Hello everyone,


I’m planning a trip to Europe from November 1 to 22. I plan on taking a direct flight from Los Angeles to Munich. After a few days enjoying Munich, I plan on renting a car and road tripping across Europe, visiting Dresden, Karlovy Vary, Prague, Vienna, Bratislava, Zagreb, Split, and finally Dubrovnik.

Here are the number of days I plan on staying in each region, but I am open to changes and suggestions

Munich 3 days
Karlovy Vary 2 days
Prague 3 days
Vienna 2 days
Bratislava 1 day
Croatia 10 days

I’m also open to visiting any other locations on this route if you’ll be so kind as to make suggestions, I’ll definitely consider them. Last year I did a road trip from Munich to a couple of Bavarian middle age towns, then to Tyrol and through many places in Austria, with the final destination of Vienna. This year I want to do something different. My main concern is the rental car

I want to drop off the rental car in Dubrovnik which will be my final destination. From there I will fly back to Los Angeles. In the past, I have used the car rental company “SixT” I rented a car from their Munich location and returned it to their Vienna location. There was one way fee of about $200. I tried to book through them but the one way fee for pickup in Munich and drop off in Dubrovnik was more than $800.

I really want to rent a car which would allow us to stop and go as we please along our route. It gives us more freedom and flexibility when compared to taking trains or public transportation.

Can anyone please recommend another company or another option to avoid such a high cost for one way fee?

im also open to general advice for this trip. Please see route map screenshot in attachments

thank you all in advance

Looking at the itinerary, it's possible to use public transport/trains until you get to Croatia (I wouldn't want a car in Prague or Vienna or any of the bigger cities), eventually picking up in Zagreb and returning in Dubrovnik. This would be a one way rental but in-country so unlikely to be very steep.

There are tons of ineresteing places to visit along your itinerary, like
Regensburg
Marienbad
Saxon Switzerland
Karlstein (slight detour)
Humpolek with ruins of the castle and Alexander Dubcek memorial
18th century city centers of Jihlava and Velke Mezinci
Brno
Sopron and the National Park Neusiedlersee
Lake Balaton with medieval cities, castles and palaces
Baroque city of Varazdin
scenic medieval cities of Rab and Pag
Zadar
Sibenik
Krka National Park
Trogir
Split
Hvar
Korcula

Count 3 1/2 - 4 hrs for your drive from Munich to Karsbad, 2-3 hrs more if you visit Regensburg resp 4-5 hrs more if you drive via Nuremberg and visit this city.
Count 3 1/2 hrs from Karlsbad to Dresden without any visit en route. Dresden deserves AT LEAST a full day.
Dresden - Prague is another half day journey.....

You write: "I really want to rent a car which would allow us to stop and go as we please along our route. It gives us more freedom and flexibility when compared to taking trains or public transportation"
This idea would be fine if you would have time for that. But with your time budget, you can just move on motorways and bypass all the places between those you mentioned above.

Don't take this the wrong way but coming from LA how much snow driving experience do you have?

Learning how to deal with snow and ice with a rental car is IMHO a bad idea. Especially when you tack on potential issues with different road signs.

You'd avoid the drop fee by not using one car. A German car is going to need to return to Germany. Somebody has to drive it back. That's fuel, labour and potentially other fees. Plus the car can't be rented until it's home. €800 doesn't sound out of line.

If you're set on driving drive near the border. Drop the car. Take the train/bus across. Rent a new car. Rinse and repeat

Ditto to all of the above (and the other posts as well). One serious snow storm and your whole plan is shot. Cross border drop offs add a lot -- often doubling the cost of a rental. I'd try to do as much by trains/buses as you can and leave the road trip to your time in Croatia. It is very likely no other rental company would have lower drop off fees and some may not even allow a Germany pick up / Croatia drop off.

train for distance
no car in a city
car for local visits between towns
cheaper, faster, easier

ANUJ - thank you, you are correct, it would be cheaper that way, but upon further consideration we’ve decided to keep the car even though it’ll be more expensive but it will save us some time with longer transport times using public transportation, also we want the ability to stop as we go whenever wherever

NECKERVD - thank you, firstly for the location recommendations, I searched each one and I added them to my list, now I have even less time haha, I definitely won’t be able to see all of them, but I need to plan this carefully so I don’t overwhelm myself, don’t feel rushed, etc. I also want some balance or calm/relaxation during this trip. You are right about the time limits with this itinerary. At the bottom of this reply I’ll list my new itinerary and hopefully you and others can guide me, I truly appreciate the advice

