Train VS. Renting a car in Europe
 

After tedious long hours researching train schedules and prices I got in to "renting a car," after reviewing train prices for 3.
Do you have any advice traveling by car around Europe?
We will start in Germany, next taking ferry (with car), London, Paris, Lourdes, Austria, Germany.
We have 30 days for traveling.

It depends on your specific itinerary.
Many trips do both. Consider the expensive drop charges if dropping in a different country.

Generally, if you're going to be in large cities, the train is probably a better bet, since driving in cities can be an adventure and it's often expensive to park there. But as the previous poster said, it depends on your itinerary, and it's possible to do both.

Do not drive in London or Paris. Driving sucks, the public transport is good.

How do you plan to get from Lourdes to Austria? Would you drive across Western Europe or fly?

Remember, people in the UK drive on the left, not the right. Any car from Germany will be set up for right-hand drive, so you'll have an added challenge.

If you book early enough, you can get cheap train tickets. Why don't you post your detailed itinerary here, along with the time of year? The experts here can advise you when to take the train and when to drive.

But, in general, it's good to drive in the countryside, bad in cities. Trains take you from city center to city center, very conveniently.

Much depends on how you travel, and what interests you.

If one likes big city attractions such as restaurants, cultural things (museums, operas, orchestras), and like to have countless options for activities available so as to never "waste time", then take trains.

If one likes serendipitous moments/discoveries, a variety of scenery, the discovery of interesting things off the beaten track, never take trains.

I'd rent a car for the countryside, but I'd never drive in London, Paris, or any other big city.

As Tom18, says, parking is expensive--$25 per day or more.

I agree with all the above, especially tomboy.
Also how do you intend to take the car to the UK - there are no ferries from Germany, so you have to go to either the Netherlands, Belgium or France to cross to the UK. You would need to check with the hire company that you are allowed to take the car out of Germany, and specifically to the UK.
Actually if you are used to driving a LHD car it is probably as easy to take a RHD car to the UK as hire a RHD car there. As long as you remember which side of the road you must be on that is.

Fuel is expensive, but if there are three of you a car may work out more economical than trains, unless you are planning on a city to city trip all the way.

When are your travel dates? If you can book in advance, train will be fine. Why start in Germany? It would probably make more sense to begin in London head to France and then across to Germany and finally Austria...

And keep in mind the huge extra fee to pick up a car in one country and drop it off in another.

To the OP, your schedule looks like you just might be flying into and out of Germany (maybe FRA?). In that case, you have no drop off charges for leaving the car in another country.

We always rent a car. But, that said, when we visit Amsterdam, we park the car for a few days at the airport and take what we need into the city by train. Parking in Amsterdam is VERY expensive.

We drive in a lot of big cities (although have not been in Paris for 25 years, and London for closer to 30 years. Did not drive in London, but we did drive into Paris and leave the car parked for a few days while we toured.

I hate schlepping bags on and off of trains. I do not travel with just a carry-on, and neither does DH. Our one over night train experience will be one that we do not repeat!

Loco2com, we are arriving to Dusseldorf, Germany; my first try was flying to London; still is, rethinking about RH/LH driving.
Any suggestions about not expensive parking price in cities?

London has congestion charging. I am not sure how you overcome that in a rental car tbh - I drive around London, never through it.
You could look at staying away from the centre of the city in a hotel which offers parking, and travel in by public transport.

I live in teh Netherlands and have no problem driving my LHD car in the UK. I actually have more problems driving a RHD car there - keep changing gear with the door handle, and find road positioning difficult initially - something I never struggle with in my LHD car. I passed my test in teh Uk and drove for years there in a RHD car before moving here, but after nearly 30 years on the "wrong" side I can no longer drive a RHD car with confidence.
If you are alone then getting through car parks, or the Dartford Crossing is a pain, as you are on the wrong side for the ticket booths, but otherwise it's not a problem.
As I said though you must tell the hire company of your plans and get their permission to take the car to the UK.

We have rented cars and taken trains - depending on what we are doing. Trains are our default, but we will rent a car when we are going somewhere not well-served by the train or if we are going to want to stop and sightsee along the way.

I am curious about the train prices that you are finding though. Car rental pretty much always works out to be more expensive than taking the train - at least for us. You aren't using RailEurope to check fares are you? Their prices are very much marked up.

<i>Train VS. Renting a car in Europe
Posted by: PatriciaBriceno on Jul 1, 13 at 9:45am
Do you have any advice traveling by car around Europe? </i>

Here is an illustrated introduction to driving in Europe, http://tinyurl.com/3bc2ax. Ditto virtually everything already said here. One item not mentioned is the Renault lease and buy back program. That looks like it would fit in with your itinerary and potentially save you a lot of money. See http://renaultusa.com/. I think that this is offered by other auto companies and agencies as well. Shop around.