Renting a car through multiple countries?

Hi,

By renting and returning in Germany (Berlin and Munich are both in Germany) you shouldn't have any "drop off" fees. These occur when picking up in one country and returning in a different country. You would need to buy an Austrian Vignette, which is a toll sticker for the car windshield allowing you to drive on highways in Austria. Cost is about 9 Euro for a sticker valid for 10 consecutive days. The Czech version is about $12 (USD) for a 10 day sticker. We have used Andy Bestor at www.gemut.com for our last 4 driving trips which included Germany, Austria and northern Italy.

Be prepared for everyone saying renting cars is a terrible, inefficient and expensive idea.

Paul

Given your posted itinerary , This is a trip that screams TRAIN ! Unless you intend to meander at a leisurely pace , stopping off here and there on your way , a car gets you nothing but headaches . No place to park or maneuver in large cities , high daily parking charges to store it , useless , since mass transit in these cities is wonderful . There are places in Europe where a car is an absolute necessity - touring the Scottish Highlands or the French countryside are two good examples , but your trip is just not one . Save the car for an appropriate and useful location .

Paul and I were posting simultaneously . Please don't misunderstand , This is not a dichotomous stance on my part . Whether or not to rent a car depends on the specifics . As I said , Scotland is a good ( but not only ) example . Paul is right , be prepared for an onslaught , but you have to carefully weigh the pros and cons

3 of the 5 cities (Prague, Vienna and Munich) you listed are particularly bad places to bring a car. Parking is very scant in all three, and I think you can't even bring a car within the Ringstraße of Vienna without a residential or business permit. Berlin is surprisingly easy to navigate by car, although easier by public transportation. The area of interest to tourists in Salzburg (Altstadt) is surprisingly small and mostly off limit to cars anyway.

There will be an added cost to dropping the car off in another city, but not a huge one, and certainly nothing like dropping it off in another country.

The insurance will be more expensive if you bring the car into the Czech Republic.

Both Austria and the Czech Republic require you to purchase a vignette to drive in their countries. You can buy it at the border. I'm not sure how the Czech version works, but the cost of the Austrian vignette varies depending on for how long it's valid. Most German cities require an emissions sticker to drive a car into city centers, but if you rent the car in Germany, it will come with one already.

If you are going only to the cities you mentioned and not to the countryside, take a train. Parking in those cities would indeed be a logistical issue. If you want to use freeways in C.R. you would indeed need a sticker. Because progress is unstoppable and prices are changing (up) I cannot say how much it would cost you. Train would be certainly cheaper and less hassle.

Germany to Austria is no big deal with a rental car, and you will have roughly 800 different chances to buy your short term Austrian vignette sticker at any exit ramp gas station/service plaza just off the Autobahn east of Munch. But many rental companies have restrictions on which parts of their fleet you can drive into the Czech Republic.

We didn't really have any big issues with parking in Salzburg or Munich (and driving in Munich really is no worse than driving in any major USA city) but then I tend to go for hotels that are in more medium density residential areas and near a subway station rather than city center locations.

My accounting background has made me do the math. You're talking about 3 major cities and 2 not so minor ones and about 15 days. If you haven't been to these places already, won't you want to spend your time in them? I'd say Berlin (5 nights), Prague (3-4), Vienna (3-4), Salzburg (2), Munich (2-3). There are no days left to roam the countryside and visit villages.

You could rent in Vienna and spend a couple days driving through Austria to Salzburg and possibly to Munich. I looked at rental prices a few months ago and it didn't seem like there were big drop-off fees for Austria-Germany. But do you have enough days for that?

Taking a rental car into all those cities (except Salzburg) will come with expensive parking garages. Your itinerary would be much easier and less expensive via trains.
If you want to get out and see the countryside, I'd tell you to go just over the German border from Salzburg and pickup a rental car there. You could drop south into Tirol and the Austrian Alps and make a circle around Munich--coming into the city from the West.
And if you're going from Berlin to Prague, you should stop and visit the incredibly beautiful Dresden.

I've taken cars into the city centers of Prague, Vienna (outside the ring road), Salzburg and Munich.
It's not ideal to drive in any of these but because of circumstances we needed to drive last time we went.
The only city I HATED driving in was Munich. Horrible traffic. I'm glad we just parked the whole time we were there and didn't have to take the car out and drive out of the city...a bit of a nightmare. Parking was really difficult...thankfully I had prearranged a garage through our hotel; otherwise I can't imagine where we would have parked.
Prague is actually quite convenient for parking. There are several shopping malls we found on the southeastern side of the city that were easy to get to with garages that were very modern with wide spaces, easy payment, and the metro right there to whisk you to the center. We were staying in a village about 20 minutes outside of town and used these almost every day. It cost between $15 - 20 per day to park.
Salzburg is not difficult to drive into and the parking there is very easy. There is a very large garage just over the river from the city center...it is carved out under a mountain and has hundreds of parking spaces. The other is just below the convent (the one from the Sound of Music) and also has many spaces available. Both are less than a 5 minute walk from the main part of town.
Vienna is another city where parking is not good. LOTS of construction around the city. I saw no garages but again, had prearranged parking with our hotel.
It really is far easier to take the train - the only reason to rent a car is if you want to see smaller, out of the way villages and towns that are difficult to get to via public transport.

