AUSTRIA: Country Driving And Crossing Borders

Austria is approximately 83,879 square kilometres (32,386 square miles). It is the 113th largest country in the world by land area.

To put Austria’s size into North American perspective, it is slightly smaller than the state of South Carolina in the US and slightly larger than the country of Costa Rica.

By contrast, Canada is the world's second-largest country with a total area of approximately 9,984,670 square kilometres (3,855,100 square miles).

Canada's only land border is along the southern part of the country. And our only neighbour is south of that border.

We can drive in Canada for days without ever crossing a border or leaving the country.

Not so in Austria. We decided to go for a “country drive” on another rainy day. We crossed 3 borders in less than 2 hours. 

From Villach, Austria we headed southeast and crossed the border with Slovenia.

We then headed west and crossed the border from Slovenia into Italy. 

After a coffee break, we headed northeast to cross the border back into Austria.

We drove past three borders, in less than 2 hours, and never had to stop to show our passports.

This is because of the Schengen Agreement signed in 1985.

"The Schengen provisions abolish checks at EU's internal borders while providing a single set of rules for controls at the external borders applicable to those who enter the Schengen area."

For more info: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/EN/legal-content/glossary/schengen-agreement-and-convention.html