Two Danish Bridges Cost More Than Every French Toll on a 4,555 km Drive
What driving across Europe costs in tolls, vignettes, bridges and fuel
A data-driven comparison of European driving costs reveals that the Øresund and Great Belt bridges together charge €225, while all French motorway tolls on a Helsinki-to-Costa-del-Sol route total just €121. France is the priciest per kilometre at about €11 per 100 km, and filling a 60-litre tank in Denmark costs €65 more than in Poland.
A 60-litre fill of petrol costs €65 more in Denmark than in Poland — more than the Brenner, Austria's 10-day vignette and the Great Belt bridge together (€57).
- danelski
I take issue with the toll methodology. It counts tolled roads, but that doesn't give you any idea how much your trip would cost. In Poland, only slightly over 20% of A highways are tolled, with over 90% of highways being free if you count in S express motorways, which are usually highway-grade if built in recent years. This map basically approximates what it would cost to drive only those scattered licensed stretches. In practice, you may tour the country for free, with exceptions like Berlin–Warsaw, where it only makes sense to pay.
Then you have Austria, where, apart from the vignette, you also have extra-paid mountain passes, but that is not shown on the map.
- Svip
I recognise the site is about driving costs, ignoring what a car costs to own; but depending on what plates stick to that car, it can make a significant difference. Denmark already tops the list in petrol prices, but unmentioned (largely because it's irrelevant) is that cars have a 150% registration fee attached to them, before the annual ownership fees.
I have a 1998 Citroën Xantia Activa V6, it costs ~1450 EUR a year to keep it on plates. Yes, its due to its fuel economy, but since I only drive it occasionally, it's hardly doing damage to the environment. I also have a 2011 Citroën C1, which only costs ~95 EUR a year. Of course, I was truly unhappy about these costs, I would take the Xantia off plates; however, it's more an observation: due to the high fees for merely owning a vehicle, a lot of car owners are encouraged to drive. And that's just the annual fees, buying a new car is such an investment, that it would feel a mistake to not drive it (I assume, I have never bought a new car).
I'm speculating of course, but it seems to me that these fees on car ownership encourages more driving. I'd love to have data from countries with lower (or no) fees, and how much people are driving per car. There is a reason Danish politicians about talking about replacing it with road pricing, or at least a mix.
- drfuchs
Us Americans (pun intended) have no idea what “vignette” means in this context. And our dictionaries don’t, either.
- comrade1234
Funny thing (sort of) about Switzerland (not included in this)... it costs 40chf (about $50) per year to use the highways and some tunnels. Even if you're just passing through you have to pay it to drive on the highways. The joke is that everyone in Europe just pays the fee except for the Dutch, which is why you see so many yellow license plates trying to drive on rural roads, through mountain passes...
They tried to change the system maybe ten years ago. They needed funds to build a tunnel under lake Geneva. So they wanted to raise the fee to 100chf but have a much cheaper option (I can't remember how much) for people just passing through. But the referendum didn't pass so we're still at 40chf and I assume the tunnel won't be built.
- mitul_45
The whole system with vignettes is really confusing. This summer, we were travelling to Bavaria from the Netherlands and didn't plan to visit Austria at all.
But due to road construction work in Germany, we ended up driving on Austrian roads for a few kilometres. Two months later, we got a fine for driving in Austria without a vignette, and now we have to pay €200 for a sticker that costs €13 for 10 days!
Worst part? The original fine letter never got delivered, so now our case is being passed on to the Austrian authorities. Based on what I've read online, people have had to pay anywhere between €300 and €3,000 for this :/