In Austria, an International Driver's License is required for rental cars. Before you leave for Vienna, pick one up at your nearest AAA (www.aaa.com) office. You must be at least 18 years old, though you may find some rental companies require drivers to be at least 25. Check with individual Vienna rental car agencies for rules on cross-border travel and additional drivers.
U.S. insurance policies generally do not cover rentals outside the country. Make sure to get proper insurance from the car rental agency to cover liabilities, damage, accidents, and theft for your rental car in Vienna. Check, too, whether your credit card provides auto insurance protection.
Keep in mind that most cars in Vienna will have a manual transmission. If you need an automatic rental car, be sure to request it. Also, consider the size of the car you are renting as parking spaces and some streets in Vienna's city center will be quite small by U.S. standards. Unless you're very adept at parallel parking, you may want to go for the compact car over the SUV.
On the highways around Vienna, if someone flashes their headlights at you, they're asking to pass. Trams always have the right of way. Most parking zones in Vienna require cars to have a parking voucher displayed in the window. You may buy these vouchers from newsstands, most banks and automated parking voucher machines. The U.S. Department of State has an excellent guide to local road regulations at its website, Travel.State.gov.
You'll find all the big names in rental cars, such as Hertz (www.hertz.com), Alamo (www.alamo.com), and Sixt (www.e-sixt.com) as well as Europe's Europcar (www.europcar.com) in Vienna. Travelers watching their wallets may want to purchase the Vienna Card (buy at www.wien.info), which provides 20 percent discounts on Avis (www.avis.com) and Megadrive (www.megadrive.at) rental cars as well as over 200 discounts to tourist attractions, dining, accommodations, and more. You may also try some of Vienna's wallet-friendly rental car agencies like Laudamotion (www.laudamotion.com) and Weekrent (www.weekrent.at) as well as budget booker EasyCar (www.easycar.com).
