Car rental question

Posted by ccamp22 on 07/08/17 09:16 PM

I will be traveling with my kids in southern Germany/Austria. We are spending our first night in Munich then want to head south the next evening. Two questions:

How difficult will it be to pick up a rental car from Munich to drive south?

We have two days at the end of our trip I haven't booked yet, after five days in Salzburg area we leave Munich at 2:00pm on Monday. Any advice on a couple of extra days...where to go in Austria or Germany? Possible Lake Chiemsee? I don't want to be too terribly fa from the airport for our car return. Could also return car earlier and take train to airport?

Advice appreciated!

Posted by Tim

Knoxville, TN, USA

07/08/17 10:19 PM

7209 posts

Where to go in Germany?? How about....Munich! Sounds as if you're just using Munich to fly in/out, but Munich is a great place to visit.

Posted by ccamp22 OP

07/08/17 10:28 PM

3 posts

Oh I should have been more clear! We are spending the first two days in Munich before heading out

Posted by Nigel

Northamptonshire, England

07/09/17 07:45 AM

32709 posts

If you hire your car in Munich it will not have an Austrian toll vignette attached to the windscreen. You need one of those to drive into Austria on the autobahn, and to drive on an autobahn in Austria. Easily available prior to the border at the last couple of rest areas before the border, cost less than €10 but fines are very high. Also for driving in Austria (you must be planning on that since you posted in the Austria Forum) every driver must have an IDP as well as your home license - available for less than $20 from AAA or CAA (plus photos). An IDP is not required in Germany.

Posted by Chris

Georgia, United States

07/12/17 06:34 PM

2 posts

I would recommend that you rent your car at the airport. That way you can return the car there and head out on your flight. You could always go to Füssen which is about a 2 hour drive outside Munich to see the castles. From there a 1.5 hour drive down to Innsbruck which is a beautiful trip. I did enjoy Innsbruck for the scenery and beauty of the mountains. Innsbruck is 2 hours west of Salzburg via motorway. Then it is about 2 hours from Salzburg to the Munich Airport. The vignette mentioned earlier is easy to get at nearly any service station close to the border. It is 8.90 Euros for a 10 day pass. http://www.asfinag.at/toll/toll-sticker That website you can use to look up purchase locations along your route.

Posted by ccamp22 OP

07/12/17 07:39 PM

3 posts

Thank you for that wonderful advice!

Posted by sla019

Augsburg, Bavaria

07/13/17 09:05 AM

2327 posts

Then it is about 2 hours from Salzburg to the Munich Airport.

There is no guarantee that you can make that trip in two hours on that old and crowded motorway and personally, I never would take that risk, considering that you have to arrive at the airport by 11pm (and turning in the car takes another hour easily). Rather I'd look for a hotel near the airport, say in Erding or Freising, and use day 1 for a leisurely trip from Salzburg to that place with stops at, say, lake Chiemsee (there is enough to do there even if you skip that clumsy copy of Versailles on Herrnchiemsee) and a cable car ride up to the Kamenwand or a boat ride on Lake Tegersee. On day 2 you could do a trip to Regensburg and Landshut. You could spend the last evening in the great spa in Erding. Most hotels, including the Best western Park hotel popular on the RS forum, offer a shuttle service to the airport, so you could turn in the car in the evening of day 2.