Austria's 2026 Summer Travel Season Brings Airport Upgrades, Traffic Alerts and New Customs Measures

The summer holidays in Austria begin on 2 July in Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland, marking the start of the peak travel period. Road authorities expect the heaviest congestion between late July and mid‑August on the north‑south corridors – the Brenner (A13), Fernpass (B179), Tauern (A10), Karawanken (A11), Pyhrn (A9) and the Südosttangente (A23) – as vacationers head to Italy, Slovenia and Croatia. The ÖAMTC and ÖAST warn that traffic will be relatively light at the first weekend but will intensify afterward, especially around major events such as the Danube Island Festival and various motor‑sport races.

Vienna International Airport (Schwechat) has installed 35 new CT scanners costing €25 million. The technology allows laptops, tablets and liquids up to two litres to remain in hand luggage, eliminating the need to unpack at security. Officials note that 18 million bags were screened last year.

Customs officers at the airport performed 34 091 passenger checks, resulting in 5 003 interventions that seized drugs, illegal cash, counterfeit goods and unusual items such as a hat made of snake bone and a parrot‑feather headpiece. Seizures of cannabis, new psycho‑active substances and counterfeit merchandise rose sharply compared with the previous year.

Salzburg has introduced a temporary car‑free zone for day‑trippers in July‑August, offering cheap peripheral parking and a public‑transport ticket to reduce inner‑city congestion. Drivers without a valid Austrian vignette face fines of €200‑3000, and a digital‑only vignette system will replace the sticker version from 2027.

Travelers are reminded that EU-wide emergency number 112 works free of charge, and the “Roam‑like‑at‑home” rule keeps mobile rates the same across the EU, with a €60 data‑spending alert to prevent bill shock. A recent consumer survey shows that nearly half of Austrian holidaymakers plan to shop locally, spending an average of €285 per trip.