Hi we will be spending several weeks in Europe in June, including a week in Strausbourg. We will have a rental car, and am wondering how difficult and/or expensive parking is in Strausbourg - and in German cities as well.

Thanks for your help ! Please respond here and/or write [email protected]

Parking is a premium in downtown Strausbourg. If you are there just to visit as we were in June, you feed a centrally located meter and get a ticket to put in your windshield. Does your hotel provide parking? I would ask the question.

Most larger cities in the area such as Colmar you will have to pay for the time you are there, but not in some of the smaller villages.

Exactly where are you going to visit, if you know. Maybe someone can help you city by city.

In Strasbourg just put the car in the hotel garage - or ask them where the nearest garage is - otherwise you are stuck searching for a place and when you finally find it there are very inconvenient parking rules/regs posted. (We tried to street park the first night and it took 20 minutes to find a space - then found we had to leave it at 6 or so the next morning.)

What about trains from Strasbourg to nearby towns? I haven't been very lucky in finding the cost or schedule for day trips. Would your car rental and parking be less than 2 or 3 train trips?

I can't help you with the costs, since I don't remember numbers that well, but if you are interested in visiting the Wine Road villages from Strasbourg, you will find that doing this by car is much more convenient. I have been to this area several times and I don't even remember seeing train stations in some of the smaller (but very popular) towns, such as Riquewihr and Kaysersberg. Even if these places are accessible by train, the schedule may not allow efficient use of your time.

We did find that parking was readily available in all of the cities (including Colmar) that were smaller than Strasbourg. One caveat, however, is that we have only been in these towns during the off-season (late Spring and early Autumn). The lots, which were always easy to find, will probably be more full in June. We were in Strasbourg last October and had a difficult time finding a parking garage with available spaces (and this was on a Wednesday).

One last tip. If you use the parking garages, whether in France or Germany, they usually work as follows- (1) You will get a ticket when you enter. (2) When you are ready to leave, find the ticket processing machine (just watch were everyone entering the garage on foot seems to be headed) and insert your ticket into the machine. (3) The machine will indicate an amount, which you insert (most machines take small bills or coins). (4) The machine will then validate your ticket. Insert this in the gate box and the arm will lift.

Years ago, the first time I parked in one of these garages, I realized that I didn't know how to get out when we were ready to leave. I had a ticket, but something was obviously missing since there was no one at the gate to pay. Fortunately, I quickly figured it out by watching what others did.

wnab1g, all schedules and costs are available on the French railroad web site, www.sncf.com Short train trips are always very cheap in France, though, so you don't have to worry about that.

I stayed in Strasbourg without a car and used the train for a day trip to Nancy, very easily. I was also going to go to Colmar (or Metz) but didn't have enough time, eventually.