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Universal toll pass for Europe

Posted by on

My wife & I will be driving on toll roads in France, Switzerland, and Austria (Germany, too, but my understanding is that their Autobahn is free). I googled universal Europe toll passes that cover the aforementioned countries and found Eurotoll and Tollpass.

  1. Does anyone know about either/both of these?
  2. Can I order a pass in advance here in the U.S. or do I have to purchase one there?
  3. Are there smartphone universal toll pass options? I saw one for Tollpass but it has only a single one-star review on my iPhone App Store.

I know I can use my credit card on the French Autoroutes and purchase a toll card when I enter Austria, but I was looking for something akin to the U.S. east coast EZpass that I could order in advance, if possible, or download on my smartphone.

Thanks all.

Posted by
34074 posts

German autobahns are not free - trucks pay quite a lot for the privilege. It is true that cars do not currently pay.

What you found is likely for trucks. Even they have different rules for each country.

What you are searching for does not exist.

I have a transponder for France, and a similar one is available for Spain. Austria is not a card, it is a windscreen vignette, and is also available as a virtual online vignette. Switzerland is another vignette (40 CHF for a calendar year, shorter periods not available), as is Slovenia.

The Austrian vignette is not valid on all roads, there are still very high tolls to be paid on certain tunnels and roads, and the Brenner Pass into Italy. Italy uses toll booths and a few non-barriered autostrada.

Tolls in Belgium are at toll booths.

Posted by
2579 posts

We drove through Switzerland and Austria and had to purchase separate vignettes for each country. There are additional tolls for some long tunnels. In Italy and France, tolls are paid by cash or credit card and are based on the duration of your trip on the road. You get a ticket from a machine as you enter the road section, then can drive for quite a while before arriving at the payment booth.

Another thing to consider is the various environmental control areas within different countries. I know these exist in Germany and France, because we had to adjust our road trip this summer to avoid some cities. You have to have a special permit to drive in some cities, and it can be very complicated to obtain the permit.

https://www.environmentalbadge.com/eco-zones-france/

https://www.environmentalbadge.com/validity-of-environmental-badges/

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