🚗 Czech Vignette (2026): No Sticker, CZK 5,000 Fine
No windscreen sticker since 2021 — Czechia's vignette is digital, tied to your plate on edalnice.cz. Drive a motorway without one and risk a CZK 5,000–10,000 fine.
Czechia (the Czech Republic) uses a fully electronic vignette — since 2021 there is no physical sticker at all. You buy it online at the official site edalnice.cz (or its app, petrol stations and post offices), registered to your number plate, in 10-day, monthly or annual lengths. There's nothing to display, but it must be active before you drive on a motorway, so buy it before you set off. Foreign cars need it too, and driving without a valid e-vignette is a fine of roughly CZK 5,000–10,000 (about €200–400).
If you’ve driven through the Czech Republic before, forget what you remember about peeling a sticker onto the windscreen — that’s gone. Since 2021 the Czech vignette is fully electronic, tied to your number plate, and bought online. It’s simpler, but it has one catch: there’s nothing to display, so it’s easy to forget you need it at all.
No sticker — it’s all online
Czechia’s vignette (e-známka) is digital only. You buy it at the official edalnice.cz (or its app, petrol stations and post offices), enter your number plate and dates, and you’re registered in the database — nothing to print or stick on. Cameras read your plate to check it.
Lengths are 10-day, monthly and annual; the 10-day suits most visitors. Prices are set yearly — check the current figure when you buy.
Buy official, buy before you drive
Use edalnice.cz, not a reseller adding a fee — the pass is identical. And because there’s nothing physical, it’s easy to set off without one: buy it before you reach the border, allowing a little time for it to activate.
The fine
Driving on a Czech motorway without a valid e-vignette is roughly CZK 5,000–10,000 (about €200–400), enforced automatically by camera since the system is electronic. Foreign plates are traced, and a hire car passes the penalty back to you with an admin fee — the same trap as any driving fine abroad.
What it actually costs — and the typo that cancels it
The current prices are straightforward: CZK 310 for 10 days (about €12), CZK 440 for 30 days (about €18), and CZK 2,300 for a year (about €92). Notice how narrow the gap is between the 10-day and the 30-day — roughly €6. If your trip runs anywhere near two weeks, or you might come back within the month, the 30-day is the obvious buy. The annual only makes sense if you cross Czechia regularly, but at €92 it pays for itself after five or six separate 10-day trips.
When you buy on edalnice.cz, you pick the date and time the vignette activates — it doesn’t have to start immediately. That’s genuinely useful: buy it from home a week before the trip and set it to start the morning you cross the border. What you can’t do is buy it after you’re already rolling down a D-series motorway (dálnice) — it must be active before you enter one.
Now the part that catches people out. Because the whole system hangs off your number plate, the plate you type is the only proof you’ve paid. Get one character wrong — or select the wrong country for the plate — and the cameras see an unpaid car, full stop. There’s no sticker to wave at anyone, no benefit of the doubt from a machine. Triple-check the plate against the registration document before you pay, not from memory.
If the cameras do flag you, driving a D-motorway without a valid e-vignette carries a fine of up to CZK 20,000, though on-the-spot settlements come in lower. Against a €12 pass, that’s not a gamble worth taking.
Before you drive into Czechia
- Buy the 10-day e-vignette at edalnice.cz before you cross the border.
- Enter your number plate carefully — that’s what the cameras check.
- Skip the resellers.
- Compare with the other vignette countries in our all 9 vignette countries, or check the vignette calculator.
Renting a Car?
Compare prices from all major rental companies. Free cancellation on most bookings.
Compare Car Rental PricesSome links on this page are affiliate links. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Learn more.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. The Czech Republic moved to a fully electronic vignette (e-známka) in 2021 — there is no sticker to buy or display any more. Your number plate is registered in the official database for the period you've paid for, and cameras check it automatically. If you're remembering an old Czech sticker, that system no longer exists; everything is now online.
From the official site edalnice.cz or its mobile app, and also at petrol stations and post offices in and around Czechia. Buy directly from the official source — third-party reseller sites add a service fee for the identical pass. You enter your number plate and the dates, pay, and you're covered; there's nothing to print or stick on. Allow for it to activate, so buy before you reach the border rather than at the roadside.
Czechia sells a 10-day, a monthly and an annual e-vignette; the 10-day is right for most visitors. Prices are set yearly, so check the current figure on edalnice.cz when you buy. The vignette covers the motorway (dálnice) network; ordinary roads are free, so in principle you can avoid it by staying off the motorways, though that's much slower for transit through the country.
Roughly CZK 5,000–10,000 (about €200–400) for using a motorway without a valid e-vignette. Enforcement is camera-based since the system is electronic, and foreign-registered cars are traced. In a hire car the fine is passed back to you with an admin fee, so a cheap 10-day pass you forgot to buy can become a costly mistake.
If your route uses Czech motorways — and the main transit roads (Prague–Brno, the D1, the routes to the German, Austrian and Polish borders) are motorways — then yes, you need the e-vignette even for a quick crossing. Buy the 10-day online before you enter the country. If you genuinely only use ordinary roads you can skip it, but that's rarely practical for through-traffic.