Rental Car Drive from Prague to Rome, is it a good idea?
 

Hi All,
We are thinking of driving from Prague to Rome at end of Sep 2015 and stop either in Salzburg or Florence for a night in between. Probably renting a car in Prague and drop off in Rome.
Any suggestions? Is it a good idea?

Thank you.

It's probably not a good idea due to the costs involved. You need to get a quote from whichever rental company you might use, but typically there is a drop off cost which can run into hundreds of €'s and the Czech Republic to Rome would certainly fall into that cost band. You may not even be able to take certain rental company's cars out of the country in which they're rented.

Get into Italy first, probably by train and then rent a car to drive down to Rome. You could also fly Prague/Venice but I'd guess that you're wanting to try and see the countryside in between.

Probably VERY expensive due to different country drop off charges - can be $500 or more.

If you just want to stop in one place train makes more sense, esp since you can't use cars in the center of either city - pedestrian only.

Car makes sense only if you are doing a lot of driving in countryside and small towns for a number of days and need a car to explore.

Cars are a liability in European cities, but great for exploring the countryside on local roads.

If you just want to go between cities, book a Prague-Vienna train from just 19 euros ($25?) at Czech Railways www.cd.cz/eshop

Book the Vienna-Venice/Florence/Rome sleeper at www.oebb.at with fares from 49 euros with couchette or from 89 euros with a bed in a cosy 2-bed sleeper.

In what sense are you thinking it is a "good" idea? Depending on which metric you think you are making "best", it can be a good idea or a terrible idea.

If you are a driving freak in spite of the drop-off fee, it is a good idea.

If you assumed you would save in transportation cost because you thought renting a car was cheap everywhere, you will be in for a big surprise. For example, Hertz will hit you with 15900 CZK for a cross country drop-off, that is about $675.00 on top of all the other rental fees.

On top of this, cities like Florence have ZTL restricted zones where only the authorized vehicles are a allowed. If you enter into this zone and wonder around trying to get out, it is possible to get video camera captured multiple times and come home with fines exceeding $1000.

In europe cars are great for road trips - we have done more than 20 - and love them.

But if just moving between 2 - or even 3 cities - they really don't make sense. will cost more than train - even without adding cross border drop off, you will pay at least 30 euros per night for parking and you can;t take them into the center of most towns - including Florence and Salzburg - which have pedestrian only zones.

And it looks like you are not contemplating a lot of time exploring between cities. If you are - perhaps then reconsider renting a car - but do check out the rental costs, including drop off, insurance and taxes.

Terrible idea. The OP said they planned to stop one night in-between, so it isn't to explore anywhere.

You can fly in 2 hrs on Czech Airways for less than 100 euro. You can probably fly even cheaper on Vueling or Smartwings.

We are thinking of renting car/van as well at least for a stretch in Europe. How many are you? We are 6, which means trains are very expensive - flying seems cheaper, but then you fly over so much. I know a car is huge pain in cities, but you get to see some countryside/ small towns. Every trip I remind myself that the goal of travel is not to save money.

Nothing worse than going half way around the globe then saying $20 is too much to pay for a museum, or whatever…