This will be my first trip to Europe and I am taking a tour that starts in Normandy and ends in Munich. I will be left off at the Munich airport in the A.M. I wanted to stay in Munich for a few days and then fly to Paris for 2 days. I was wondering if I would be better off driving to Paris and staying a night or two along the way to see more of Germany/France or just flying direct to Paris.Thanks for any advise. Frank

Most rental companies charge a very high drop-off fee if you're returning the car in a different country. That's the first thing you need to figure out.

I am traveling in a group of 3 people. The airfare is about the same as a car rental.

Frank,

Is this a solo trip?

Given this is your first trip to Europe, I would opt for the plane and not bother with the headache of a car.

Frank,
As others posted, I would also recommend flying instead of driving. You have only a few days on both ends, and Munich-Paris is probably 800-900km distance. Even Strasbourg to Paris was nearly 6hr driving (we later joked as our stressbourg drive). The distance is too long to drive.

I have driven from Paris to Munich, but I broke up the trip by stopping in Strasbourg and then again in the Black Forest. You could do it in one VERY long day, but that would require staying on autobahns/autoroutes the whole way, and what's the fun of that? Given your limited time, seems like flying is the way to go.

Have you checked fares with Air Berlin? It's a budget airline that flies Munich-Paris Orly. To get the best price, book ASAP.

Or you could take the direct Munich-Paris night train which would save you the cost of a night in a hotel and give you more daylight hours for sightseeing. Booking opens 90 days in advance and you must book ASAP (at sncf.com or bahn.de) to get discount tickets. They can be as low as E70 (regular fare is E127) for a bunk in a four-person couchette. The fare for a bed in a two-person sleeper is E156 (no discount offered).

Hi g,

Enter Munich to Paris at www.viamichelin.com and click "economy".

If you want to take 3 days (2 nights), you could stop at Lake Constance for a night, and another night in Alsace or Burgundy.

However, you are likely to have a large drop off fee.

Check with www.autoeurope.com, www.novacarhire.com and www.gemut.com

Thanks for your responses. I guess I didn't post the right mesage, but I would appreciate any advise.
1- I checked the airfares and car rates- for 3 people it is about even cost wise.
2-I have 6 full days to split between Munich and Paris. I was planning 2-3 days in Munich and at least 2 full days in Paris, so I wanted to see a few more sights by cutting Munich to 1&1/2 days and driving 2 days to Paris stopping at some sights not offered on day trips from either location. Thanks again for any advise and locations worth seeing along the way.

Here's a 2-day Munich-Paris driving itinerary that I did in 2005:

Leaving Munich early a.m., we drove down to Linderhof, which in my opinion is the most interesting of the King Ludwig castles to visit, and not quite as mobbed as the 'Sleeping Beauty' castle, Neuschwanstein. After lunch, we headed for Lake Konstanz, taking a brief detour to see Neuschwanstein but only from the outside. We overnighted in Meersburg on the lake...even though it's a tourist town, they don't seem to get a lot of foreign visitors, because we ate dinner in a restaurant where the staff spoke no English, and with my extremely poor German I was not at all sure what kind of "fisch" I had ordered -- happily, it was delicious and fresh from the lake. Then the next day we drove up into the Black Forest, stopping for lunch and a walk at Titisee, then continuing on to Freiburg. Ordinarily I would have spent a couple of hours in Freiburg, but my traveling companion wanted to press on across the Rhine to Mulhouse where there is an automobile museum...not my cup of tea, but if you love vintage cars, they have an amazing collection. Then, leaving Mulhouse in late afternoon, we drove up toward Nancy, taking a scenic 2-lane road through the Vosges, which was really lovely. (I don't remember the route number but a Michelin highway map will show it.) Then from Nancy we took highways and autoroutes back to Paris -- not very scenic, but it was dark by then. In hindsight I would probably have taken one more day, either staying over in Freiburg or in the Vosges, or perhaps an extra day at Lake Konstanz. But it's certainly do-able in 2 days, and except for the last couple of hours heading into Paris, the scenery along the way is all pretty nice. You didn't mention what time of year you were traveling ... our trip was in late April, the weather was fine and nothing was crowded. Many of these places would be far more crowded in summer, of course.