🇦🇹Austria

The 90 in 180 rule

Austria is a full Schengen member, so your stay is counted across the whole Schengen area rather than per country.

• 90 days in any rolling 180 days. Days spent in Germany, Italy, Croatia or any other Schengen state count against the same allowance.
• It is a rolling window, not a calendar one. On any given day, look back 180 days and add up the days you were inside the area.
• The European Commission runs a free calculator. Use it before you book if you have been in and out of Europe this year.
• Overstaying is recorded automatically now, which is the practical change described below.

There is no stamp in your passport any more

The Entry/Exit System became fully operational on 10 April 2026, and this is the single biggest change to arriving in Austria in years.

• Manual passport stamping has ended for non-EU travellers at Schengen external borders.
• You give a facial image and fingerprints the first time you cross after the system went live. Children under 12 give no fingerprints.
• Your first EES registration takes a few minutes longer, so allow extra time on a first arrival. Later crossings reuse the record and are quick.
• Your days are now counted by a database, not by an officer reading ink. A miscounted overstay is far more likely to be noticed.
• Keep your own record of entry and exit dates. With no stamps, that email confirmation or boarding pass is your only evidence if a count is ever disputed.

ETIAS is still not running

Ignore any site offering to sell you an ETIAS. As of August 2026 the authorisation does not exist yet.

• The official EU site states plainly that ETIAS is not in operation and that no applications are being collected.
• The Q4 2026 launch date was withdrawn in July 2026. Guidance published in late 2025, which is still all over the web, said ETIAS would start this year. It will not.
• A new date will be announced several months in advance. Nothing you do now is required.
• It will cost EUR 20 when it arrives, for visa-free visitors aged 18 to 70.
• Anyone charging you for one today is running a scam.

Where your nationality lands

• The Schengen visa fee rose to EUR 90 on 11 June 2026, up from EUR 80, with EUR 45 for children aged 6 to 11. Under 6 is free.
• Apply at the consulate of your main destination, or of your first entry point if you are splitting time evenly.
• Russian applicants in Russia now get single-entry visas as a rule. The Commission tightened this on 7 November 2025, so a second trip means a second application.
• Travel medical insurance of at least EUR 30,000 is a visa condition, and you may be asked for it at the border too.

At the border

• Passport valid for at least 3 months beyond your departure and issued within the last 10 years. Both halves of that get checked.
• Have your first night's address ready. Officers ask, and "somewhere in Vienna" is not an answer.
• Proof of onward travel and funds can be requested, though for most arrivals it is not.
• Austria reintroduced checks on some internal borders, notably with Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia. Carry your passport even on a bus from Budapest.

• Between EU countries there is no duty-free limit. Goods bought tax-paid in another member state travel with you; customs may only ask what a very large quantity is for, against indicative figures of 800 cigarettes and 10 litres of spirits.
• Arriving from outside the EU the allowance is one set of numbers: 200 cigarettes, 1 litre of spirits over 22 % (or 2 litres of fortified or sparkling wine), 4 litres of still wine and 16 litres of beer.
• Other goods are capped by value - EUR 430 arriving by air or sea, EUR 300 by land - and the allowance cannot be pooled between travellers for a single item.
• Cash of EUR 10,000 or more must be declared, counting notes, coins, cheques and prepaid cards together. The money is seized for not declaring it, not for carrying it.
• Switzerland and Liechtenstein are outside the EU customs area, as are the Balkan countries on the southern routes - the allowance applies on the way back in from all of them.

Cover before treatment

• EU, EEA and Swiss visitors: bring your EHIC. UK visitors use the GHIC. It gives you medically necessary state treatment on the same terms as an Austrian.
• The EHIC is not travel insurance. It does not cover repatriation, private clinics or mountain rescue.
• Everyone else needs travel insurance, and Schengen visa applicants must hold at least EUR 30,000 of medical cover as a condition of the visa.
• Buy the winter sports or hiking add-on if you are going near a mountain. The standard policy usually excludes both.

Seeing a doctor

• Look for "Kassenarzt" or "Alle Kassen" on the door. Those doctors are contracted to the state fund and treat EHIC holders without charging you.
• A private doctor ("Wahlarzt") will bill you and you claim back a portion afterwards, which is slower and rarely worth it.
• The prescription charge is EUR 7.55 per item, paid at the pharmacy. It was frozen at that level for 2026.
• Hospital emergency departments treat anyone, and the standard is high.
• 1450 is the national health advice line. A nurse tells you whether you need a doctor, an ambulance, or a night's sleep. It is the right first call when you are not sure.