NICK - thank you, you are right the road conditions may pose a challenge. I do life in Los Angeles but I frequent the mountains which are an hour or two away, I have good experience driving in the snow. I’ve also reserved an Audi Q5 SUV with All Wheel Drive and winter tires, and will be extra cautious of the roads and I’ll research road signs before arriving. You’re also right about the advice to save money by rinse and repeat but we’ve decided the convenience of keeping it all the way is worth the extra money

JANISJ - thank you, I also agree with the previous comments, but we’ve decided to forget the budget and keep the car which has All Wheel Drive and winter tires

BILBOBURGLER - thank you, solid advice, but we’ve decided to keep the fat mostly for convenience of having it always and stopping and going as we please “on a dime”

I have updated our itinerary and would truly appreciate if you would take a look and let me know what you think. We are open to changes as we have only booked flights, no hotels booked yet. We have 21 days to do the following
Day 1 arrive Munich afternoon, check in hotel, enjoy city



Day 2 spend full day in the city



Day 3 pick up rental car, possible day trip to the Alps, Bavarian town or anything interesting as a day trip



Day 4 start driving towards Karlovy Vary with possible stops at Bavarian towns or anything along the way, check in Karlovy hotel



Day 5 full day in Karlovy Vary



Day 6 check out of Karlovy early morning head straight to Dresden, enjoy almost full day there, check in hotel just to sleep so no driving at night to Prague



Day 7 wake up early and drive towards Prague, stopping on the way to visit either Saxon Switzerland OR Bohemian Switzerland OR Bohemian Paradise Unesco Geopark. Which would you all recommend?… after that we’ll continue to Prague check in hotel before nightfall and enjoy what remains of day 7



Day 8 full day in Prague



Day 9 possible day trip from Prague anywhere worth visiting, or spend another full day in Prague?



Day 10 check out of Prague start driving toward Vienna, stopping en route in Cesky Krumlov as a day trip, then check in Vienna hotel, enjoy what remains of the day



Day 11 full day in Vienna



Day 12 check out of Vienna early drive to Bratislava, check in hotel and enjoy almost a full day



Day 13 check out of Bratislava and drive towards Zagreb, check in Zagreb hotel. Enjoy the last few hours of sunlight then some nightlife



Day 14 to 20 check out of Zagreb, we now have only 7 full days left to explore Croatia, I figure Zagreb doesn’t have much to do, do maybe we’ll head to the next destination that morning. I have a few places in mind before we reach our final destination of Dubrovnik where we’ll stay at least 2 days. Of the places we’re considering, (I’m open to suggestions) Plitvice and Krka national parks, Zadar, Rab and Pag islands, Sibenik, Trogir, Split, Hvar, and Korcula. I’m hoping 7 days will be enough, or if I have to skip some of these places. Also, where should I use as a base, or multiple bases? Before we reach Dubrovnik. This is something I still need to consider.



We will return our rental car on Day 20



Day 21 fly home

No. 7 days is not enough for the places you have and for the distance you are planning. Have you researched at all how long it takes to get from point to point. Not by Google. Google often underestimates time of travel. Also, how to get there. Korčula is an island. You will need a car ferry. Further, it is all but shut down in November. Most locals leave to mainland and many restaurants are closed, and even locals that run sobes aren't around to host guests. You may get lucky to have the larger hotels running....but for what? The island is pretty sleepy and caters to summer activities like beaches and water sports.

This is your trip. But, none of this sounds enjoyable to me as you will only be passing by many of these town/places. You will only be seeing outside of your car with a few stops for....? What? Lunch? Then back in you go.

You need to figure out what you will do with a car in the cities? For the 'in between' drives - sure a car is good. But in each city a car is a huge inconvenience.

gently trying to give advice without breaking cultural norms. You'll find trains easier. Advice above is trying to help.

This whole trip is going to spend most of the time in the car. Cities that certainly need more than one day! I would at least spend Day 9 as a second day in Prague instead of yet another day in the car for a day trip. You seem set on doing it, though, and it's your trip, but it's an awful lot of driving and seeing little at each stop. Just making an observation.

A lot of driving, searching for parking, checking in, checking out, repeat - for not much time in several wonderful cities. Road trips are fine - I love them myself. But not when visiting major cities Europe. Some day trips a one day car rental might make sense but for the bulk of your itinerary a car is more trouble than it’s worth. But it’s your trips and you seem set on your plan so I’ll stop beating this poor horse.

Don't forget that daylight is short in November and getting rapidly shorter. Sunset is around 16.30, sunrise around 07.00. Add the potential for grey, rainy/misty weather and driving becomes less than fun.

But as other have said, your trip, your choices.

Sounds like a nightmare to me, and a poorly researched one at that.

