We are taking our 4 daughters 15,13,8,6 to Europe for the month of July. From the research I've done, I'm left conflicted as to which way to go...train or car. Originally I thought train for sure, but now I'm not so sure. We will be lugging suitcases (one per person) and I'm finding that some of the train rides can be quite long compared to car trips with train changes, etc. We would have more flexibility with a car and then we have a "rolling storage unit" if needed. Countries consist of Germany, Austria, Italy and France. Anyone have words of wisdom for me?
Thanks!

Unless Europe has been annexed to the US, you probably will get more responses on the Europe board.

Good luck!

With 6 people and what sounds like quite a bit of luggage you will have to rent some sort of mini-van - no european car will hold all that.

That leaves you with a couple of issues:

Finding a vehicle that will hold everything (if you decide to rent look carefully at how much luggage anything will hold - vehicles are much smaller in europe)

Narrow roads in town centers (highways and major roads are all fine and this should not really be a problem) and parking (may be a problem since much is parallel rather than head in - and spaces are typically very small in towns - so you may well have to use garages)

Traveling from city to city with luggage showing in the vehicle. This can be an issue - esp in tourist areas in some countries. (I would never leave a car with anything showing in it in any public place).

However - we do road trips all the time and find them much more enjoyable than train - go anywhere you want on your own schedule, take advantage of spending more time in interesting places and leaving less interesting ones sooner, not being tied to what may be infrrequent schedules, plus the serendipity of of getting off the main road to see anything you like (versus seeing it disappear behind you in the train window and knowing it's an opportunity probably lost forever).

For 2 or 4 definitely a car. For 6 - you need to resolve the issues above.

We flew within Germany for about $40 one way. Germany to France was about $65. The drive from Vienna to Salzburg was very nice, one way rental from Avis was cheap.
The train was the way to go between Salzburg and Berlin, we had a nice stop in Dresden.

Thanks for the input. I have some decisions to make. And, yes, after I posted I realized that I was in the wrong forum. Oh well, thanks for the input anyway.

I think you might want to use both, mini-van and train depending on how big the cities are that you are visiting. Trains are very comfortable but you have to respect a certian schedule and drag your luggage up the steps , down the steps, with not very much space for all the suitcases. A minivan allows you to go at your own space , stop in small attractive towns at your own leisure and save on transportation from train station to hotel. Make sure when you book hotels that they have parking right there because you'll have to walk with your luggage on uneven streets , go up and down steps and be exhausted by the time you get to your hotel. Also, picking-up a car in one country and returning it in another can be very expensive with drop-off charges.