Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Driving in Germany

Hiya, Harzer!! "How do you respond to the contention that train travel severely limits your choice of accommodation and can therefore interfere with your overall enjoyment of the trip?" I think I've also responded to that question before. Although many travelers just taxi to wherever they have booked, I make it my policy not to do so, and train travel indeed confines my accommodations to an area within walking distance of the station (or compels me to use other public transport.) But I don't see this limitation as "severe", nor do I believe it compromises my enjoyment. I usually prefer to stay in or near the center of whatever town I’m in, where I don’t have to transport myself just to get a bite to eat or to do something interesting for an afternoon. Although in the US, centrally-located digs can often cost you dearly, in Europe, I have always found it easy to get reasonably priced accommodations that are also central. In larger cities, where fewer such places exist centrally, I always book in advance and check out the location carefully. Occasionally, I’ve stayed in suburbs and trammed into town as needed. And who wants a car in Berlin or Paris anyway? In small towns, it’s usually a non-issue. I subscribe to the Rick Steves packing philosophy, so everything I (and my other family members) take is in one carry-on sized pack that I can tote around at will. Now, if you’re married to someone like Zsa Zsa Gabor, you clearly can’t travel this way. But as a 50-year-old in good health, getting my luggage to the platform and walking to my centrally-located B&B is about as troublesome as brushing my teeth. What really mucks up my trip is driving - getting stuck in Autobahn Stau, taking the wrong turn somewhere, worrying about whether my parked car will be towed if I stay someplace too long, that sort of thing. For some, driving is playtime. For me, driving is work, and I don’t go on vacation to work. That said, I do think there are occasions when a car makes good sense. It’s great to have one for a day if there is some sight you want to see somewhere that isn’t served by train and is awkward to get to by bus. It’s great to have one if you’re visiting a region underserved by train, like Normandy, Germany’s Eifel, or the Belgian Ardennes. I in fact rented this spring for a few days so that I could get to the American Cemetry (Henri Chapelle) in eastern Belgium and to Monschau in Germany. It's great to have one if you want to do a farmstay. But Germany alone has 6,000 train stations, and it’s fairly unusual that one can’t get to a given destination conveniently by train. Planning an entire trip using an auto, a trip that includes common places that are well-served by train, is for me a bad use of my time. I’d much rather just relax and watch the scenery pass than jockey for position on the Autobahn. I enjoy getting a cup of coffee (and using the rest room without stopping!) and knowing that I’ll arrive at my destination on time and worry-free. It’s generally my contention that travelers who prefer the car over the train in a country as heavily train-tracked as Germany have never really done both for very long (or they can’t lose the feeling that they’d be stuck on something like Amtrak!) A good question would be, “Why do so many Germans travel by train instead of car?”