We move with the breeze on the mountains and the dola of Austria in the summer

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There are several ways to get from the airport to Vienna: taxi, bus and train. We chose the train – about the reasons a little later.

Поезд CAT (City Airport Train)

At the station you can get following the signs in the airport building – green signs are difficult to miss. Having bought a ticket in the machine, we went to the platform listed on the information board. The train runs between the city and the airport without additional stops, and the journey time is only 16 minutes.

Tickets are sure to check the vintage controller in the branded uniform and with a bunch of bags on the belt.

Each car has free high-speed WI-FI and USB ports.

All the necessary information can be found on their website.

Since we planned to travel the whole country from east to west, the train or bus was no longer suitable for us. Hiring a car, of course, was the most successful option.

Car hire

Booking a car for rent online

For booking a car on vacation, we have long used the aggregator https://travel.tinkoff.ru/rentalcars/ (also use their service for finding accommodation and airfare from Russia), which cooperates with the https://www.rentalcars.com. In addition to a wide selection of cars for different needs and budgets, it is convenient to choose the right office on the map.

The car was pre-booked online for a fence at one of Sixt’s offices. It is located in the lobby of the Hilton Hotel just a minute’s walk from CAT station – one of the reasons for choosing this train. The train also runs strictly on schedule, which allows you to predictably assign the time of the “pickup” car – we arrived exactly 10 minutes before the planned time.

We booked 1 day before the Opel Astra trip (we were waiting for a pleasant surprise) or similar cost of 318 euros for 6 days. After paying online, the mail comes confirmation with the number of the reservation:

Booking through Tinkoff Travel has a small nice bonus – in a month comes a special cashback on the card – a small thing, but nice:

Of course, the booking was preceded by a couple of hours of studying the car rental market in Vienna and the airport, reading reviews on aggregator and sites such as awd.ru. Also experimented with the place of the fence and return of the car to confirm that the rent at the airport significantly increases the cost than rent even in the city center.

Liability insurance, deposit, total cost, paperwork

We did not take insurance on the RentalCars website, but preferred our own full insurance Sixt (Minimum Excess LDW, Road Tax, RFL, Tier and Wind Shield Protection). That’s another 163 euros for driving without a headache in a foreign country – looks quite normal for August and for such a car.

Sixt also temporarily blocks another 300 euros on the card for security deposit, but after handing over the car all returned without question (despite the fact that we broke the branded plastic keychain). By the way, a low deposit is one of the important criteria for choosing a rental office for us.

Total we paid 481.50 euros for ALL.

There was also one hilarious moment: the employee gives a check more than a meter long and 10cm wide, where all the terms of the contract are written in two languages – I have never seen such a porter! And also lovers of ecology and forests:-)

Upgrade

Already in the office we learned that the car we have booked is not available, and we were offered in return another, higher class for the same price – diesel Land Rover Discovery Sport 240 hp. Of course, we didn’t give up. It took five minutes to complete all the necessary documents.

We took our Discovery from the underground parking lot of the building and rushed.

Car rental at Vienna airport (Schwechat)

At the end of the journey, the car was left in the parking lot of the airport in the Car Return sector. The key was put in a special box near the Sixt booth.

AHTUNG! If you stopped at the checkpoint, then to leave from there easily will not work:-). We just needed it, because. forgot to tuck up to a full tank. We decided the situation so – at the exit pressed the button of communication, waited for the answer to the operator, explained in English the problems and he told where to find him to give him a free coupon for departure. With this coupon we left and drove about 500m to the gas station at the airport and satisfied returned – very convenient for such forgetful as we:-)

Fuel and toll roads

Immediately, I want to recommend to avoid refueling on the highways, because. There prices are much higher – so on BP a liter of diesel cost as much as 1.66 euros, while in villages or towns you could find 1.25 euros!

As for the fuel (diesel) for the whole trip, we spent 138 euros for 1325 km. I would like to recommend to avoid refueling on highways, because There prices are much higher – so on BP a liter of diesel cost as much as 1.66 euros, while in villages or towns you could find 1.25 euros!

For the road in special booths we had to pay only a couple of times: between Vena and Graz (about 12 euros) and once for the passage on Grossglockner (36 eur) – all transport taxes and a pass to the special. the zone of cities has already been included in the cost of rent.

Our route began and ended in Vienna and passed through Graz, Salzburg, Kundle, Kitzbuehel, the Alpine road Grossglockner with races in dozens of villages, but this is a topic for other posts. You can read the reports on part of our trip to Austria here: