Wekiva

I'm looking at renting a van for 8 people next summer to get from Lucerne to Salzburg. Our intent is to spend 2 days making our way slowly with stops in Liechtenstein and at the castles around Garmisch. I haven't gotten to the point of calling rental companies (that's next) but have tried just about every US and European rental company and I can't even rent a simple car for that pick up/drop off combination (much less a van). I expected there to be an extra fee for the different countries...but not a total lack rental ability. Does anyone have any advice? Maybe Lucerne is too small for much rental ability...maybe train up to Zurich and rent there?

One other question that is related - if we have Swiss passes and the last day is our departure day, will the pass cover a train trip from Lucerne to a city just on the other side of the border in Austria where we could then rent a car with pick up/drop off in the same country. Now, exactly which Austrian City that is remains to be seen. The question - is there a charge for taking a train out of Switzerland on a Swiss pass and getting off in Austria. And if there isn't...how far into Austria could the Swiss pass leg get us before charges apply?

Christina

Salzburg isn't exactly a huge metropolis, either, you know.

However, I have no idea what you are doing wrong but all I did was go to www.autoeurope.com and got at least a dozen offers or more of both cars and vans for such a trip.

Maybe your problems is contacting American car rental companies. Europcar will be the biggest operator for what you want, I suppose, but even Autoeurope had offers from Hertz for that trip (cars, not vans, Europcar had vans).

nytraveler

There are numerous car rental agencies in Lucerne. Perhaps the problem is the size vehicle you want - they may not offer anything that large. I would CALL a couple of the larger agencies that have offices there (Hertz, Avis, Europcar) and ask what the problem is.

Wekiva

That's strange...I tried sixt.com and autoeruope.com and both came up with no options. That was before I even told them I wanted a van. I'll check again tonight.

Any input on the Swiss Pass question I buried in a car rental thread?

Wekiva

At autoeruope.com I enter Lucerne - all locations for pick up and Salzburg - all locations for drop off for June 1 to June 3 for next year. The response I get is:
Sorry, no results were found for your search, please try a new search.

Is 10 months out too long? AHhhhhh...that's it. For September of this year there are plenty of options.

PalenQ

Swiss Passes only cover travel within Switzerland with few exceptions and going into Austria is not one. But you can buy a supplemental ticket to take you from the Siwss border town - Buchs in your case to Bregenz - just a few miles and a few francs - Bregenz is a largish city sure to have many car rentals. Buy that supplemental ticket before boarding the train in Switzerland so you do not have to get off.

for lots of stuff on Swiss Passes check www.swisstravelsystem.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com (any such questions call Byron there - I've bought many passes from him thru the years and IME he will expeertly answer any question about passes even if not buying); www.ricksteves.com.

Wekiva

Thanks Pal. I believe I bought swiss passes thru Byron in 2011 per your advice.