Pharmacies

• "Apotheke" with a red A. Pharmacists are well trained and many things are behind the counter that you would grab off a shelf at home.
• They close on Sundays and public holidays, and at lunchtime in small towns.
• A rota covers nights and Sundays. Every closed pharmacy has the address of the nearest open one on the door, and apotheker.or.at lists the rota.
• Bring your own regular medication with the prescription, since brand names differ.

Specific risks

• Tick-borne encephalitis is a real risk in Austria, more so than in most of western Europe. Ticks are active in forest and grassland from spring to autumn.
• A vaccine exists and Austrians widely take it. If you are hiking or camping for weeks, ask about it before you travel; a single trip to Vienna does not need it.
• Check yourself for ticks after walking in long grass and remove them promptly with a proper tool.
• Alpine sun burns fast at altitude even in cold weather.
• Tap water is safe and outstanding everywhere, including from public fountains in Vienna.

The accommodation tax went up this summer

• Vienna's Ortstaxe rose from 3.2 percent to 5 percent on 1 July 2026.
• It rises again to 8 percent on 1 July 2027, which is already confirmed rather than proposed.
• It is charged on the room price excluding VAT and breakfast, so it is a little less than 5 percent of what you actually paid.
• Every kind of accommodation charges it, including campsites and private apartments.
• Booking sites often exclude it, so a room quoted at EUR 140 can settle at closer to EUR 146 at the desk.
• Other provinces charge a flat nightly Kurtaxe instead, typically EUR 1 to EUR 3.50 a person a night, and ski resorts are at the top of that range.

Registration

• Your hotel registers you with the authorities. You hand over your passport at check-in, they fill in the Meldezettel, and that is the end of your involvement.
• Short-term rental hosts must do the same. A host who does not ask for your passport details is probably operating outside the rules, which is your problem if there is a complaint.
• Vienna restricts short-term letting in residential buildings. Legitimate apartments are registered; unregistered ones get shut down mid-booking.

Practical notes

• Check-in is usually from 15:00 and check-out by 11:00, and Austrian hotels are stricter about this than Mediterranean ones.
• Reception is not always staffed overnight in smaller pensions. Say if you are arriving late or you will find a locked door.
• A Doppelzimmer is often two single duvets on one bed. This is normal across the German-speaking world.
• Book Salzburg festival weeks, Vienna's Christmas market season and any ski week months out. Prices double and availability disappears.
• Mountain huts are booked directly and need reserving, and many take cash only when you settle up.

Three networks, all good

• A1, Magenta and Drei are the operators. A1 has the widest rural and alpine coverage, which is the only reason to prefer one over another.
• A tourist prepaid SIM costs around EUR 10, typically with 30 GB of data and 30 days of validity.
• A1 tourist packages run roughly EUR 15 to EUR 35 for 30 GB to 50 GB.
• EU roaming is included. A package usually bundles 10 GB or so for use in the rest of the EU, which matters if Austria is one stop on a longer trip.

You must register it

• Prepaid SIMs require identification. Bring your passport to the counter, or an EU national ID card.
• This takes two minutes and is not optional. An unregistered SIM cannot be sold to you.
• eSIM avoids the whole errand. All three networks support it, and so does Saily, so you can land already connected.

Where to buy

• Operator shops in city centres and at Vienna Airport.
• Any Trafik, the small tobacconist and newsagent kiosks that are on most Austrian streets, sells prepaid SIMs and top-ups.
• Supermarket checkouts, MediaMarkt and Hartlauer also sell them.
• Avoid the airport if you are only passing through arrivals, since a Trafik in town costs the same and has better opening hours than you expect.

Coverage

• 5G in the cities and most valleys. Vienna, Salzburg, Innsbruck and Graz are fully covered.
• Mountains are the exception. Coverage in the high Alps drops off sharply and there are gaps on hiking routes, which matters when the emergency number you may need is a mountain rescue one.
• Download offline maps before you go up. This is genuine advice in Austria, not boilerplate.
• Free wifi is widespread in cafes, on ÖBB long-distance trains and across much of the Vienna underground.

Sockets in Austria are Type C and F at 230 V, 50 Hz - Schuko, the same standard as Germany and most of continental Europe.

