The system works fine, but at a price!! We do the trip frequently as Mrs Hughman is from Slovakia, and we could easily spend E1000 per year on GoBox fees. OK if your finances are unlimited, but...............,.

 

Now, we've got a smaller van :-D :-D :-D

 

[rupert123]

Austria is the most difficult country in Europe to cross without using toll roads. A lot of their toll roads are certainly not motorways, especially in mountain regions and it is easy to make a mistake, we always buy a ticket on entry. Personally if I was just passing through and my van was not to big I would just buy a normal seven day ticket but that is me, not saying anyone else should consider it.

[mildi]

Same with me, the go box is expensive and if I could I would try again without GoBox You can send it back after you leave Austria (I missed the junction) but you will have to email Asfinag with the pack code which is on your paper receipt and they will switch the box off as otherwise it will be activated when it is on the road in Austria in the post van. I got the money back on my card in a couple of weeks.

The other problem is to put the right amount of credit, we fell short near the boarder and had to pay 10euro which we owed and then another 75euro as the minimum. If you go over your credit and the box bleeps four times when passing under the marker you have five hours or 100km to put more credit on or pay a fine. If you do use it get you paperwork sorted with Asfinag before you go, you can then just pick up the box at one of the machines at the boarder. We were towing so had to stay in lane one and the road is crap, it was like driving on train tracks

I bleep is good 2 bleeps is low on credit and four bleeps you need to stop and get some.

We entered from Budapest and left near Passau and I thing it was over 100 euro.

My OH is Hungarian so we would have to come this way. We used the motorway in Hungary (very good) but that was 38 euro for ten days

[crob]

So we did do Austria without a Gobox. Our itinerary is shown below (hopefully!).

Go_Box.odt

[crob]

Looks like the attachment didnt work. I'll do a copy and paste.

 

I have just completed a journey in our 5 tonne motorhome from Feldkirch to Villach, via Innsbruck, and then Slovenia without the need for a Go Box. It is obviously slower than using the motorways, but the scenery is magnificient (there are many tunnels on the motorways). A word of caution – check that the pass from Austria to Slovenia is open. We were going to use the Wurzenpass, route 109, just south south west of Villach, but it was blocked by fallen trees from recent storms, so we had to use the Loibital pass, route 91 from Ferlach to the east of Villach.

 

We entered Austria from Zurich and went north on the motorway E43 past Feldkirch. We left at junction 5 “ Meiningen” onto B190 to Bludenz. It then becomes B316 and then B197 to Landeck. Then B171 to Innsbruck. There are some “No entry to over 3.5 tonnes”, but we ignored them – they are aimed at commercial vehicles.

 

From Innsbruck we went over Brenner using the B182 (you need a Go Box for the Brenner pass motorway). Just after entering Italy after Brennersee village, there is a slip road to the left that joins with the Italian motorway A22, but we chose to ignore that and continued on the route 12 to Bressanone, then turning east towards Villach using route 49 to Lienz, then routes 100 and 110 to join route 111 to Villach. Then to Slovenia as above.

 

If time is a concern you wouldn't want to use this route, but if you have no time constraints, and enjoy driving on A/B roads (as in UK meaning), then this is a lovely scenic route.

[Flyinghigh]

I done the route many years ago to Greece going France Italy then into the old Yugoslavia at Trieste ,

totally eliminating Austria, but you will miss out on some of the best scenery,

You then decide on how much or little you pay on the French and Italian motorways,

[chris]

Its a pain in the neck so we have now got a 3.5ton van. We did go box 2 years ago and avoided all toll roads where possible but felt the need to use motorways several times and went through villach tunnel without queing . Loaded E100 but had a refund .

Austria is a pain