Car Rental in Paris and traveling to other countries

5 countries in 2 weeks on a circle route from Paris. Exciting isn't quite the word that springs to mind, but to each his own. You must have reasons of your own for preferring driving over using the excellent train system. I assume you've already arranged for your International Drivers Permit and studied up on the various traffic laws and road signs you'll encounter. And have checked Google maps or viaMichelin for your travel routes so you know how far you'll have to drive each day and spend on gas and tolls. You know the difficulties in driving within all the larger cities as well as the difficulty and costs associated with city parking.

I'd be very interested in what company is renting cars for $10-20/day, and what kind of car it is. AFAIK, rental cars in Europe come with liability Insurance only. You can check your credit cards to see if they would cover collision damage; otherwise you would need to add on the rental company's collision coverage.

As for accommodations, and winging it- it's possible, if you aren't fussy about where you may end up, or have the budget for an expensive place if that's all that's left. Not knowing exactly where or when you're going, it's hard to say. It might be a good idea to see if there are events occurring while you are there that may affect occupancy rates. At the very least, perhaps make reservations online a day or 2 before you arrive at each place.

I think it might be best to take trains between your main destinations. You can relax and watch the scenery. Bring food and drink onboard and have an adventure. Unless you are going to stay only in the countryside you really do not want to drive or find parking in the large cities.

And, if you are staying in the countryside only, you need to do heavy research on your routes and potential lodging that fits your criteria, whatever that might be.

Please keep in mind that a 14 day trip loses 2 travel days. So, since you need to check in and out of hotels and drive or train to your next destination, you will lose 5 days with traveling. That means you will have about 1.5 days on the ground in only one city in each country

And then you need another day to get back to Paris for return flight

I would suggest enjoying France and maybe add Amsterdam to your itinerary

Another small piece of advice, do not rent a car through Travelocity. You are adding a 3rd party in the middle of your transaction. It is very hard to change things or report issues. The reason you see $20/ day on Travelocity is that price does not include taxes, premium pick up location fee (airports, train stations) and other fees. I think if you go to Europcar or AutoEurope you will see that the base rate is $20 but they are disclosing the total costs up front.

Like stated above you will need an International Drivers Permit, major insurance coverage from a premium credit card (or add that cost to that base fee), knowledge of specific driving laws of each country, lots of coins and cash for toll roads, and very good knowledge of where to find legal parking in big cities. And these parking areas will not be anywhere near the center of the city and/or your preferred hotel!

So I did a trial run, chose an economy car from Europcar at $12/day, total $249 for a 14-day rental. Then I read the fine print:

State and local taxes. VAT-20%. -Additional Driver Fee- €8.00 per Additional Driver and per day. €56.00 maximum per rental and per Additional Driver. -airport charge- €33.01/excluding tax/will apply on all rentals starting at airport stations . . . . -railway surcharge- €33.01/excluding tax/will apply on all rentals starting at railway stations. -licence and fee surcharge- €2.01/excluding tax/day. €26.00/excluding tax/maximum per rental. . . . Personal accident insurance . **€10.00 per day for all car groups

Then there's Collision Damage Waiver (CDW) which may be required by law, although if you can prove you are covered by your credit card company, your auto insurance policy in your home country

** Personal accident insurance - sounds like it may not be optional

Any driver under 25 will likely add to the daily rate as well.

Thank you each for the kind replies and advice. It is very helpful. The train (Eurorail) appears to be the best option for a majority of the trip. We are looking to get a 5-day pass. It appears that we can use that any 5-days within the month. Also, this includes all the commuter trains as well? meaning not just the high speed trains between major cities.

I did submit an application for an International Drivers Licences and reviewing street signs for France. We are looking into renting a car for a couple of days from Lille, France and travel the west coast, Honfluer, Normandy, Mont St. Michel and wrap up in Paris.

Thanks again,
Darl

If you had to submit an application for an IDP, can we take it that you are not travelling from North America? Perhaps India?

Your car rental quote is in dollars? What kind of dollars? US dollars?

You will need a Swiss Vignette (toll sticker) to drive on many roads in Switzerland. It will cost CHF40, or slightly less in Euro, needs to be properly affixed to the windscreen, and is valid for a calendar year.

If you use the Eurail pass you should know that for many trains in France you need to buy additional seat reservations (only on regional trains do you not need to do that) and they can be expensive. They vary on type of train and the route and date you are travelling. While an extra cost with a rail pass they are included in the price of a normal ticket, and you can get normal tickets pretty cheaply if you plan well ahead.

But it sounds like you want to be "flexible" so planning ahead to save money wouldn't work in that situation.

There are certain things that you need to know about travelling in Netherlands and Belgium by train, especially if you want the Thalys high speed train. The pass holder reservation fee is very high, nearly as much as a ticket, but planning ahead can save you a lot of money there too. Or you can use a combination of much slower trains and not need to buy a seat reservation.

If you drive, do you know about the speed cameras? And the change from 90 kph to 80 kph on rural French single carriageway roads?

Where are your stays with family? Where in Germany have you got hotel reservations?

If you shared your prospective itinerary we could understand the 5 countries in 2 weeks plan that you have.

Happy travels

A lot of travelers buy rail passes and then discover they cost a great deal more than individual tickets would have, though the cost comparison does depend on where you're going, what kind of trains you're taking and whether you're in a position to choose specific departure times in advance. It's a good idea to price out your planned rail journeys to be sure the price of convenience isn't too high--even assuming you call having to buy (and pay for) seat reservations on the express trains "convenient".

Switzerland has some Alpine transportation not covered by the rail pass.

To the extent that you travel to or from small towns, you may spend little time on express trains. In that case, you won't need reservations to use your rail pass, but you also won't be subject to ticket prices that increase as you get closer to your departure date. The amount you'd spend on regional trains in one day is unlikely to be as much as the average daily cost of the rail pass.

In addition, those trips to and from small towns may be more efficient by bus or a combination of train and bus. Sometimes there's simply no rail service available. Unless a bus is operated by the train company (very few are), it will generally not be covered by a rail pass at all. At least some Swiss passes do include Postbuses, but I don't know whether the multi-country rail passes cover them.