We are no strangers to travelling. Although we’re usually going for more exotic destinations such as Spitsbergen, Mongolia or Laos. But there’s not always enough time nor money to travel across the world. That’s when we just get in the car and drive. First one of those Eurotrips that we did together, as bloggers, was back in December. Then we travelled from Poland to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. We really enjoyed the whole experience so we thought it was a good idea to drive around Europe again. This time we only had 6 days so we went on a trip across Czech Republic, Austria and Hungary. That was just enough time to visit 3 different cities. And eat a lot.
I drive a car a lot, but mostly around Warsaw, doing deliveries for my catering company Magic Cake & Magic Bite (excuse the shameless promo;)). This was my first trip abroad where I was the one driving. I was both nervous and excitied. For the deliveries I use a bigger car, but seeing as it was just two of us going on this trip we decided with the oldie but a goodie – a Mini Cooper that I had for quite some years now. It turned out it was perfect for the two of us – there was enough space for all the crap we packed, the fuel consumption was not high and parking in the European cities was way easier.
Vignettes/road taxes
Since it was my first longer trip and the first one I was driving abroad, it was also my first time buying vignettes. What yoy need to know is that in every one of the three countries we visited the rules concerning road taxes are different. And so are the prices. In Czech republic the cheapest vignette you can get costs around 20 euro and it’s valid for 10 days. You need to fill it out, meaning write down your registration number in two places. Than you stick the bigger part of it to your windshield. In the bottom right corner to be exact (looking from the perspective of a driver). The vignette that you need in Hungary is not a sticker. It’s electronic so you just need to have a proof of purchase with you in case police want to check it. It costs aroun 20 euro as well and is also valid for 10 days. On the way it turned out we accidentally stumbled upon Slovakia 😉 There’s another, longer way. You can take another road and avoid Slovakia completely, but we decided to save time instead of money on this partucular trip. If you go through Slovakia you’ll need another vignette. It’s electronic as well and costs 10 euro. The last vignette we needed was the one for Austria. It costs around 15 euro. It’s a sticker and you need to stick it in the top center of your windshield, behind the rearview mirror.
Parking a car in the city
The most difficut part of travelling by car is always finding a parking spot in the city center. A cheap one, to be exact. Especially since on this trip our hostels where always in the very center of the city. We did a little research, asked around in the hostels or were just lucky. It was different for every city so here are our tips for finding the cheapest parking spot possible.
Brno
Brno was definitely the easiest one when it came to parking. It was also the only one where we were able to leave our car overnight completely for free. We stayed to nights in Mitte Hostel which is located in the Old Town where traffic is limited, therefore it’s impossible to park directly in front of the hostel. However the girl at reception was very helpful and told us that the best place to leave our car is Pellicova street. From there it’s a few minute-long walk to the hostel. The street is long so it all depends on where you manage to find a parking spot. There’s quite a few of them on this street. Just be careful and read the signs. Some of the spots are reserved on certain days between certain hours (for example next to the school).
Pellicova is also a great street for skateboarding 😉
Budapest
When it comes to finding a parking spot, it was way more complicated in Budapest. We stayed in Adagio 2.0 hostel located on Andrassy street, which is one of the biggest streets in the city center. We didn’t have much luck there. First of all, half of the street was closed off to the the fact there was a film crew taking up a lot of space with their trailers. They were filming something on the street for several days. The other problem was on the neighboring street. The Hungarians celebrate the 1st of May as well (it’s Labour Day) so they had closed off the entire street for some Redbull Race. Bummer. Hopefully we managed to find a spot on one of the smaller streets in the Jewish District. From there we had about 600 meters to the hostel. We were able to leave the car there for the night, but in the morning we had to get up and pay at the parking meter. Then it turned out that there are different rules when it comes to parking in Budapest in different zones and districts. In the city center you are not allowed to park for more than 3 hours. Of course you can come back every three hours and pay again but it’s a) expensive and b) time consuming to keep coming back in the same spot, especially when you don’t have much time for sightseeing.
What’s the answer to this problem? We found out that the best option is to use one of the public underground car parks. There’s tons of them in the city center. We found one by accident on Hollo street in the Jewish District, but there was one on almost every second street. You can pay for the parking spot hourly or daily. The other option is cheaper. What’s important is to pay for the parking online, in advance. This way you can save a few euro. The prices online are about 5 euro lower (per day) than we paid on the spot.
Vienna
Vienna was the only city where we didn’t stay in the very center in the city. We chose Ruthensteiner hostel which is still close to all the attractions, but it’s located in a more quiet, resident area. Parking here is tricky, but well organized by the hostel staff. You just need to ask at the reception. You can’t leave your car there just like that, as it’s all reserved for the residents who pay monthly fee for parking in the area. However the hostel staff have their own permit which you can lend for 5 euro a day. You’ll need 50 euro for the deposit as well which you’ll get back when you return the permit. Except for the permit you’ll receive a card for every day you want to leave your car on the street, with your registration number written on it. You have to leave all of that in a visible spot in the car so that the police can see it. The lady at the reception warned us to pay attention to the road signs, as many of the parking spots are reserved or you simply cannot use them. However we didn’t have any trouble find a free spot in a legal place right next to the hostel.
How much does a car trip cost?
Of course the obvious answer to this question is: it depends. But I hate when everyone writes that, so here’s how much we spent. Over the course of 6 days we travelled for almost 2 thousand kilometers. Most of them on the highway, which is missing only in Poland (shame!). You can do it without going on the main roads, then of course it’s cheaper. It all depends on how much time you have. We did ride in some weird little roads in Czech Republic when we went to a cute windmill in the middle of nowhere. We wanted to take some drone shots of the car for this blog post. Unfortunatelly our Google Maps got lost on the way back and we wasted a couple hours on crappy scary roads in the middle of the forest, hoping no animals decide to cross our path.
In conclusion our Mini Cooper did well. He did not use a lot of fuel, and we didn’t have to refuel too much. The average fuel consumption was 5l/100km. And here’s the deal: we’re no geniuses when it comes to maths. When we started our trip we had about 3/4 of a tank. And then from what Maria was able to calculate from receipts we only spent a little over 100 euro (I guess per person) on fuel on our way. If that’s the case, than we should do the ’round the world’ trip next.
We are definitely fans of such Eurotrips by car. It’s convinient, gives you lots of freedom and opportunities to fly a drone in the middle of nowhere 😉 We’re already planning a next trip. If you know of any good routes let us know in the comments! Be sure to check out our alternative city guides form all of the cities we visited on this trip. They’ll be posted on the blog in the coming weeks.
