We are planning to fly into Frankfurt in Dec. 2006 and drive to Freiburg. I have a few specific questions: I have a Michelin map but it is pretty general; can I get a good German road map in the U.S.? What do I need to do as far as a Driver's License is concerned? (I am licensed in U.S.) Do I need to book a car ahead or at the airport? Does someone have recommendations for a rental agency? We will leave from Germany as well but may drive into France or Switzerland. Thank you FF!!

>good German road map in the U.S.?
www.amazon.de sell them and ship them for relatively low cost to the US.
>Driver's License
Your US lic is good for one year max
An IDP isn't needed nor accepted as an official document , but it doesn't hurt to have one.

Hi
We usually rent through Autoeurope. They're a wholesaler and work with many rental cos. As far as maps go I usually prefer fretag & berndt or Michelin. I don't know what you mean by a general map. Unless you want a map of a specific area, but going from Frankfurt to Freiburg a country map is probably best. If you live near a Barnes&Noble or another bookstore check them out. I usually go to Amazon.

I will be doing a similar trip in Oct and I have found that
Nova car rental seems to have the best prices. I got a IDP at AAA for about $18, and I can't help w/ the maps because I haven't gotten them yet. I would book your car ahead, I couldn't leave that to chance.

I bought a good Germany atlas from Amazon. I also planned my driving routes using www.viamichelin.com. This can give you door-to-door directions and I find them to be quite accurate.

Yes, you should probably reserve ahead of time. We rented our car thru www.gemut.com. They are rental car brokers and they beat autoeurope's price by about $50. We also used the rental car insurance provided by our credit card and declined the insurance offered by the car rental agency (Avis in our case). We also opted to pick up our car in Kelsterbach, which is just a short taxi ride from the Frankfurt Aiport. It cost us around 11 Euro and saved us the 19% airport tax or around $100.

All the previous comments are spot-on - especially good advice about avoiding the airport pickup fee. I have also used gemut and they made the deal through autoeurope at a price cheaper than autoeurope offered direct.

Note that if you drive into Switzerland on the expressway you will need to buy a vignette, about 30 euro. This is a little sticker that goes on the windshield. You can avoid this charge by staying on the smaller side roads.

If you are a first time driver in Europe get a book with the road signs and rules of the road. This in nothing complicated. It just helps to know the signs as not all are easy to figure out.

Also: Germans drive fast on the autobahn. Be fresh and alert when you hit the road. Stay in the slow lane always unless you are passing. That is one rule that is strictly enforced.

Vielen Dank!! You savvy Fodorites always have the answers. I will check out Gemut and go from there!

We will be landing in Frankfurt on Dec. 2,2006 and heading toward the Rhine for the first 3 days. We have already rented our car through Gemut as we do every year. We also have a Michelin map but rely heavily on our route planner by michelin printed out in detail. The Frankfurt airport has many maps and each region has maps at the gas stations that we have found good for more detail of the area. WE do use an atlas when planning at home but too bulky to take along.
Last year we picked up our rental car in Kelsterbach and it was great. You can return it at the airport for no extra charge. happy traveling

OP: And always worth mentioning when you book, and when you pick the car up, that you plan to take the car into both Switzerland and France before the eventual drop-off back in Germany. Some cheapo deals - often booked through brokers - may limit the areal extent of the insurance to 'country of rental'. You clearly need to ensure that no such restriction applies in your case.
Nicky
http://www.hiddeneurope.co.uk

For car rentals we always end up with either: www.novarentacar.com or www.autoeurope.com or www.gemut.com

All are brokers; i.e., they don't have their own cars but have discount arrangements with rental car companies. We usually end up with cars from Avis, National, or Alamo thru these brokers. All have given excellent service.

We like Michelin roadmaps, and also use www.viamichelin.com.

Unless something has changed in the last couple of weeks, you don't need an IDP in Germany, Switzerland, or France, but if there's a chance you'll enter Austria or Italy you are supposed to have one.

My last taxi driver used a GP device to get us home. European drivers expect you to know the local system. Buy an hour or so of instruction.