Europe - train or rent car?

[redredwine]

I'm planning a trip with H to Europe this fall. We know we're flying into Amsterdam and flying out of either Zurich or Munich, depending on our itinerary. We def are doing a few days in the Netherlands (mostly Amsterdam, a few day trips from there) and then heading to the Swiss Alps, stopping at the tiny German town I lived in in college (near Stuttgart) and then not sure if we're doing anywhere else. I'd love to do a night or two in France if possible.

Question is to take the train to get to each destination or rent a car? It seems like it will be fairly equal in terms of cost. We'll be gone for 10 days and I'm not the lightest packer. I think H would love to drive on the Autobahn but will it just be a total pain in the rear to have a car to park? 

[livinitup]

Those are very different type of trips - car verses train. I love to tour by train, my H does not. He also likes driving and mapping-out destinations. He finds it fun. I like touring around and arriving in new places without all of the stress of logistics.

I would recommend you be mindful of how much luggage you want to carry. I love a train, but I do have to pack in anticipation of lifting and carrying all of my stuff. Not so much in a car. But sometimes it’s SO NICE not to have to deal with all the stuff I over pack when I have a car.

[wildrice]

I am too nervous to drive in another country. I was recently reading a TripAdvisor forum about Florence where a ton of people who rented a car there got billed huge fines months later because they didn't understand the rules of driving in the city and drove in places they shouldn't have. I would have 100% made the same mistake, I'm sure, so I am glad we avoided that by doing trains.

I know that's probably an exceptional circumstance, but in general driving anywhere that I can't easily read the signs would be a big no for me. Trains are easy, especially in Europe, and in general I would guess would be cheaper. Also most cities are very walkable or have good public transit, so it would be more of a hassle to have to find parking IMO.

[Alps79]

I would rent a car. I've done a similar trip 3x, once with dh who drove and two times with my mom and then mom and kids; I did all the driving. Driving in Germany is such a treat and pleasure! The roads are so well maintained, directions are clear, and everyone is a really great driver. So I vote to drive!

Our first trip we flew into Amsterdam and took a few day trips.... we then took a train to Cologne which is where we picked up our car. We drove the car in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria without issue. We retuned the car when we arrived in Munich and flew home a few days later. It was really nice to be on our own schedule and not at the mercy of trains. It also allowed us to explore some smaller towns that we would have missed via train.

ETA- so to be clear, I would do a mixture of both. I wouldn't want to deal with a car in a large city but I have never had any issues driving or parking in smaller towns/cities and I really enjoyed driving in Europe. 

[gardengal]

If you’re not going to be basing yourselves in big cities, then I’d rent a car. I’d probably rent when you leave Amsterdam.

I’ve rented a car in the UK, France, Iceland, Norway, Italy, Spain, and Switzerland. It’s always been the cheapest & best options to explore smaller towns.

If you were just going big city to big city, I’d do the train

[Susie]

I rented a car in Ireland both times, but took trains in Italy because we were in cities a lot of the time (Rome, Venice, Florence, and some smaller cities as well, e.g. Siena, and in Cinque Terre) and parking would've been a hot mess.  Plus there was the ZTL consideration in Florence that a pp mentioned, you can't get your car near a lot of places you might stay or sight see anyway.  

I liked traveling by train.  A car is necessary in rural areas, but the train felt like I got a better immersion in the country than being in our own car speaking English to one another.

[cattledogkisses]

We usually prefer the train.

We went to Germany last summer and BIL planned the trip with a rental car, and OMG I think we spent half the trip sitting in staus on the autobahn. The day we drove from Heidelberg to Cologne we spent three hours sitting in traffic going nowhere. Never again. Granted, this was during the busiest time of the year, but we've been to Germany in all seasons and I swear we always end up running into traffic when we drive.

[pizzaandtulips]

I live in Amsterdam. You do not want a rental car while in Amsterdam. But for the rest of the trip, I think a car would be fine. We do a lot of road trips into Germany and Austria. I agree with the other poster though - Germany can have some awful traffic due to construction, and that’s at all times of the year in our experience. Driving is nice because it lets you veer off into smaller towns and such. When we go to major cities, we typically just park the car when we arrive and don’t touch it again until we leave, as driving and parking in city centers can be tricky.

[pizzaandtulips]

Feb 3, 2020 15:59:34 GMT -5 wildrice said:

I am too nervous to drive in another country. I was recently reading a TripAdvisor forum about Florence where a ton of people who rented a car there got billed huge fines months later because they didn't understand the rules of driving in the city and drove in places they shouldn't have. I would have 100% made the same mistake, I'm sure, so I am glad we avoided that by doing trains.

