Travel Through Europe in June
 

Hi, I am planning a trip in June, starting from Zurich Airport to Austria (Innsbruck and Salzburg) to Venice and finally ending the trip in Slovenia (Ljubljana) Airport. I was planning to rent a car and drive around these places. However, due to changes between countries, the car rental cost has become too much. Please can anyone advise what would be the best option to travel? I don't mind a combination of options - i.e. train + car etc. We have already made reservations and all are apartments in countryside, for which we must have a car. Will it be cheaper to return the hired cars within each cities and travel by train in between? are there any other cheaper options? We will be 6 people with children, therefore too many changes may also be tricky. I will be grateful for any suggestion. Thanks

As you have found out, dropping off a car in a different country will be the biggest cost adder, so I reco you rent a car where you need one locally, then use train to get between cities/countries. For some routes, intercity bus may actually be a better option than train if it is a direct route.

A quick look at www.bahn.de and I see one direct train from Salzburg to Venice (leaves 1:30am), but numerous train/train or train/bus options connecting through Villach. There are direct trains or buses from Villach to Venice every 2 hrs, so look into dropping off your car at Villach as an option. The drive from Salzburg to Villach is ~2hrs.

For six people, I'd probably just rent the car and accept the extra expense.

But if you do rent one just for Austria (keep it in Slovenia, return it in Austria at the end), you might consider return it to the nearest Austrian town to Ljubljana for example Klagenfurt - big enough to have an airport so probably has rental cars - and maybe take a bus from there to Ljubljana's airport. Could be the driver drops off the passengers at Ljubljana's airport a few hours early the day of departure or something and takes a bus back to the airport after dropping off the car.

http://www.kaernten-bus.at/fahrplaen...-lubljana.html

If not...to get from Venice to Ljubljana by public/private transportation, I suggest GoOpti, a shuttle service that should get you there in about 2.5 hours. I have not used GoOpti (I used a different service called DRD to get from Venice to Ljubljana) but would try GoOpti next time based on positive feedback I have heard.

For train info in general check www.seat61.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

Andrew is on to something there, in fact what he suggests is probably the easiest option by far.

If you need a car in Switzerland, rent it just for that country, or just use public transport. Then, use public transport again to get to Austria. Once there, rent another car but this time use it for the remainder of your trip, going to Italy and Slovenia and then returning it to Klagenfurt, which is connected to both Ljubljana and its airport by direct buses, operated by AlpeAdria Line. Another option is to return it to nearby Villach and take one of the 5 daily direct trains to Ljubljana. You can also get straight to Ljubljana Airport from Villach by transferring from the train to a local bus in Kranj.

I should add, the time savings incurred from having your car vs. using public transport to get to Venice and then to Slovenia more than make up for having to go to Austria just to return the car on your last day.

Some important information on tolls: make sure to buy a vignette (toll sticker) for Slovenia. As you'll be renting the car in Austria, the Austrian one will already be provided for you, while in Italy, tolls are paid at toll booths. You'll be able to buy the Slovenian vignette at motorway service areas in Austria and Italy on routes to Slovenia or practically anywhere in Slovenia itself. Just make sure it's affixed to your windshield before you actually drive on any motorways in the country. It costs €15 for 7 days and €30 for a month.