Hello! I'll be flying into Frankfurt Germany and renting a car, and from there exploring the Romantic Road. There are three adults and we will be there for a week. I've never rented a car in Europe before so any information about hidden costs or good rental companies would be great! Should I take a train to a city other than the Frankfurt Airport to rent a car (i've heard it's expensive there). Also, does anyone think it would just be cheaper to see the area of the Romantic Road by train or am I better to split the cost of a car between three people? (I'm sorry to say that i'm on a bit of a budget for this trip). Any suggestions or opinions on car travel vs. train travel in the winter months in germany would be great. I've read a few posts but no one says anything about price.

Hi bug_hunting_pirate,

A lot of folks use www.autoeurope.com to rent cars from, or at least to compare prices. You can do a text search here for "rental car" to see which agencies get recommendations.

I do want to let you know, though, that there aren't a lot of manual transmission vehicles in Europe, and many people end up with a manual (shift) even after reserving an automatic. If you already know how to drive a shift, never mind!! If you don't, now would be the time to learn!

Have fun!

s

Another good rental broker is Nova Rentacar, www.novarentacar.com or 1-866-NOVACAR. You can check rental prices at either the website or the toll-free number.

Train schedules and prices at www.bahn.de--click on "Internat Guests" at the top for English version.

Driving is pretty easy, especially if you have someone who is a good map reader and sign sighter.

I guess we've been fortunate as we've always gotten an AT car with no trouble. Though I can drive manual, I much prefer AT.

A week should be about right for the Romantic Road.

Although Rothenburg isn't our favorite destination, it's almost an obligatory overnight stop on the RR. From there consider places like Nordlingen and Dinkelsbuehl. Then down to the village of Hohenschwangau for Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau castles--on the way you could make a quick stop at the Wieskirche.

On the return, you could loop east through northern Austria, back into Germany, and see Linderhof palace and Oberammergau.

Of course, the Romantic Road isn't your only option--there are a number of different routes and places you could do comfortably in one week.

If you want a car for more than 17 days, it will probably be cheaper to do the 'buy-back' arrangement through Peugeot.sodexa. It is normally cheaper than renting. Google those words to find out what the deal is: it should be most economical for three people.

I usually rent thru Sixt. The Holiday car deal is my usual choice. It's always worth a comparison. Only had one problem over the last 10 years, that was an airconditioner that did not work in our small Ford. Turned around about 3 miles from the Frankfurt Airport and they gave me a BMW, no problem. Don't think this usual, but it was our good luck, that was all they had left.