Greetings! We will be in Austria the first week of December for some local events in the Salzkammergut area. After that, we have an additional week or two. We had considered Slovenia and Budapest. We would rent a car in Munich where we will fly into for the week in Austria, but not sure about the logistics of car rental or what is needed (Visa's?) in Slovenia or Hungary. The other consideration was to head to Switzerland or France. What would you do?? We love Christmas markets as well. PS: We will have a 5 year old as well as a pregnant woman...not sure if that would make a difference in your suggestions. Thanks in advance!! -J
Posted by
Danville, VT
12040 posts
You will not need any special visa for Hungary or Slovenia, as both are members of the Schengen Zone. However, if you rent the car in Germany, you will need to purchase a separate vignette sticker each for Austria, Hungary, Switzerland and Slovenia. You buy the sticker at the borders.
Posted by
Sioux Falls, SD, USA
3100 posts
We bought the vignettes at gas stations soon after entering each country. They were not expensive, but I understand that the fine for not getting them is high. We just went to Vienna-Budapest-Plitvice Lakes-Split-Ljubljana-Salzburg-Vienna. The trip from Vienna to Ljubljana does involve some driving in mountainous areas on the superhighway. There might be weather issues. We really enjoyed Ljubljana. We only stayed one night, which was a mistake. Budapest was really great. Vienna was fun as well. However, if you are in Austria for a week, I don't know if you want to spend a lot of time driving. Why not just do stuff in Austria, which is a huge country, and where there is lots to do. We stayed in the country near Salzburg, but never got to the town. There is so much there that I would just do stuff in Austria, and drive a little less.