Car hire across borders
 

We have 10 days in Bavaria in June and then want to travel on to Lucerne in Switzerland to pick up the Golden Pass. We're going to do the area of Munich and surrounds for 4 days and Berchestgarden for 5 days but no preference currently on order.

We were going to get the train to Lucerne but its 6-7 hours by train if we come from Berchestgarden and we have a baby with us so thats just too long without a car seat to sleep in. Its not much less time from Munich and we'll probably stay in Landshut so its further than Munich.

We'll be hiring a car in Bavaria so could drive to Lucerne and drop the car off there but I've heard its hard to do one way car hire ending in a different country. Does anyone know a way of doing that? Either that or drop the car somewhere in Germany on the way to Lucerne and continue on the train......is there a town near the border that would work? I would be keen to do Neuschwanstein Castle so if we could incorporate that, that would be good.

Thanks

I would much rather travel by train with a baby. Both parents could interact with baby, and you could easily make a "nest" for baby on the seats.

~Liz

You really need to look at a map.

For Neuschwanstein the nearest rail connection would be Fuessen and you'd end up changing somewhere like Buchloe if you wanted to avoid going all the way back to Munich.

If you are absolutely determined to keep the car as long as possible yet want to drop it in Germany to avoid charges and take the train to Lucern then look at the possibility of dropping the car in LINDAU.

There's no way you are going to gate a train fro Berchtesgaden to Lucern in 6 hours; it takes that long to get there from Munich.

It's perfectly wasy to pick up a car in one country and drop in another - it's just expensive. There will be a drop-off charge that varies based on the agency you use and what type of car you have - and upgraded car - larger or automatic vs standard is usually more. Drop of charges are usually several hundred $ - but you would need to check.

For info on train schedules for all of europe you should check out bahn.de.

Berchtesgarden to Lucerne is at least 8 hours with 2 or 3 changes of train. From Fussen is faster - about 7 hours - but that is with at least 3 or 4 changes of train. You can check out other options.

"If you are absolutely determined to keep the car as long as possible yet want to drop it in Germany to avoid charges and take the train to Lucern then look at the possibility of dropping the car in LINDAU"

Lindau may be the second best solution, but Konstanz is much better: 2 (Swiss) trains from Konstanz to Zurich every hour, both with direct Lucerne bound connections at Zurich. 2 hrs 25 min up to Lucerne, standard fare 40 EUR/OW

Neuschwanstein is not in Fussen; it's a bus ride away. So best seen by car if you're traveling with a baby and don't want to make a lot of changes.

Car seats can be rented along with the car. But, to be sure you get a car seat, pick up the car in some larger location, like downtown Munich or its airport.

Mimar, we KNOW that Neuschwanstein isn't IN Fuessen. The OP wanted to know where they could drop the car and get a TRAIN and Fuessen would be the best place nearest Neuschwanstein to go to Switzerland by rail.

Thank you for the comment, the times I came up with were from google maps but I must have made a mistake as Berchtesgarden is now coming up as over 9 hours to Lucerne on the train!

I think every baby is different but mine is VERY energetic and would never sleep on us as its too exciting, she needs to be strapped in to something to get the message its sleep time! 9 hours with her on my lap....OMG, like trying to wrestle a litter of puppies on speed!

We used Auto Europe's website and a map to search near the borders we were crossing to look for a town on each side that had rental car pick ups, drop offs. We chose one in each country and took a taxi across the border to pick up the next rental car.

For train info you need to go to bahn.de. It allows you only to buy tickets for trains starting in Germany but it has accurate schedules for all of europe.

I'm making some research for my trip. This is what I found out:

If you are going close to lake Constanza (Bodensee), you could leave your car in Konstanz or Friedrichshafen (both n Germany) and take public transportation to Sankt Gallen (the airport).
You could avoid 100-200 dollars of drop-off fees. I think Lindau was also an alternative.

The part I still haven't solved is how to get from any of those German towns to St. Gallen.
The DB Bahn app shows a trip around 1:30 - 2:15 hours with several changes of public transportation systems.
But maybe there is a way by the sea.

Good luck with your search. Please share your solution when you decide what to do.

B

Swiss trains from Konstanz to any place in Switzerland every 30 to 60 min
Catamaran from Friedrichshafen to Konstanz every 60 min
Ferry from Friedrichshafen to Romanshorn with immediate train connections to both, St. Gallen and Zurich, every 60 min.
No boats between 20.41 and 05.41

Several times have flown into Munich, rented a car, and traveled several countries. We make a loop that gets us back to Munich. Loved seeing the countryside and villages in Germany. Has become one of our favorites. The last one we included a trip to Lucerne on our way to Lake Como. You didn't say where you are departing to return home.

We are probably going to hire a car for the whole trip now, just too hard with a baby (and my brain!) so still going to be hiring a car across borders but now will pick up in Munich and drop off in Paris.