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Hello everyone!

I live in the heart of Europe and I am thinking about getting a van, not to live in, but to travel. I used to have an old Mitsubishi estate wagon for this purpose, but since it broke down completely I'm searching for new possibilities to enjoy the life on the road!

Hello!

I live in the heart of Europe and will will try to give you an overview of the European toll systems. It's a bit complicated, because the systems vary in different countries. You have to buy vignettes for the use of highways in Austria, Switzerland, Slovenia, the czech republic and Bulgaria. You can buy those vignettes at any gas station in the countries or near the borders in neighbor countries (e.g. you can get slovenian vignettes in the south of Austria). In Hungary, Romania und Slovakia you can buy so called e-vignettes, where your license plate is electronically registered (always keep the receipt, for sometimes the scanning does not work properly!). Vignettes are valid for a specific period, usually you can choose betwenn 3 days, 7 or 10 days, or even a month. In some other countries you have to pay road charge, when you enter a highway you get a ticket at a toll booth and you just pay for the amount of kilometres you drove when leaving the highway again. Those countries are France, Greece, Italy, Croatia, Portugal, Spain, Poland and Serbia. Germany is also planning to introduce this system.
Of course you can always avoid using the highways in Europe, you can use the state roads, they are always free to use. It will for sure slow down your speed and guide you through some small villages but if your not in hurry it's cheaper and you'll get to see more of the countries beauty! If you want to stay away from the highways it's important to look up the route quite well (or to use a good road guidance system) because sometimes it's a bit tricky to find the state roads and not to land on the highway unintentionally.

I hope I could give you some unseful advice, if you have any additional questions I will be happy to answer them.