Take the ticket, pick a lane marked with a card symbol, tap, go.
France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Croatia and Greece run barriers. Spain has no vignette at all; Poland no longer charges cars on its state motorways.
For a visitor the answer is nearly always the same: take the ticket, pick a lane marked with a card symbol, tap, go. Croatia's operator lists cash and Visa, Mastercard and Maestro at every plaza. Greece charges a flat fee per station rather than by distance: Attiki Odos around Athens is €2.80 for a car, and staffed lanes take cards.
Spain: no vignette
Spain has no vignette at all, and its own government portal says so in one line. The AP motorways that still charge take euro cash, a card, or a Via-T tag.
Poland: cars stopped paying on state motorways
Poland barely charges cars any more: since 1 July 2023 vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes pay nothing on the state-run motorways. Three concession stretches still do charge, and the A4 between Katowice and Kraków wants PLN 18 at each of its two plazas, PLN 36 for the full run, and only until 16 March 2027, when the state takes the road back and cars stop paying.
Zones are a separate bill
Low-emission zones are a separate bill entirely, and they are the one that actually stops you at a city boundary: see France, Italy and Spain. The trip planner on ParkingInEurope lists the zones on a route.
Where to leave the car, from our sister site. Each card is the short version; the full guide has every car park, the tow pound and the charging points.
ParkingInEurope
Kraków
Your car can be clean enough and still be fined. The zone reads a Polish register your plate is not in.
Best bet
A park and ride, and the 10 zł ticket is also your tram ticket — multiple journeys, zone I, all day, for one person. Four hours on the kerb in subzone A is 39 zł by comparison. P+R Czerwone Maki runs 04:30 to 02:30 and is staffed around the clock.
Watch out
Register the car before you leave home. Kraków's clean transport zone has covered about 60% of the city since 1 January 2026, and a foreign-registered car must enrol at sct.zdmk.krakow.pl even when it fully complies. Verification takes up to 14 days. Fine up to 500 zł.
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