• The plug goes in either way round and the earth is a pair of clips on the rim of the recess.
• A Europlug fits everywhere. Only an appliance with a metal case really needs the earth.
• British, American and Australian plugs need an adapter; nothing from those standards fits a Schuko socket.
• 230 V, so only American 120 V-only equipment needs a converter.
• Cross the border and this stops being true. Switzerland and Liechtenstein, an hour from Vorarlberg, use the hexagonal Swiss socket, and a Schuko plug does not fit one. Italy needs the Italian gauge. Germany, Slovakia and Hungary are the same as here.

Sunday is closed

This is the thing to internalise. Austria takes Sunday closing seriously in a way that surprises visitors from almost anywhere else.

• Supermarkets, clothes shops, electronics stores and shopping centres are all shut on Sundays and on public holidays.
• Buy Saturday's groceries on Saturday. Shops close at 18:00 on Saturday in most places.
• Railway station supermarkets are the exception. Vienna Hauptbahnhof, Westbahnhof and Praterstern have shops open every day, and they are your Sunday fallback.
• Petrol stations and Trafiks sell basics at a markup.
• Restaurants, cafes, museums and public transport all run normally on Sundays. It is retail that stops.
• Many restaurants take a Ruhetag, a fixed closing day, often Sunday or Monday. Check before you walk across town.

Language and manners

• German, and English is widely spoken in cities, hotels and by anyone under 40.
• "Grüß Gott" is the standard greeting, not "Guten Tag", and it is used everywhere outside Vienna.
• Greet the room when you enter a small shop or a waiting room. Not doing so reads as rude.
• Titles matter more than you would think in formal settings, and "Herr Doktor" is not a joke.
• Austrians are direct but formal. Use "Sie" with anyone you do not know.

Eating and drinking

• You seat yourself in a Viennese cafe and stay as long as you like on one coffee.
• Order coffee by name. A "Melange" is the everyday milky one, a "Kleiner Brauner" is an espresso with a little cream, and asking for "a coffee" gets you a raised eyebrow.
• Lunch is early, roughly 12:00 to 14:00, and kitchens in smaller towns close between lunch and dinner.
• Tap water with coffee is a Vienna tradition but not a right elsewhere.
• Smoking has been banned indoors in bars and restaurants since November 2019. Terraces are fair game.

Practicalities

• Plugs are type C and F, 230 V, the standard continental European two round pins.
• Recycling is taken seriously and bins are separated. Bottle deposit ("Pfand") of EUR 0.25 applies to single-use plastic bottles and cans since 2025, refunded at supermarket machines.
• Public toilets often cost EUR 0.50 to EUR 1. Carry coins.
• Jaywalking is fined and Austrians wait for the green man even on an empty street at midnight.
• Public holidays are numerous and Catholic. 1 and 6 January, Easter Monday, 1 May, Ascension, Whit Monday, Corpus Christi, 15 August, 26 October, 1 November, 8, 25 and 26 December. Everything closes.
• Hallstatt has no entry fee or visitor cap, despite the rumours. Coach arrivals are slot-controlled and groups over 10 must register in advance. Come early or late in the day and it is a different village.

Cash matters more than you expect

Austria is a rich western European country that still runs partly on cash, and travellers from card-only countries get caught out.

• Small restaurants, bakeries, market stalls and mountain huts are frequently cash only. A Gasthaus in a village may genuinely not take a card.
• Carry EUR 50 to EUR 100 in notes as a working float. Break large notes at a supermarket.
• Contactless is universal in supermarkets, chains and city restaurants, and Vienna is far more card friendly than the countryside.
• A receipt is legally required for every sale. If you are handed one unprompted, that is the law, not a formality.

ATMs

• Use a machine attached to a bank. Erste, Bank Austria, Raiffeisen and BAWAG Bankomat machines charge no operator fee to foreign cards.
• Avoid Euronet. The standalone yellow-and-blue machines in tourist streets charge a surcharge per withdrawal and push a bad exchange rate at you.
• Always decline conversion into your own currency. When the screen offers to charge you in dollars or pounds, choose euros. That prompt is dynamic currency conversion and it costs several percent.
• Withdraw larger amounts less often if your own bank charges per transaction.

