I'm looking into just a one-night stay in Paris while visiting my family in Germany. I thought the ICE train would be the way to go but at 137 euros one way and taking 5 and 1/2 hours....I'm thinking driving would be better. I could rent the car cheaper and get there in the same amount of time. Any thoughts?

Hi,

From where are you starting?

And will it be only 1 person in the car? Or 2+ people sharing the cost?

If you really think you can get there as fast as an ICE does go ahead. Have you thought about the cost of parking as well?

Have you looked into the possibility of using a budget air carrier?

You left out so much info -- like where in Germany, what time of year, how many of you, etc. ?

But in general a 5.5 hour train ride would probably be an 8 to 10 hour drive. And if it is winter you are talking about, add even more time for nasty weather.

I personally wouldn't do a 1 day/night trip to anywhere (even Paris) if it took that long to get there.

Only you can answer the questions you've posed. Only you know where you're starting from, what constraints you've got and how many of you there are.

Any advice from people on this board about time and cost is pure speculation. What's more, you're every bit as capable of doing the calculations yourself as anyone else.

But it does look as if you've not used the mappy or viamichelin sites to calculate drive times (it'll take over 4 hours to drive to Paris from the Saarland, and a great deal longer from anywhere else in Germany). Have you really interrogated the SNCF and Bundesbahn sites for the best possible rail deals?

And if you're starting from a reasonable size town, why haven't you looked at cheapo flights? Germanwings, for example are offerinfg €28 for Cologne-Paris flights in January, and Easyjet are still offering €8.49 (yes, that is 8 Euros, though it won't be by the time you've read this) for flights from Berlin.

Sorry everyone for not being more clear. It would be 2 people (husband and I) leaving from either Mannheim or Frankfurt. 136 euros per person each way would come out to 544 euros which is SO not worth it. I did mappy and it said the drive would be around 525km (about 5 hours) which would make it the same as taking the train....and considering we can rent a car for only 300 euros for the entire week---it seems like the way to go. I just really thought the ICE trains were supposed to be faster than cars.....

Since you are visiting family, why don't you ask them? They are probably familiar and can advise you. I agree with others that this may not be as simple as you seem to think it will be. They can advise on routes to travel and possible reasons why you would or wouldn't want to do this.