Suggestions for driving from Munich to Budapest (through Austria)
 

My friends and I have been doing some research on European car rentals and are torn on whether or not to rent a car for the 3 days we have free between Munich and Budapest.

Ideally we would rent a car in Munich, drive through Austria and drop off the car in Budapest, but have read that we face the following challenges:
1. rental car thefts are extremely common through Austria
2. the drop off fee in another country can cost as much as the rental

Does anyone have any recommendations? The countryside is supposed to be so beautiful so I'd hate to take the direct route via the train and miss out on some great sites along the way. Is it worth the cost and hassle?

Any feedback/suggestions/past experiences would be much appreciated.

I don;t think that car theft is a major problem except in italy. We have done road trips all over europe for may years and never had any problems.

there will be a significant drop off charge- how much depends on which agency your rent from and what type of car it is. IMHO the couple of hundred dollars extra is the price of a better trip and well worth it - but again, that depends on your budget.

This might help you decide what to see, but you'll need to plot some of the locations on your own map--most of the pictures are geo-mapped:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/...7622926792957/

What time of year will you be traveling?
Never heard that rental car thefts are common in Austria.

You can take cheap regional trains to Salzburg (around €30 for both). The autobahn A8 to Salzburg has traffic jams all the time anyway.
Rent car from Salzburg, drop off Vienna = no drop off fee.
(Alternative: check drop off fee for renting from Germany/Munich to Vienna. Sometimes that fee is not that high, around €50).
Take a more southern route through the Alps, the straight shot on A1 is not the most scenic one when you have time.
Take train from Vienna to Budapest.
Vienna-Budapest is more flat terrain again, so you won't miss out much on the train.

thanks so much for the feedback!

Wow, very impressed with those photos Michael, you must have had a great camera back in those days!

nz101,

Thanks.

The pictures taken in 1967 were with a Mamiya SLR fixed lens camera with an outside light meter. I do not even recall how one matched the meter reading manually with desired exposure.

The 1971 pictures were taken with a Konica T SLR. It was a great camera, and I loved its 57mm lens. But the lining rotted away and its mercury battery was no longer available, so I upgraded to a Canon AE. I am now using a Panasonic.