By car to the sea to Italy? We will pay so much for fuel and highways

Italian sea, sun, coffee and dolce vita and under the hotel your own car? At Bankier.pl, we decided to check how much in 2025 you have to pay for a journey to the Three Italian Mediterranean coast of the largest Polish cities.

In our estimates, we assumed that a maximum of ten days will pass between the trip and return to Poland and the journey will start in one of four Polish cities: Warsaw, Wrocław, Gdańsk and Krakow. From the group of analyzed cities, we have excluded two other large centers: Poznań and Łódź and this is due to their close location: Wrocław and Warsaw respectively, which means that at a distance of up to 4,000. km both ways the fuel cost will be similar.

As a destination, we adopted three Italian cities located on different parts of the Mediterranean: Rimini, lying on the Adriatic, Naples located on the Tyrhrh Sea and San Remo located near the Italian and French border on the Ligurian Sea.

According to Bankier.pl estimates, the least time and money will consume the journey to Rimini. Depending on the city from which we will leave, it will be from around 1360 to less than PLN 2,000. Such a significant difference results primarily from a distance that needs to be overcome and fuel costs.

While those riding from Krakow will have to cover less than 1300 km and they will pay about PLN 1,000 for both ways, they will have up to 1800 km to cover from Gdańsk. Then they will have to pour fuel for nearly PLN 1,400.

By far the biggest expense will be associated with covering the car leading to Naples. From the nearest capital of Calabria Krakow, to travel, in the shortest variant, it will be about 1750 km, from Wrocław about 1820 km, from Warsaw 1960 km as well as Gdańsk, up to 2240 km, which will translate into spending 22 hours behind the wheel.

The highest cost of travel to Naples will also be received by fees for Italian highways. As in Poland and Croatia, they must be paid at goals, which significantly overstates travel costs with paid sections.

Depending on the selected route, the fee will also be subject to a tunnel at the Brenner Pass at the Austrian -Italian border.

This expenditure can be omitted by going to the Italian – French San Remo border nearby. In the case of this route, the Google Maps application also suggested a road through Switzerland. However, as this country only offers vignettes valid for a year, costing 40 Swiss francs (about PLN 181), we did not include it in our calculations.

The cost of traveling by car to Italy – that's how we estimated him

We assumed that two weeks will pass from the trip to return. We analyzed the costs for leading routes suggested by the Google Maps application (from Wrocław, Warsaw and Gdańsk) through the Czech Republic and Austria as well as Germany and Austria and in the case of traveling from Krakow, through the Czech Republic and Austria as well as Slovakia and Austria.

We estimated fuel costs for the currently most popular cars among Polish individual clients-a hybrid Toyota C-HR, for which combustion on the road-according to the autocentrum data-is 6 liters per 100 km.

We also used the data of E-Petrol, according to which in the second half of May 2025 for unleaded gasoline, 95-octane gas, you have to pay an average of PLN 5.73/l in Poland.

Due to the significant difference between the average fuel price in Poland and Italy, we estimated the cost of traveling from Poland to Italy based on the Polish price of unleaded gasoline. Estimating the cost of returning, we took into account the prices at Italian stations.

Average prices for unleaded (95-octane) in individual countries:

• Poland – PLN 5.73/l
• Czech Republic – 5.76 PLN/l
• Slovakia – PLN 6.29/l
• Austria – 6.50 PLN/l
• Germany – PLN 7.14
• Italy – PLN 7.22

Highway fees on the way to Italy

The assumption of 10 days that will pass from the trip to arrival results from the price lists of vignettes in individual countries. 10-day vignettes are available in both the Czech Republic, Austria and Slovakia.

If we extend your stay, in Austria we will have to buy a vignette valid for two months, which will increase the cost of the trip by around 19 euros (approx. 80 PLN).
Both the Czech Republic and Slovakia offer 1-month vignettes. However, they are more expensive than 10-day, in terms of Polish currency, by approx. PLN 29 and PLN 27, respectively.

Staying with the 10 days mentioned, the journey through the Czech Republic and Austria will require the payment of 290 Czech crowns and 12.40 euros, i.e. about PLN 102, according to courses of 29 May 2025.

Choosing the route through Slovakia and Austria will be associated with the spending of approx. PLN 98, i.e. a total of 23.20 euros.

Taking into account longer routes running through Germany results from the fact that highways at our western neighbors are free, and in addition their choice allows you to bypass the Czech Republic and the purchase of Czech vignette.

In some cases, traveling through Germany means the need to use the tunnel at the Brenner Pass, which in turn significantly increases the cost of the entire undertaking. Exactly by 22 euros (approx. 93 PLN) one way.

Motorways in Italy – cheaper than Polish A4

We will also have to pay for highways in Italy. In this country, however, there are no vignettes, and as in Poland, fees are made at the fee collection points. The average cost of covering 1 km of the Italian highway is about 0.075 euros, or approx. 32 gr/km.

For comparison, the A4 highway from Krakow to Katowice costs almost twice as much – about 57 gr/km. The journey on the A1 motorway from Gdańsk to Toruń will be about 20 gr/km.

In Italy you will have to use several highways. For example, those going through the Czech Republic and Austria to Rimini, in Italy they will eaten highways: A23 from Tarvisio to Palmanova, A4 from Palmanova to Padua, A13 from Padua to Bologna and A14 from Bologna to Rimini.

Driving through Italy from the tunnel at the Brenner Pass, according to Google Maps, you will have to travel by roads: A22 – to Modena, A1 from Modena to La Stanga near Bologna and then A14 to Rimini.

The longest Italian highways you will have to move when going to Naples, depending on the route chosen, even over 900 km.

Returning to the already mentioned Polish highways, travelers from Krakow have to pay for them. The cost of traveling on the A4 motorway from Krakow to Katowice is PLN 34 one way. However, it can be skipped by choosing a route through Slovakia and overlapping about 45 minutes.

In turn, driving from Gdańsk for using the A1 motorway (Rusocin – Nowa Wieś) paid from January) at the gates will pay PLN 29.90 in each direction. If they choose the road through Germany and Austria, they will be able to get off her in the new dreams near Grudziądz to the S5 expressway. In this way, they will pay over PLN 10 less – PLN 19.20 for a one -way journey.

Mkz

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