One suggestion would be to stay in B&B that offers free parking. I did that 3 years ago. You might have to stay outside of the city center and take public transportation into the city but the savings will add up (about 10 euros per night).

I almost always drive because I do want to meander and be on my own schedule. I have driven to all these places except Vienna. It is just a different kind of trip and since lots of the people here do not take road trips in Europe you are getting that point of view. It can be tricky finding hotels in the city center that have parking but I have done it often. There are challenges with every type of travel. You just have to weigh the benefits. Being able to drive to a hilltop village and watch the sunrise with a latte and my camera is worth lots of hassle. For me the schedule of the trains and worrying about that is stressful, plus I can't make the train stop when I see a beautiful field of sunflowers!

Where is my fellow 'car traveler' Ed when I need him?
I fear I am about the only car person here:).
I will take the train and I do love it, but it doesn't always work for the way I want to experience Europe

I have to second Terry Kathryn's reply. I love trains, and often use them for a portion of my trip. But the flexibility of a car adds a huge plus to your trip in terms of flexibility, spontaneity, and being able to see the countryside. Enjoy your trip!

I also think itineraries that travel from city center to city center work great for trains, not only do they bypass traffic but you don't have to pay for expensive parking.

Cars work best when you either want to see something that isn't well served by public transportation or when you plan on making several stops along the way from one destination to another. In both cases, a car can save a lot of valuable time.

For dropping across borders, I'll price out alternatives. One option is dropping in one country, taking a train across a border and picking up another rental there - that may or may not turn out to be a better value than just paying the drop charge. I've also found on longer trips a lease, even with some drop charges, can be a good value (leases are better for bigger/specialized cars because renting those can be pricey; rentals seem to be better for small, economy cars).

But Americans, being Americans, just can't imagine relaxing on a vacation without an automobile. That mindset is quite justifiable seeing as how pathetic our public transportation system is in the USA. But try to put aside your preconceived notions that trains are a hassle and confine you to specific itineraries. Europe has had "centuries" to experiment and build and figure out how to use mass transit, and they've far surpassed anything Americans will ever see in the good ole USA.

My European trips suddenly became WAY more relaxing when I learned I "could" kick the rental car habit!

I have driven in all of those cities except Prague. It was years ago (perhaps with fewer traffic restrictions), as part of a longer trip, and making plenty of smaller-town stops in between. But if I were only visiting these cities, now, I wouldn't drive.

I have also made all-train trips that were very spontaneous, which is still easy to do in this region. Trains run frequently between these cities (every two hours to/from Prague and more on the Austrian routes) and don't require reservations. Trains also serve many places that you might want to stop en-route, if you have time. (Cesky Krumlov is one that isn't as convenient by train, but train still works or van shuttle options can be faster.)

I have been to 3 of the cities mentioned (Munich, Vienna, Salzburg), all w/o a car. Although I've rented a car dozens of times in France, I didn't see the need to do so when visiting only cities in other parts of Europe. And even w/o a car we were able to easily take trips into the countryside. For example, we took a train from Munich to a beautiful village on a lake about an hour away, and at the end of the day there were return trains every 20 minutes or so.

Heed the warning above about taking certain car models across borders (or rather, not being allowed to do so). A friend of mine reserved a Mercedes for pickup at the Munich airport for her family's Central European trip. When they got to the rental desk and explained that the car was going to the Czech Republic (among other places), that put an end to the Mercedes. When you do your research, be sure to put in all the countries the car will be driven to.

As pointed out above, Americans can't imagine a vacation even to big cities without the luxury of a car, even when you're going to pay for gas by the liter aside from running the risk of getting a parking ticket, and all that hassle. Paying for gas by the liter is not my idea of luxury. With these cities as your trip goals, I would go by train or bus. I don't have any desire to put with red tape when renting a car. Now, renting a car is justified if you're going to outside villages in Vienna and Berlin to see historical sites accessible only car, such as historical battlefield sites and museums and for time convenience , ie, see two battle field sites in an afternoon and not waste time waiting for the next bus. Yes, you do have a lot more flexibility in determining your schedule without having to rely on that of a bus or train.