{"id":5326,"date":"2026-08-09T19:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/andrekohout.cz\/pisu-si\/?p=5326"},"modified":"2026-08-10T09:06:36","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T07:06:36","slug":"driving-the-grossglockner-in-a-convertible-our-austria-road-trip-how-it-really-went","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/andrekohout.cz\/pisu-si\/en\/2026\/08\/09\/driving-the-grossglockner-in-a-convertible-our-austria-road-trip-how-it-really-went\/","title":{"rendered":"Driving the Grossglockner in a convertible: our Austria road trip, how it really went"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This is an honest diary of our road trip through Austria, which we drove with my girlfriend Terka in a Mercedes convertible. The plan was simple: drive the Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse, the most famous alpine road there is, and enjoy a few days in the mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I pictured the roof down, an empty mountain road and soft morning light. The reality was three degrees above zero, a schnitzel for 37 euros and a war over a parking space. And I’d still do it again in a heartbeat. What it turned into was a far better ride than the one I’d sketched out on the map.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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From Prague to the Alps without an Austrian vignette<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A quick tip to start, because a lot of people wrestle with it. We didn’t buy the Austrian motorway vignette. In the Czech Republic we took the D3 all the way to the border at Doln\u00ed Dvo\u0159i\u0161t\u011b, and from that point on we stuck to back roads. Yes, it adds time. But behind the wheel of a convertible on alpine lanes with no motorway, you realise you’re not missing a thing, quite the opposite. On top of that, the Grossglockner has its own separate toll, so you don’t even need a vignette for that road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We based ourselves in Altenmarkt, at the family-run Scheffer’s Hotel<\/a>, which I wrote about separately. Three nights, half board, mountains right out the door. The perfect launch pad for what came next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Grossglockner: the day it was all about<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

First the numbers, so you know what you’re getting into. The toll for a car for the whole day comes to 46.50 euros. The road is open roughly from May to the end of October and runs daily from early morning to evening. Your ticket is valid all day, so you can go back and forth as much as you like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We originally wanted to set off at dawn for the empty road and the soft light. But it was around three degrees up top in the morning, and during the day the summit climbed to maybe nine. In a convertible with the roof down that’s a proper shiver, so we pushed the start to later in the morning. And it paid off, because the weather stayed clear all day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the gate at Ferleiten it climbs, switchback after switchback. First stop, Edelwei\u00dfspitze, the highest point a car can reach, 2,571 metres. You climb the steps up a stone tower and get a 360-degree view of the surrounding three-thousanders. Then back down to the main road, past the mirror-like Fuscher Lacke tarn, through the Hochtor tunnel, and finally the dead-end spur to Kaiser-Franz-Josefs-H\u00f6he, where you look straight at the Pasterze glacier and the summit of the Grossglockner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And because every road trip needs its own tale, here’s ours: lunch up at 2,369 metres. Half a chicken schnitzel spilling over the plate, fries, a broth and two sodas. 37 euros. At an altitude where everything has to arrive by cable car, I honestly didn’t mind. It tasted all the better for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Zobrazit p\u0159\u00edsp\u011bvek na Instagramu<\/div><\/div>
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P\u0159\u00edsp\u011bvek sd\u00edlen\u00fd Andr\u00e9 Kohout | King of Networking (@jajsemandre)<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n