I'm planning a trip for my husband and self in September. We will fly into and out of Zurich. We will be traveling to Grindewald, Lake Como and Venice in Italy, Piran and Ljubliana in Slovenia, Halstatt, Austria, and back to Zurich. I cannot decide between renting a car, and driving all this way, or taking trains. We have done one former trip in Europe, during which we took trains throughout Italy, into France, and then also into Spain. We also rented cars in Italy and France, but did not take them across any borders. It appears that it will take more time to try to take trains (and apparently some buses) than it would to drive on this trip through Switzerland, northern Italy, Slovenia and Austria. Please help with pros and cons. Thank you.
Posted by
Green Bay
21098 posts
You will need to inform the rental agency of your travel plans, especially going to Slovenia. You will need to purchase a vignette for Austria and Slovenia and attach it to you windshield in the proper spot.
Posted by
OP
120 posts
Sam; Thank you for your reply. I'm aware of the need for vignettes. Why did you say "especially Slovenia" when advising about telling the car rental company about our plans. Is there some special reluctance of car rental companies to approve travel in Slovenia?
Posted by
Knoxville, TN, USA
7209 posts
Eastern Europe is not a favorite place of western europe rental car companies.
Posted by
Minneapolis
23 posts
We have done all train trips, all auto, and auto/train trips. We preferred the auto/train trips. Taking the train on longer stretches from country to country or region to region and then renting a car. Most train stations have car rental pickup and drop off. You can contact Auto Europe for border crossing restrictions and here at Rick Steve's for rail options. Good luck!
Posted by
Rick Steves' Europe
16895 posts
For this route, I would prefer to drive, avoiding inconvenient train connections such as Grindelwald-Lake Como, and taking advantage of some scenic mountain routes in each country. I think Auto Europe could find you a car that's allowed to go into Slovenia - just ask them.
A combination of train and car only works if you can still pick up and drop off the car within one country, since a second-country drop fee can be prohibitive. With your plan for a complete roundtrip, I don't see any logical leg to substitute a train or flight.
Posted by
OP
120 posts
THANK YOU all for your replies.
Since we will be in Europe for more than 21 days, and since I rather agree that using car and train for this particular trip might be more trouble than renting and returning a car, I have found that it is possible to lease a car through Peugot/AutoEurope, in Munich and take the car into Slovenia without any restrictions. If anyone has further information or advice about this idea, please add a reply. Of course this will mean flying into and out of Munich, rather than Zurich, but unless there is some other consideration I should make, it seems to solve the difficulty of taking a car from Western Europe into Slovenia.