As Travel_Nerd said, you cannot possibly see all your potential destinations in Croatia in 7 days.

Get a calendar, mark it up with realistic estimates -- and by that I mean time to check in/out, pack/unpack, get lost/oriented, find parking, get to from your hotel to places you want to see, actually see those places, eat, drive, etc. And as for driving, if you use google maps to estimate, make sure you are specifying the time and dates correctly and then add at least 25%. And be sure to take daylight into consideration. I certainly wouldn't recommend driving after dusk if you can avoid it.

Good luck!

I am in agreement with everyone else here. I know we love our cars in LA but renting a car to visit multiple cities in the winter with short daylight hours and possible poor weather is not the best of ideas. I rent a car quite frequently in Europe but to visit the countryside not the cities and certainly not in the winter unless we are talking Southern Europe. I also agree that you are spending more of your time moving and less time taking in your destination.

@Travel_Nerd thank you, since reading your responses I’ve changed my itinerary slightly. We decided to spend one less day in Munich, since we’ve already been in Munich, and we decided not to visit Dresden this year. That gives us 2 additional days to work with. I’ll post the new itinerary at the bottom, but to keep it short, once we leave Bratislava on the morning at 7am on November 12 , we will arrive in Zagreb hopefully sometime around 12 Noon, which will give us a half day there. The next day November 13 is when our final 8 full days begin, we need to decide how to best spend this time in Croatia



Would you recommend we omit/skip Korcula? If we decide to visit, should we leave our car in the mainland or bring it to the island? Which destinations in Croatia would you recommend we go to during our last 8 days, to enjoy everything without feeling rushed? Thank you









@janisj thank you, I think we will park the car in a structure, like we did in Vienna last year. In Salzburg we were weee able to park it in our hotel outdoor parking lot. I guess it depends on the location, but if we see it’s more trouble than it’s worth to drive it, we’ll leave it parked until it’s time to move on to the next destination





@bilboburgler thank you, please dont worry I’m not too sensitive I appreciate all the advice. We’re definitely considering what @janisj said about the car inconvenience





@SusanP thank you, you are right, we considered what you and others wrote and changed the itinerary a bit, for example, were spending more time in Prague. Please see below. I’ll post the new full itinerary at the bottom, if you care to read please let me know what you think. The part we really need help with us the last 8 days in Croatia, how to plan that part of our journey, what we have time for, where to stay, how many days per location, etc



Day 5 check out of Karlovy, drive to Bohemian Switzerland, spend all day, check in hotel, in the morning either drive straight to prague or see a bit more or Bohemia then go to Prague check in hotel

Day 6 full day in Prague

Day 7 full day in Prague







@janisj we got a flexible car reservation so we’re definitely still considering changing the plan instead of having the car for 17 days non stop, maybe get them one at a time, but that does also add inconvenience of picking up and returning a car multiple times





@hetismij2 thank you, you are right, the weather won’t be the best, glad we got an all wheel drive car, we plan on waking up at 6am every day and being in the road by 7am on days when driving is required, so we can get to our next destination ASAP. We did modify the plan a bit to do a bit less driving, I’ll post the new itinerary below if you care to read let me know what you think. what we need the most help with is planning the Croatia 8 days after Zagreb





@kja thank you, I appreciate the concern, we got a flexible car so we can cancel, we are seriously considering yours and everyone else’s advice. We did slightly modify our itinerary for less driving and more time to enjoy Croatia. I’ll post the new itinerary below if you care to read, I would love to read your suggestions. We now have 8 and a half days in Croatia and are willing to cut some points of interests in Croatia







@mjs thank you, I think my previous good experience renting a car in Europe made me be less cautious. That was in early October of 2024. Munich - Garmisch - Stubaital - Salzburg - Vienna if I remember correctly . I might cancel the car, but the idea of running around with luggage from trains/buses etc is concerning and if we lose the car we have to rely on those modes of transport to do day trips and in between hotels we wouldn’t have a place to hold our bags while we explore, and lose the ability to stop wherever whenever we want… it’s a tough choice



We decided to forget the budget and possibly keep the car if that’s the most convenient for us (this is before reading your last reaponses, now I’m reconsidering)



at the moment our biggest concern is how exactly to spend the last 8 days in Croatia, after we check out of Zagreb on November 12



we are even possibly considering not booking any hotels after the grab and being spontaneous, but we have never done that before it sounds risky and could become a headache



regardless of that though, because we have eight full days how many of the points of interest do we have time for without feeling rushed, also how many days in each point of interest is the minimum and also how many hotels or bases do we need?



Plitvice and Krka national parks, Zadar, Rab and Pag islands, Sibenik, Trogir, Split, Hvar, Korcula, and finally Dubrovnik

is two full days in Dubrovnik enough or too much?