I know that's probably an exceptional circumstance, but in general driving anywhere that I can't easily read the signs would be a big no for me. Trains are easy, especially in Europe, and in general I would guess would be cheaper. Also most cities are very walkable or have good public transit, so it would be more of a hassle to have to find parking IMO.

In the Netherlands and I think also Germany, speed is monitored by radar and photos and you don’t get pulled over for speeding - you just get the fine weeks later in the mail. It shouldn’t stop you from driving, but definitely remember this and watch your speed! As for signs, there definitely are differences but in general driving isn’t too difficult. I do get nervous parking though because it’s often more difficult to figure out where you can and can’t park.

[doctoranda]

Europe is so easy by train/public transport, even reaching smaller towns, that I highly recommend train travel. For what it is worth I am from the Netherlands and have traveled throughout Europe by train.

[okla]

I'd do either, based on what works best. You may want to look at regional airlines as well. We did Spain recently and ended up flying from Barcelona to Granada, driving Granada to Seville, and taking a train from Seville to Cadiz. It's just what worked best given monetary savings, time, and transportation options.

[erbear]

We almost always train. I don't mind driving overseas (though Scotland was hairy - opposite side of the car, shifting with my left hand, opposite side of the road) but the train is so much more pleasant - I can look out the window. Plus no parking in cities.

[scout8]

Train/bus. The only time we rent a car when traveling in foreign countries is if it isn't logistically possible to get around that way. I find driving, especially in big cities, to be so much more stressful.

[mrspez07]

Our family of 4 was over there this last summer and did a bit of train, bit of car.
Long story short: I think you need to decide what you want to see and do and if you can get there by train.
We could have done all of it by train, but it sure was nice to have a car with kids and not have to watch the bus and train schedules all the time.


Our details: We flew into and out of Zurich, rented a car when leaving Zurich and drove while in Germany. It was easier to go hiking and see the sites, pop into Austria, etc. plus the place we stayed in Freidrichshafen wasn’t in town. We then drove to the Ticino canton of Switzerland and drove all over the place. We could have done the train but would have been limited on where we could go in this area, and we met up with family and drove to their house, etc.
we left the car to take the train down the Italian coast when we stayed in Rapallo outside of Genoa. We were lazy by then and just stayed around the beach, but could have done train or boat for stuff we wanted to see. We then took the train back to Zurich.

[Shreddingbetty]

I think it depends on where you want to go exactly. You’re not going to want to have a car in Amsterdam so if you stay there for a couple of days don’t get a car. Public transport is easy enough to use and personally I walk a lot when I’m there. I go every year because my family is there. My typical trip is Paris where I don’t need a car. Then I rent a car to go to Switzerland and from there to the Netherlands then back to Paris. I would not want to do all of that by train also because I tend to have a lot of luggage as I tend to buy goodies and clothes etc. Plus I have a kid and she can’t carry her own suitcase yet as it practically weighs as much as she does. Last year I did Paris to Switzerland and back by train because we could not go straight to the Netherlands. It was a little cheaper and I knew we weren’t going to use the car while there so I didn’t want to waste money on it sitting there. My aunt lives in Paris so we had the luxury of leaving most of our stuff and just taking one suitcase. It was faster by train than it would’ve been by car. Last year we went to Normandy and that is hard to do by train if you want to visit several places. I also went to Cannes a couple of times and took the train for that.
Last year I even took the bus overnight to go to Biarritz (well nearby anyway) that was super cheap but it was 11 hours in the bus overnight each way. It was worth not renting a car though. France also has toll roads pretty much everywhere. If you go to www.viamichelin.com you can actually see how much you would have to pay for tolls.
You could also do a combo of car and train. Car offers more flexibility I think but if you are going from big city to big city train might be easier.
Highway driving isn’t that hard in Europe but they have speed cameras everywhere. You won’t get pulled over you will just get a ticket in the mail (speaking from experience....) I think their threshold for speed limit isn’t very big (here if you are 5
mph over the limit you’re usually safe, there I think it is like 4km ). Rules are little different and traffic signs are as well. I don’t like driving much in the big cities (Amsterdam sucks because of all the bikes we aren’t used to) and I won’t even attempt to drive in Paris because basically no one follows the rules 😂.
When I’m in the Netherlands I have several friends and family I visit and it would really suck doing that all by train (even without luggage). Also with Americans being so used to drive a lot I don’t even blink at having to drive for a couple of hours whereas my family thinks that’s far.
So I would see where all you really want to go and then decide which might be easier. You may find that a split between train and car is your best option.