Tipping

• Round up, roughly 5 to 10 percent in a restaurant. On a EUR 46 bill you say "fifty" as you hand over the money.
• Say the total you want to pay, do not leave coins on the table. Tell the waiter the figure including the tip when you pay; leaving money behind on the table is not the local habit.
• Cafes and bars: round to the next euro or two.
• Taxis: round up. Hotel housekeeping: a euro or two a night if you wish.
• Service is never automatically added in Austria, so a "service charge" line on a tourist-district bill is worth querying.

Prices to calibrate against

• A coffee in a proper Viennese cafe: EUR 4 to EUR 6. You are renting the chair as much as buying the coffee, and nobody will hurry you.
• A half litre of beer: EUR 4.50 to EUR 6.
• A main course in a Gasthaus: EUR 14 to EUR 22.
• A museum ticket: EUR 16 to EUR 21 for the big Vienna institutions.
• Tap water is excellent and comes from alpine springs, but a glass of it alongside coffee is a Viennese tradition rather than a right, and restaurants often charge for a bottle.

Vienna fares changed on 1 January 2026

The first rise since 2012, and it was a big one.

• Buy digital and the same ticket is cheaper, by about 5 per cent on the short ones and by EUR 3.70 on the week. The paper price is what the machine on the platform charges.

• The 48 and 72 hour tickets were withdrawn in the same change, so the choice is now a single, a day, or a week.

• One ticket covers underground, tram, bus and city S-Bahn, and a single is valid for one continuous journey in one direction with changes.

• The 24 hour ticket pays for itself after four rides. The 7 day one runs Monday to Monday, not a rolling week, which catches people out.

• Buy in the WienMobil app, at machines in every station, or at a Trafik.

There are no barriers, and that is the trap

• Nothing physically stops you boarding without a ticket. Vienna runs on trust plus plain-clothes inspectors.
• The fine went up with the fares: EUR 135 on the spot, or EUR 145 if you do not pay there and then. It was 105 and 115 until early 2026. Being a confused tourist is not a defence, and inspectors have heard it.
• Paper tickets must be validated in the blue box at the platform entrance or on board before you travel. App tickets do not.
• A validated ticket that you forgot to validate is still a fine. Stamp it before you go down the escalator.

Between cities

• ÖBB runs the network and it is excellent. Vienna to Salzburg is under 2.5 hours, Vienna to Innsbruck about 4.5.
• Sparschiene advance fares start around EUR 10 to EUR 20 for journeys that cost EUR 50 or more on the day. Book in the ÖBB app as soon as your dates are fixed.
• Westbahn is a private competitor on the Vienna to Salzburg line, often cheaper, and sells tickets on board without a penalty.
• Flixbus covers the same corridors for less money and more time.
• 12Go sells Austrian trains and buses in one place, which helps if you are stitching Austria into a wider European route rather than booking each operator separately.
• Nightjet sleepers run from Vienna to Hamburg, Brussels, Paris and Rome, and are booked well in advance.

Driving

• A motorway vignette is compulsory on the A and S roads, and cameras enforce it. A 10 day vignette costs around EUR 12.
• 2026 is the last year of the sticker. From 2027 only the digital vignette exists. If you buy digital, do it at least 18 days ahead or activate it as an immediate-start purchase.
• Several alpine tunnels and passes charge separate tolls on top of the vignette, including the Brenner and the Grossglockner road.
• Winter tyres are legally required from 1 November to 15 April in wintry conditions, and hire cars in Austria come with them.

Scooters and city zones

• From 1 May 2026 e-scooters count as vehicles and must have working brakes, a bell and reflectors front, rear and sides. Rental fleets comply; a scooter borrowed from a friend may not.
• Traffic calming zones came into force in about 25 towns in May 2026, including Vienna, Salzburg, Linz and Graz. If you are driving, check before entering a historic centre.

A vignette before the first motorway, winter tyres between November and April, and separate tolls for the big alpine tunnels.

• Buy the vignette before you drive onto a motorway, not after. It is sold for ten days, two months or a year at petrol stations either side of the border and online; the digital one takes 18 days to activate if bought online, so buy at the counter if you are leaving tomorrow.
• The tunnels are extra. The Brenner, Tauern, Katschberg, Arlberg and Karawanken all charge their own toll on top of the vignette.
• Winter tyres are compulsory in wintry conditions from 1 November to 15 April. The rule is about the conditions, not the date - snow, slush or ice on the road, and the tyres must be fitted.
• The alcohol limit is 0.5 g/l, and 0.1 g/l for drivers who have held a licence less than two years.
• Motorway speed is 130 km/h, with 100 km/h night limits on some stretches around Salzburg and in Tyrol, signed as you go.

