I am flying into Munich next Monday and was planning on driving to Lake Como. My travel agent has just TODAY! told me that the drop off rate for the car that I was planning to rent is $800!!!!!I can't believe that after three months of organizing this trip and arrangements finalized, that she dropped this bomb on me. Does anyone know of a solution for a direct route into Italy from Munich via rail? bus? I was planning a lovely driving itinerary and am now at square one. Suggestions anyone? puleeeze.

You have a couple of options, but these are long train rides...8 hours or so.
There is a direct train from Munich to Milan (leaving 13:29 and arriving 20:45 on EC 89). From Milano Centrale, trains run to Como pretty regularly. However, if you were planning to then catch a ferry to another town on the lake, you might arrive too late...perhaps an expert on the ferries will help you there.
There areother train options, but these require changes.
For example, you can catch a train from Munich at 12:13, arriving Zurich at 16:27 and leaving Zurich at 17:09 arriving Como at 20:53. Again, problems with catching ferries might occur. But it's a pretty ride, especially from Zurich down to Como.
www.bahn.de will help you look over your options (click on international guest to get the site in English).
Rex or another low cost airline expert here will probably recommend an air altnerative. Flying would be a lot faster, obviously, and could be cheaper than that train.
If you do take the train, I strongly recommend you get a reserved seat rather than fuss with trying to find an unreserved seat (my own experience is that most seats are reserved for at least some part of the trip). Also pack as light as you can.

Have you tried checking the car rental sites yourself? they don;t allhave the same restricitons - and you might find one with a lower or no drop off charge - althouth I know a lot of campanies don;t like their cars left in Italy.

Another option - grab a cheapie flight to Milan and do the trip in reverse - you might get a much better car rental price that way.

Flying onward to Milan or vice versa would be easier, of course but depending on your arrival time in Munich you can also route yourself through Verona and Milan then to Varenna leaving as early as 9:30 Am and arriving Varenna at 7:15 PM.
I've done variatiuons on this trip several times and loved it but i still think you'd be better off exploring the flight options.

You can take an overnight train from Munich to Milan, arrive early then catch the train to Varenna. Where are you staying at Lake Como?

Hi wassy,

Can you drive your car to the border, drop it off and take a train to the closest Itlaian city from which ou pick up another car?

Have you tried http://www.novarentacar.com/

It's been reported that they have very good rates.

Well, wassy, what have you decided? You've received some really sound suggestions. J.

Without researching this further, I would say that the solution that jumps first to my mind is to take a train from Munich to Bolzano, Trento or Verona and rent an Italian car there. You don't actually specify where you plan to leave the car, and since there is no airport IN Como, I am guessing you plan to drive from there to some airport (perhaps as close as Milan Malpensa, but conceivably somewhere else, maybe not even in Italy).

One other minor thing - - you referred to your travel agent having "dropped this bomb" on you...

but I made the same comments to you on your very first post here...

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34494706

"Secondly, you may have to face a hefty drop charge to leave a German car in Italy."

Best wishes,

Rex

Thanks and yes I was warned about the drop charge but I believed my agent when she sent the total and there wasn't a drop charge included. I have looked into the suggestions and will take a train from Munich to Bolzano, rent a car there and drive on to Lake Como. So, now that I have that problem taken care of and a new driving itinerary, any suggestions for a two day scenic route Bolzano to Como. PS thanks so much for your help.

This is strictly from looking a map - - not based on personal experience (well, a tiny fraction of it is)...

From Bolzano to Como, you have three choices:

1. the easy route: Bolzano down the (Innsbruck-Verona) autostrada to the junction with the Verona-Milan autostrada, head due west; circumnavigate Milan and head northwest for an hour or so, and you're done - - total trip, not much more than 3 hours (this is the only part I know from personal experience) - - not what you want, as far as I can tell.

2. Hope someone can give you a route they know to be scenic between the two. I can't.

or - - and this is very likely what I would try...

3. Just get a good highly detailed map of the triangle defined by Bolzano, Bregenz and Lugano, and just start picking smaller and smaller roards that look winding and clearly take you into the more rugged terrains, possibly making up your route as you go along. You can (<i>almost</i be sure that every road that leads up into the mountains eventually comes down to lower elevations somewhere. Be an explorer! Find new roads that no one has driven. Head vaguely in the direction of St. Moritz perhaps, taking the craziestroute you can find to get there, and from there, back towards como.

None of your options would be clearly better or worse than the other, IMO.

Thank you for the advise. I will be brave and explore as suggested....gulp!

That's the spirit! Let us know about it when you get back.