Hello, I'm going to be driving from Vienna to Prague late December and I was wondering if anyone has some personal experience and can tell me what the road conditions and routes are like. I'm primarily concerned with snow and ice, I know the drive time is roughly 4-5 hours. Any help or info would be greatly appreciated, thanks!!
Posted by
Danville, VT
12040 posts
I can't comment on this route specifically, but my experience elsewhere in Europe, in areas that usually receive significant snow accumulations, has been that the workcrews very efficiently clear the roads. Once the snowstorm stops, the roads are usually clear within 24 hours, often much less time. So unless you find yourself driving in the middle of a snowstorm, you should be fine. Ice storms are a different story, The Austrian road system is as well-maintained as any other in Western Europe (which is usually better than the US). Czech roads, however, can be hit or miss.
Posted by
Sunnyvale, CA, USA
290 posts
I have my fair share of winter driving in Czech Rep over the years and have done that route in December. The drive time in the very best conditions is 4 hours if you do not stop for any reason, but winter is a whole other experience. Expect the same type of road conditions you would experience in Canada at that time of the year. If there's an accident (and there always seems to be at least one) you can tack on 1 - 3 hours to the drive time. My advice is if you are not used to driving in snow/ice in the USA, then don't try it there. You are much better off taking the train or bus from Vienna to Prague. In fact, having a car for either city is a waste of money (public transport is great in both cities), a real pain in the rear driving into these cities' traffic & to find "safe" parking. If you really feel the need for the car, then make sure to drive it during daylight hours. Even then you have to be careful of black ice in shaded areas up in the Czech mountain highway. Last year there was a 120+ car pile up on that road due to snow/ice conditions that took all of Czech Republic's emergency vehicles to assist and people were stuck for over 6 hrs waiting for the road to clear. Thankfully didn't happen when I was driving it, as I was already at my inlaws at that time. Be sure to read up on all the traffic laws before going on the trip. Also you must have your headlights on at all times while driving in Czech Rep. And by the way, there was quite a bit of construction on the Austrian side of that route when I did it last October, which will not be finished until spring.
Posted by
dallas, tx, usa
1358 posts
I had similar experience driving roads in central Europe. They keep the roads open. Only inconvenience is that you will travel at a lower speed. There is no way to predict weather for the time you are there.