Driving the Romantic Road, then on to Paris
 

I will be drving the Romantic Road at Christmans of 2010, then we will head to Paris. Can we rent a car in Frankfurt and return to Munich (or vice versa), without a large surcharge. Or perhaps we should keep the car and drive to Paris and see sights along the way. I've been told not to keep a car in Paris, but the countryside nearby might be nice. Thanks for any advise that you can give me.

There's no additional charge for dropping within Germany, as a rule, only a small charge for dropping at a train station or airport rather than another city location.

Thanks, Russ.

Hi tb,

If you pick up a car in Germany and drop it off in France, there will be a large surcharge (usually).

Enjoy your visit.

((I))

Wintertime - wouldn't recommend driving Germany to France. There really won't be that much fantastic scenery to see along the way for the time/expense.

We got early "Prem's" fares on the voyages-sncf.com web site this December from Karlsruhe to Paris for 39 euros and we were there in about 3 hours because of it being a TGV. We left at 7:35 and got in at 10:30 ish...time to drop our luggage at the hotel and have a great lunch before starting our sightseeing. We played cards and relaxed during the short train trip. Great!

If we had driven, it would have taken us 6 hours (I know, because we tried that first in October) and paid way more in gas money along with the usual crummy rest-stop meal. And who knows what the driving conditions might have been like due to weather etc.

Unless something has changed recently or some rental companys have come up with a new rip-off fee, there's no charge for dropping a rental car at a train station or airport; only for picking a car up at a train station or airport.

How much time do you have?

We have actually 12 days (excluding travel to and from Europe days) on the ground. We hope to see highlights of the Romantic Road, highlights of Paris, and highlights of England. I realize that this is a lot of territory to cover, but we start early in the day and finish late.