[alleinesein]

Train. I took the train all over Germany and it was so nice to just be able to sit and watch the world pass by.

[dutchgirl678]

Rent a car. We did a similar trip years ago. But we flew into Dusseldorf as it was cheaper than AMS at the time (lower taxes). Cars in Germany drive very fast, but if you stay in the right lane you should be fine. If you happen to be in the left lane and a car comes up behind you, they will flash you to get over . You definitely don't want a car in Amsterdam.

We drove to Bavaria, then Austria, Switzerland, then back to northern Germany. Feel free to send me a FB mesg if you have more questions. Happy to give info.

While you can get around by train, it definitely is not as convenient as driving. Parking was not really an issue for us. When we stayed outside of Munich we parked at a small train station outside the city and took the train in. But in Salzburg parking was no problem. Where in Switzerland are you planning to go? We went to Lauterbrunnen and then to friends in Zurich. Highly recommend the Lauterbrunnen/Murren area.

[sent]

We always did the train. We were nervous to drive and wanted to experience train travel since it's far superior to train travel in the USA. There was one time when the cabs were on strike in Crete and I thought for a moment there I was going to have to drive a standard to get to our hotel an hour away. But we somehow got through to the hotel (we also did not have international plans on our phones so we had to buy a phone card) and they sent a ride for us.

[dreamcrisp1]

The train is cool but driving is so fun.

Definitely don’t get a car in Amsterdam but train to somewhere in Germany and get the car there. The little towns are fun to venture into. We have done 2 road trips since being here: one to Germany and Luxembourg and one to Switzerland and Italy and they were both amazing. We will be doing a road trip to France in July. The German roads are easy to drive but be mindful of the speeding.

[sdlaura]

We prefer to spend most of our time in smaller cities when we travel in Europe, so renting a car is great. We will tend to do a little bit of both. So for example we flew into London, spent a few days there without a car, took the train through Paris and as far as the fast train went, then rented a car in the small townthere. We then returned the car when we left that town and took the train back to the larger city where we flew out. I think it’s nice to do a bit of each.

[Shreddingbetty]

Feb 3, 2020 21:01:18 GMT -5 sent said:

We always did the train. We were nervous to drive and wanted to experience train travel since it's far superior to train travel in the USA. There was one time when the cabs were on strike in Crete and I thought for a moment there I was going to have to drive a standard to get to our hotel an hour away. But we somehow got through to the hotel (we also did not have international plans on our phones so we had to buy a phone card) and they sent a ride for us.

I forgot, you can get automatics in Europe but default is standard. Automatics do tend to cost more

[mrsukyankee]

I'd do a mix of both. Train where it's quickest and easiest and then a car for other bits of the trip.

[klingklang77]

For non-major cities, I would take a car. Depending on the time of year, you may hit a lot of traffic. The Autobahn tends to have traffic in general. There are some that are good and that’s where the no speed limit parts are, but others, are quite packed and you will come across speed limits of 60, 80, or 100 Kph.

The one good thing about the Autobahn is that it is free. France has tolls (high at times), and Switzerland has a ridiculous priced vignette (30 +, but it’s good for a year). Austria is reasonable at 11 per a few days.

Based on your geographic areas you are in and you said you wanted to go to France, I’d definitely suggest Strasbourg for that Alsatian feel or go a bit further and go to Beaune or Dijon. It’s really beautiful there and French.

You mentioned a city near Stuttgart you studied in. Do you mean Tübingen? I studied there, too, so that’s the one that comes to mind. I visited a few years ago and parking was OK. However they now have a Dunkin Donuts in the old city and that kind of depressed me. It got built up.

[loira]

Feb 4, 2020 1:54:40 GMT -5 mrsukyankee said:

I'd do a mix of both. Train where it's quickest and easiest and then a car for other bits of the trip.

Yep, this.

[womet]

Feb 4, 2020 10:43:50 GMT -5 loira said:

Feb 4, 2020 1:54:40 GMT -5 mrsukyankee said:

I'd do a mix of both. Train where it's quickest and easiest and then a car for other bits of the trip.

Yep, this.

This. 

We're going to Germany next summer for 11 days and then spending a few days in Amsterdam. We're renting a car for our time in Germany (we're staying in a tiny town in Bavaria and will need a car), we're then flying to Amsterdam, and we're using the train for our time in Amsterdam. We chose to fly to Amsterdam since it was a short flight and the train would be at least 10 hours from where we're staying. By flying, we'll spend less time traveling between the cities and have more time in Amsterdam itself. 

