We'll be staying in Paris 4 days and then onto Germany for 5 days in late July. We are a family of 6 and want to know if public transportation will be adequate or if we should invest in a car rental. What are your thoughts? With 6, it seems to me we may be better off with a car because of the flexibility, but maybe we don't need one.

In Paris a car is a complete waste. If you need one to get to and around Germany depends on what your plans are. Will you be staying in one or two cities? Will you be moving around a lot?

Also, cars in europe will not hold 6 people (don't even know of any cars in the US that will hold 6 any longer - but perhaps there are) - you will need to rent some sort of a van (think they call them people movers). Check out the rates for this vs train - which may give you some sort of family discounts.

It may make the most sense to take the train to Germany (Frankfurt? Koln?) and rent a car there - unless you are planning on touring in eastern France before Germany. (The drive from Paris to the German border is really quite flat and boring unless you get off the highway and into the cute little towns.)

Hi Nancy45,
As nytraveler says a car in Paris is a complete waste, the Metro is very good and transportation is not really a problem.
Some manufacturers(VW,Ford Vauxhall(opel)Renault Citroen) make people carriers now, which will carry 6+ people with some bags.Its worth checking out rental companies for this.

Good Luck

Muck

I agree that a car or van will offer ultimate flexibility and the need to rent one depends on just what you are planning to do with it.

If you are going to use it only to get from Point A to Point B (you do not say what you are going to be doing once you get into germany and knowing that would be of great help) then travel by rail might be ultimately cheaper, easier, etc.

Are you prepared to pay a drop-off charge for the car or are you driving BACK to France to fly out?

I agree that the car would be unnecessary in a city such as Paris and ditto for a number of places in Germany.

If you want better answers you really need to tell us more about your plans.

I agree with the previous post, and I'd add that 6 people PLUS luggage is an absolute non-starter unless you rent a minivan. If you choose a minivan, I have rented a Renault Espace a couple of times (with 5 speed shift and 2.2 liter diesel engine plus A/C) and have really liked the car. It's basically the equivalent of standard minivans in the U.S. such as the Dodge Caravan. And with the diesel engine, the mileage was good and there really wasn't a performance problem on the high-speed highways.

Anyway, if you rent a minivan you will probably save money for the transportation relative to 6 train tickets unless you get some kind of good family deal, as already noted. However, if you rent in France and then drop off the car in Germany, there will be a dropoff fee. The fee could offset any savings in the car rental, so you should compare all the costs before making a decision. Maybe a short train ride to the border, followed by a car rental in Germany if you want or need the flexbility, would be the best financial deal. Good luck.

As I've posted before, We had a car in Europe but the only time we used it was from point A to point B then left it parked at the hotel at a cost of 5 to 15
Euros per day! Forget about driving in any city in Europe its to crazy plus you'll never find a place to park except
at a pay for parking lot! The cost of a van plus fuel, Tolls, car wash, parking fees, and drop charge you'll be better off taking the train. We're going back in May without a car.

Another ditto on the car in Paris, no need, you will have trouble finding parking, and driving can be "hectic"...too mch stress for a holiday. I read somewhere that in Central Paris you are never more than 1500' from a Metro station, and its not exensive. And the thing with Paris, it MUST be seen on foot, that is when you can really see and absorb the culture, not watch the cafes/patisseries from a car window as you drive from place to place. Any site you want to visit, there will be Metro or RER (rail) access.

Are you touring in Germany or going to a specific city? If touring, follow the advice and take the train to Germany and rent there. If you are only going to spend time in one city, I would ditch the rental idea. In European cities I find that driving is great if you are touring the countryside and driving through cities, but if I was only going to be in one or two large cities, I would rely on public trasnport, it's very good in Europe. When I went to Austria, we flew in to Vienna, stayed at central hotel, and toured there on foot and using subway. When done, rented a car, left the city and toured the countryside by car, finishing at our departure airport.

Hope this helps
Mike

I usually advocate public transport, as when I and my wife travel I do all the driving, so I don't get to watch the scenery.

However, with a large party such as yours, a van might be advantageous economically. I would look into how much public transportation costs for your group. I know in some places (Switzerland, for one) children under a certain age ride free if they are with a parent. Unfortunately, I don't know the rules in France and Germany.

Your precise question is whether public transportation will be adequate, and the answer is clearly yes. As a rule, Europe has invested heavily in public transport, and it is clean, convenient, and inexpensive. We have yet to find anywhere we couldn't get to on public transportation.

We seen public tranportation buses running miles outside of cities which was unbelievable to us! Even small towns had buses in places I would have never dreamed of!