The baseline

Austria is genuinely safe. Violent crime against visitors is rare, walking at night in Vienna or Salzburg is unremarkable, and the police are approachable and mostly speak English.

Pickpockets in Vienna

This is the real crime risk, and it is concentrated.

• Vienna recorded 5,908 pickpocket and trick thefts in 2024, down from 6,416 the year before - so the trend is the right way, and the number is still five figures over two years. The 1st district alone logged 1,290, up from 1,160.
• Named hotspots are Mariahilfer Strasse, Stephansplatz and the Naschmarkt.
• The U1 between Stephansplatz and Reumannplatz is the most worked line.
• They operate in twos and threes. One creates a crowd surge or a distraction at the doors as they close, another lifts the wallet.
• The clipboard petition is the classic setup. Someone asks you to sign something for a charity while an accomplice works your bag from behind. Do not stop, do not read it.
• Front pockets and a zipped bag worn in front solve almost all of this.

The Mozart ticket sellers

Costumed "Mozarts" in red coats and powdered wigs work Stephansplatz, the Graben and the pavement outside the Staatsoper.

• What they sell is rarely what the costume implies. The concerts are typically student ensembles in rented halls, not palace performances.
• Buy from the venue. The Musikverein, Konzerthaus and Staatsoper all sell directly, online and at the box office.
• Real cheap tickets exist and are much better value. Musikverein standing room is EUR 6 to EUR 10 at the door about 80 minutes before the concert, and Staatsoper standing places start around EUR 15.
• No legitimate orchestra sells its seats through a man in a wig on the street.

Taxis and money

• Airport drivers who approach you in the terminal will quote EUR 50 to EUR 70 for a EUR 33 to EUR 39 trip. Use the rank or an app.
• Refuse dynamic currency conversion at every card terminal and ATM.
• Fake charity collectors work the tourist streets in summer.

The alpine risk is the serious one

More visitors get into trouble on Austrian mountains than in Austrian cities, by a wide margin.

• Weather changes fast and completely. A warm valley morning means nothing about conditions at 2,000 m.
• Stay on marked trails. A group of 36 hikers including small children had to be rescued in 2026 after straying off a marked route, and they were billed for it.
• Check avalanche bulletins in winter and do not ski off-piste without local knowledge and equipment.
• Tell someone your route. Mobile coverage in the high mountains is patchy.
• Rescue is not free, and this is covered in the emergency section. Read it before you walk uphill.

The numbers

• 112 reaches an operator who speaks English and will route you. If you remember one number, remember this one.
• 140 is the one people do not know. For anything on a mountain, in a gorge or off a trail, call 140 rather than 144.
• The Alpine distress signal is six signals a minute, whistle or torch, repeated after a minute's pause.
• The SOS-EU-ALP app sends your exact position to the control centre in Tyrol, Bavaria and South Tyrol, and is worth installing before you hike.

Mountain rescue will cost you

This is the most expensive surprise in Austria, and it hits ordinary hikers, not just climbers.

• Statutory health insurance does not pay for air rescue after a leisure accident. Neither does the EHIC.
• A helicopter lift runs EUR 3,500 to EUR 5,000. The Alpenverein puts the average an injured person actually paid at EUR 4,984 for a typical 40-minute flight - a flying minute costs well over EUR 100 before anyone treats you.
• Being carried out on foot is the cheap outcome, at EUR 200 to EUR 500.
• A complex rescue, with search time or technical terrain, reaches EUR 5,000 to EUR 10,000 or more.
• You can be billed for being ill-equipped. Austrian rescuers have publicly charged groups who set out for the mountains in the wrong gear.
• Cover costs almost nothing by comparison. An Alpine club membership or a mountain rescue add-on to your travel policy is EUR 30 to EUR 80 a year and covers the callout.
• Buy it before you go up, not after the weather turns.

If something goes wrong

• Theft: report it at a police station and get the written report. Insurers will not pay without it.
• Lost passport: contact your embassy in Vienna. Most countries have one, and an emergency travel document takes a day or two.
• Card lost or stolen: freeze it in your banking app first, then call your bank.
• Road accident with injury: you must call the police, 133 or 112, and stay at the scene.
• The European emergency number works without a SIM and from a locked phone.