ljv

For our proposed August trip to Germany/Austria/italy, i am trying to determine which of the following options would be most expedient/cost-effective:

1...Pick up a car upon arrival in Frankfurt, drop it off in Florence . This option probably gives us the most flexiblity for touring around....Rothenburg,Munich Mittenwald, Salzburg...Venice for 1 night, Tuscany for 6 nights.

2...Pick up a car at Frankfurt Airport...tour Rothenburg and Romantic road down to Mittenwald for 4 nights, head up to Munich for 1 night.Drop off car... Train to Venice, stay 1 night,,,Train to Florence, get rental car for duration of stay and drop off at airport prior to departure.

Any suggestions or alternatives? We(family of 4) are trying to keep costs down as much as possible.

Thanks so much for all your input!!
Lori

J62

What is the cost difference quoted by the rental car co's?

bobthenavigator

The # 2 option is feasible, but I not sure I would opt for only one nite in Venice---too much cost/hassle for one nite.
You do not want a car in Florence.

StCirq

You need to ask the rental company, but generally picking up in one country and dropping off in another will cost you an extra $500+.

AisleSeat

Check with Gemutlichkeit Travel Gemut.com for two different quotes. When you rent in Germany there is a 19% surtax on cars picked up at airports or train stations. The cross-border drop fees at a couple of hundred dollars. While you are in Munich having a care is more of a hassel than it is worth with traffic and parking headaches.

ira

Hey lj,

>Venice for 1 night

I wouldn't bother.

It will cost about 20E to park the car.
You will have barely enough time to get your bearings before you are inundated by the daytrippers the next day.

May I suggest driving through Tuscany for 3 days prior to dropping the car in Venice?

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zeppole

What time of year is this? How old are your kids?

In the heat of summer, I might pay a premium to keep the car to drive into Italy and therefore not have to spend a lot of time negotiating hot train stations with my luggage and kids if they are quite young.

Whether I kept the car all the way or picked up a new one in Italy, I'd arrange my trip to see the Dolomiti, and in high summer, skip the heat of Tuscany enitrely, especially with very young kids I'd take the family to the Dolomiti and Lago di Garda, drop of the car in Venice, spend 2 nights and fly back.

If you divide the cost of the drop off charge by the number of days you are traveling, you can come to a personal assessment of how much the extra cpst per day it is worth it to you for the convenience.