[redredwine]

Feb 4, 2020 5:42:47 GMT -5 klingklang77 said:

For non-major cities, I would take a car. Depending on the time of year, you may hit a lot of traffic. The Autobahn tends to have traffic in general. There are some that are good and that’s where the no speed limit parts are, but others, are quite packed and you will come across speed limits of 60, 80, or 100 Kph.

The one good thing about the Autobahn is that it is free. France has tolls (high at times), and Switzerland has a ridiculous priced vignette (30 +, but it’s good for a year). Austria is reasonable at 11 per a few days.

Based on your geographic areas you are in and you said you wanted to go to France, I’d definitely suggest Strasbourg for that Alsatian feel or go a bit further and go to Beaune or Dijon. It’s really beautiful there and French.

You mentioned a city near Stuttgart you studied in. Do you mean Tübingen? I studied there, too, so that’s the one that comes to mind. I visited a few years ago and parking was OK. However they now have a Dunkin Donuts in the old city and that kind of depressed me. It got built up.

OMG!!! YES!!! I studied in Tuebingen - one of the best years of my life!! I haven't been back in...almost 20 years. A DD in the old city center?! So weird. 

thanks for the suggestions and insights!! 

[mich1]

Feb 4, 2020 10:43:50 GMT -5 loira said:

Feb 4, 2020 1:54:40 GMT -5 mrsukyankee said:

I'd do a mix of both. Train where it's quickest and easiest and then a car for other bits of the trip.

Yep, this.

Third.  Pick up your car as you leave the city.  Having a car in a city just becomes a liability.  

When we went to France, we rented a car right after landing and did Normandy, then dropped it off at the airport while we were in Paris.  

[redredwine]

Thanks everyone - great and helpful suggestions.
I think we'll end up renting a car once we get ready to leave Amsterdam as I think it would be fun to have the flexibility - I haven't even thought of waiting to get a rental car, but that's a smart idea!

[klingklang77]

Feb 5, 2020 12:51:40 GMT -5 redredwine said:

Feb 4, 2020 5:42:47 GMT -5 klingklang77 said:

For non-major cities, I would take a car. Depending on the time of year, you may hit a lot of traffic. The Autobahn tends to have traffic in general. There are some that are good and that’s where the no speed limit parts are, but others, are quite packed and you will come across speed limits of 60, 80, or 100 Kph.

The one good thing about the Autobahn is that it is free. France has tolls (high at times), and Switzerland has a ridiculous priced vignette (30 +, but it’s good for a year). Austria is reasonable at 11 per a few days.

Based on your geographic areas you are in and you said you wanted to go to France, I’d definitely suggest Strasbourg for that Alsatian feel or go a bit further and go to Beaune or Dijon. It’s really beautiful there and French.

You mentioned a city near Stuttgart you studied in. Do you mean Tübingen? I studied there, too, so that’s the one that comes to mind. I visited a few years ago and parking was OK. However they now have a Dunkin Donuts in the old city and that kind of depressed me. It got built up.

OMG!!! YES!!! I studied in Tuebingen - one of the best years of my life!! I haven't been back in...almost 20 years. A DD in the old city center?! So weird. 

thanks for the suggestions and insights!! 

Haha! Cool! Yeah, it got built up. I’m not sure if you were by WHO, but Cucki’s (Kucki’s?)is still the same. The whole area by the French Quarter (too lazy to spell it, even though I still live in Germany, lol) got really built up. The Kaufland is like a mini-mall and there is a drive thru McD’s (gasp) now. I studied there 15 years ago. I was too poor when I was there to eat at nice places there, but the Maultaschen place up on top from the old city is still amazing (checked it out last trip). Kalendar is always great for Kebabs. I haven’t seen Tangente since I studied there. Most of my classes were in the Brecht Gebäude. 

I’m in Bavaria (Munich), so if you need a place to crash, I always welcome those from Eberhard Karls! Just bring some Maultaschen please, lol! 

[dutchgirl678]

Feb 5, 2020 13:03:36 GMT -5 redredwine said:

Thanks everyone - great and helpful suggestions.
I think we'll end up renting a car once we get ready to leave Amsterdam as I think it would be fun to have the flexibility - I haven't even thought of waiting to get a rental car, but that's a smart idea!

You definitely don't want a car in Amsterdam. Traffic is a nightmare with trams, bikes, peds, and parking in the city is prohibitively expensive.