On May 14, 2009, we made a day-trip to the Czech Republic from our resort (Hotel Alpina) in Hinterthal am Steinernen Meer, Austria. Unfortunately, the day was overcast and, as we crossed into the South Bohemia area of the Czech Republic, it started to rain intermittently. Drive-time from our resort to the Czech border was a little over three hours, based on a route that followed the Austrian autobahn to Linz (the A-10 from Bischofshofen to Salzburg, then the A-1 from Salzburg to Linz). At Linz, we picked up Route 126 north to Bad Leonfelden and thence to the Czech border. Our route in Czechia was Studánky to Vyšší Brod to Rožmberk nad Vltavou to Český Krumlov, our final destination.

It would have been faster for us to follow the E-55 into Czechia from Linz, but we wanted to use back-roads as much as possible in order to see more of the countryside and the little towns and villages along the way (when traveling, we prefer to visit out-of-the-way places and usually avoid cities and big towns like the plague). Also, we did not want to have to buy the "vignette" that is necessary for driving on Czech expressways and multi-lane highways (and the E-55 is the multi-lane road from Linz to Prague). In planning our trip, we had learned through TripAdvisor (www.tripadvisor.com - if you haven't already done so, we recommend that you visit, explore, and then bookmark that site) that Czechia - like Austria and Slovenia - uses a system of "pre-paid" highway-use fees instead of pay-as-you-go tolls (although tolls are still charged at a few locations in Austria). This is manifested in the form of a vignette, which is a windshield sticker that you can buy at border crossing stores (there's at least one at every border crossing) or at any petrol station in the country being visited. The vignette cost varies with length of time desired, but the minimum time in Czechia is for 15 days, which costs around $20 (or 400 Czech korun - "crowns" - although an EU nation, the Czech Republic does not use euros). We didn't want to pay that amount for a visit that would last for only a few hours and be limited to a tiny portion of the country. However, if you decide to drive on a multi-lane motorway in Czechia and don't have the required vignette, and you get stopped by the police, be prepared to pay an extremely high on-the-spot fine (many hundreds of dollars) or have your car impounded. If you are not certain about whether your planned route requires a vignette, stop at the border crossing store (or at the airport rental-car counter, if you're flying into Czechia) and inquire.