If I need to omit/skip any of the points of interest, which ones should I remove from the list?

this trip is or seems like the most complicated and difficult one I have planned yet so when I say, I truly appreciate all of your advice I really mean it. Thank you very much

please see my updated itinerary below

Day 1 arrive Munich afternoon, check in hotel, enjoy city



Day 2 spend full day in the city



Day 3 pick up rental car, drive towards Karlovy, visit a few Bavarian towns en route, check in Karlovy, enjoy rest of day



Day 4 full day in Karlovy - castle spa, beer spa, try different drinking hot springs, and Diana observation tower



Day 5 check out of Karlovy, drive to Bohemian Switzerland, spend all day, check in hotel, in the morning either drive straight to prague or see a bit more or Bohemia then go to Prague check in hotel



Day 6 full day in Prague



Day 7 full day in Prague



Day 8 check out of Prague drive towards Cesky Krumlov, spend entire day there, check in hotel



Day 9 check out of Cesky Krumlov, drive to Vienna, check in hotel



Day 10 full day in Vienna



Day 11 check out of Vienna drive to Bratislava, spend entire day there, check in hotel



Day 12 check out Bratislava drive to Zagreb, check in hotel



Day 13 to 20 check out of Zagreb, we now have only 8 full days left to explore Croatia, I figure Zagreb doesn’t have much to do, do maybe we’ll head to the next destination that morning. I have a few places in mind before we reach our final destination of Dubrovnik where I think we’ll stay at least 2 days? Of the places we’re considering, (I’m open to suggestions) Plitvice and Krka national parks, Zadar, Rab and Pag islands, Sibenik, Trogir, Split, Hvar, and Korcula

I’m hoping 8 days will be enough, or if I have to skip some of these places. Also, where should I use as a base, or multiple bases? Before we reach Dubrovnik. This is something I still need to consider.


We will return our rental car on Day 20, the day before our flight, or we can return it once we reach Dubrovnik since we may not need it there


Day 21 fly home





Per Bohemian Switzerland

“Given the option for an outdoor day trip, what is more recommended? Bohemian Switzerland National Park? Or Bohemian Paradise Unesco Geopark plus Hruba Skala castle and brewery?”

It is clear to me that you don't actually want advice on your itinerary. You want validation.

No, adding just one day will not allow your time in Croatia to be less rushed! I recommend you do some research into the places you have listed!

Have you researched what you are going to do in ANY of these places? My advice to you, on Croatia especially is take a good HARD look at where you want to go, HOW you get there ESPECIALLY if an island and lastly, check to see what is actually open. I will tell you this, it is now October 21st as I write this. A lot of small restaurants are already closed for the season. I noticed some hotels don't list availability after October 30th. You are going to run into this all over smaller areas of Croatia, especially the islands. I did that for YOU in about 10 minutes. I suggest you do the same.

I have been to every town and city on your list. It took me approximately 8 trips to see them I guess I dont understand a goal of basically just flying by, which is what you have here.

I am not going to provide any further comment on your plans. Especially when you're asking for advice, but not actually listening to it.

Have fun. Please submit a trip report when you return

The small changes you have made don't really help enough. You still have too many places where you have a day or less. And just because you have given Prague an extra day doesn't mean it's enough time there. I can't help with the Croatia portion, but it seems as though that is the part that most interests you. This may seem radical, but maybe you should confine the trip to Croatia! Give yourself time to hit the spots you want there.

If you keep your latest itinerary, in addition to possible parking problems already noted, know that the center of Cesky Krumlov is car-free. I'm not sure where you would park because I didn't drive, but it won't be near a central hotel.

Be careful about how much hot spring water you drink in Karlovy Vary. Your system won't be used to it, and you could end up with results you don't want (which might even keep you from continuing the next day because you'll be in bed)! That's also a town that has a car-free area in the center of town. Even a taxi couldn't drive me all the way to my hotel.

I spent 3 weeks in Croatia and saw most, not all, of the places on your list. As noted above, you can't meaningfully visit some of those places in the off season.

You are not being realistic and you are not taking meaningful steps to improve your plan. That's on you.

You came to this forum to ask for expert advice. You aren't taking it. Instead, you are wasting our time. I'm out.

One last comment about the rental. You may reserve a vehicle with snow tires and AWD.... but you get what is available. What are you going to do if they do not have such a vehicle in stock and the entirety of your plan has rain or snow in forecast? And, can you drive a manual?

Lastly, if you continue with your plan and do decide to go to a island in Croatia via car ferry.... you must tell the German rental agency of this. Many may not allow the rental under those factors.