toll roads in europe

"are the prices outrageous?". Not at all. Unlike the price of gasoline, I recall the rates for toll roads to be similar to the US... note, this does not include "congestion charges" for entering large cities with an automobile.

Here's a complete list of countries that levy a charge for highway driving: Austria, Bulgaria, Belarus, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Spain, France, Greece, Croatia, Italy, Norway, the Netherlands (only on the main western corridor of large cities), Portugal, Poland, and Slovenia. In at least two of these cases (Austria and Switzerland), you pay a one-time nominal fee for a sticker pass to drive on the highways.

I don't remember/know if you can pay with anything other than cash.

Put your route(s) into www.viamichelin.com and it will estimate the tolls for you.

You asked about outrageous . What's getting to be outrageous is the price of gas in Europe:

now approaching $7 per gallon

in some countries

for non-diesel

and going up.

Checking viamichelin is a good suggestion. I can tell you that today we did a 140 km drive in France and paid 10.20 euros for the toll. To me, that's a lot; but the alternative of slowing down every few minutes for a town or round-about and taking twice as long is just not on. As to using cc's, be careful! Yes, cc's are accepted; but your American ones probably won't work. They don't have the anti-fraud chip now incorporated all European ones. If you want to try, have cash on hand as a backup. (In restaurants and retail venues the workers can use the old type of machine to swipe cards.)

We just returned from a car trip in Europe. Most of the more expensive tolls accepted credit cards. Check to see if you can get a pass that will last you the length of the trip. Gas is expensive but a tank will take a lot longer to empty. One thing to be cautious of: While in Barcelona one of our tires was stabbed. We found out later that it can be a con where the cons try to "help" you and end up stealing your luggage. We avoided that but one tire replacement cost us over $600. Still worth it. We loved the freedom of going wherever we wanted and had lots of fun in "off the beaten path" locations.

The only two contries that I've encountered outragous toll prices are switzerland and slovenia. They both charge a flat rate that is between 40-50 euro. Austria charges a flat rate of 7 or 8 euro. Italy is pay based on distance...everywhere else i've been is free.