Driving from Denmark to ski in Austria: what the road costs

Out of Denmark: ferry or the land route

One way, car under 6 m. The Scandlines fare does not depend on how many people are in the car.

• On Rødby–Puttgarden every Saturday departure cost the same DKK 359. On Friday the departures between 07:15 and 09:15 and between 15:15 and 18:15 cost DKK 519, all others DKK 359. Leaving half an hour earlier or later can be worth DKK 160.
• Gedser–Rostock is the longer crossing and saves driving on the German side if you are heading for Berlin; on our sample days its cheapest departures cost DKK 130 more than Rødby–Puttgarden and its dearest up to about DKK 580 more.
• The land route through Jutland and Padborg has no toll for cars. From Zealand it adds the Storebælt bridge.
• The Fehmarnbelt tunnel will not help this winter: the 2029 opening no longer holds and no new date has been set.

Compare ferry times and prices →

Partner link to Direct Ferries, which sells both Scandlines routes. We earn a commission if you book; the price is the same.

Vignette and tolls

• Germany charges no motorway toll for cars; its toll applies to lorries over 3.5 t. You will not meet a toll on the way south. Two city tunnels in the north do charge cars, the Warnow tunnel between the east and west sides of Rostock and the Herren tunnel between Lübeck and Travemünde, but neither is on the route from the ferries to Austria.
• Austria’s sticker vignette is being phased out: stickers are valid until 31 January 2027 at the latest, and from 1 February 2027 the vignette is digital only.
• Vignette prices for cars from 1 January 2027: 1 day EUR 9.80, 10 days EUR 13.00, 2 months EUR 32.60, one year EUR 108.90.
• For a week’s skiing the 10-day vignette is the one to buy, and bought online it is valid straight away. The 18-day waiting period applies only to the 2-month and annual vignette bought online by a consumer.
• Buy it from ASFINAG itself at shop.asfinag.at; ASFINAG warns about fake vignette shops.
• Section tolls are paid in addition to the vignette where your route uses them. 2026 prices for cars: A10 Tauern and Katschberg tunnels EUR 15.00, A13 Brenner EUR 12.50, S16 Arlberg tunnel EUR 13.00. The Felbertauern road (not ASFINAG) is EUR 13.50.
• No vignette is needed on the A12 from the German border to Kufstein-Süd or on the A1 from Walserberg to Salzburg Nord.
• Environmental stickers: Austria has none for cars. Germany requires the green Umweltplakette in its low-emission zones, also on a Danish car — it matters if you stop for the night in a city such as Munich. Order it ahead; it takes weeks to arrive.

By electric car

Two things decide how the trip goes in an electric car: what you pay per kWh and how much range the cold takes.

• Range: in the Norwegian motoring club NAF’s winter test in 2026 (−7 to −32 °C) the cars drove on average 38% less than their official range. A German motorway at speed in frost will not be kinder; plan the stops on the winter figure.
• Clever: south of the Danish border, charging through the Clever app at partner networks (IONITY in Germany and Austria, Aral pulse and Allego in Germany) costs DKK 3.99 per kWh for Clever One customers and DKK 5.99 for Clever Go, Box and You. It is billed on top of the subscription.
• Without a subscription: IONITY EUR 0.72 per kWh in Germany and EUR 0.69 in Austria, Aral pulse EUR 0.79 (fast chargers over 50 kW). SMATRICS in Austria charges EUR 0.65 in its Charge Direct Simple tariff, which has no monthly fee but requires registration.
• The German network EnBW has three tariffs at its own stations: 56 cents per kWh with no monthly fee, 46 cents for EUR 5.99 a month and 39 cents for EUR 11.99 a month. At other operators’ chargers its prices are higher.
• Paying by bank card at the charger: under EU rules every new public fast charger of 50 kW or more installed since 13 April 2024 must accept card payment. From 1 January 2027 that also applies to older chargers along the main European road network; elsewhere an older charger may still need an app.

How far apart the fast chargers are, route by route →

Is a month of IONITY worth it?

IONITY’s monthly Power tariff, its “from” prices in Germany (in Austria EUR 0.69 without and EUR 0.39 with it). No minimum term, one month’s notice:

That is less than one full charge of a family car, and the drive to Austria and back takes many. Cancel it afterwards.

Winter tyres and snow chains

• Germany: winter tyres are required in winter conditions, at any time of year, and only tyres with the Alpine symbol (mountain and snowflake) count.
• Austria: from 1 November to 15 April the car must have winter tyres on all wheels in winter conditions, with at least 4 mm of tread.
• Where the round blue snow-chain sign applies in Austria, chains must be fitted on at least two driven wheels.
• Textile “snow socks”: we found no statement from an Austrian authority that they satisfy the blue sign. The regulation names the Austrian chain standards ÖNORM V 5117 and V 5119 and equivalent products from other EU countries, and does not mention textile aids. The Austrian motoring club ÖAMTC, which is not an authority, has said both that such aids are accepted only with the ÖNORM V 5117 marking and, in 2021, that textile aids are not allowed where the sign applies. If your road may be signed, take real chains.

Winter tyre rules for every country, with sources →