Alpenstrasse and car rentals

You can check for yourself by just plugging in Lindau and your dates into a car rental booking agency. I just did a dummy one at AutoEurope and it looks like they do have pickups in Lindau. https://www.autoeurope.com/europe-car-rental/

check out a Michelin Green Guide for Germany for the route and attractions along it

Although I have never made a dedicated trip on the Alpenstrasse, I have riden a lot of parts of it, some multiple times, on some of my 11 trips to Germany. I think, in all, I have been on about 63% of the Alpenstrasse at one time or another. Some of the parts I haven't been on were because I wanted to go directly from point A to point B, and the Alenstrasse would have taken my out of my way. Most notably, I missed the 70 km loop south between Bad Tölz and Schliersee because I was going from Bayrischzell to Mittenwald and didn't want to take that extra time.

Unlike the Romantic Road, where the road is pretty unremarkable (it's the towns on the Romantic Road that are the big attractions), there are sections of the Alpenstrasse that are particularly scenic, most notably, the switchback up from Hindelang to Oberjoch, the road along Walchensee, from Krun to Kochel, and the trip over the ridge to the Inn river from Bayrischzell to Oberaudorf.

One of my favorite towns in Germany is the western terminus of the Alpenstrasse, Lindau. After Lindau, I particularly love Pfronten, Bayrischzell, and Reit im Winkl, and, of course, the eastern termini, Berchtesgaden and Schönau. In 2013, we went from Bayrischzell to Oberaudorf by bus (I didn't think it was worth going over the Wendelstein because I could tell it was socked in that day), and the bus made a stop at the resort of Tatzelwurm. I've always wanted to go back to Tatzelwurm for a short stay.

I've never rented a car in Germany; I've always used public transportation (train and bus), and I was able to do most of the Alpenstrasse by bus, on the actual road. I've been on one stretch, on the rail line from Oberstaufen to Immenstadt, where the train stays close to the road. And there is one segment of the road, about 20 km between Berchtesgaden and Inzell, where there is no bus service. I had to go by train to Bad Reichenhall and take a bus to Inzell.

If you haven't already found it, try this website for detail descriptions of the routing of the Alpenstrasse, towns, etc.

I see a number of car rental offices (Hertz, Opal) close to the station at Lindau-Reutin, and a few more in the neighborhood. I don't know how you get to the others. They might not be too far to walk. There are buses to that area.

But it begs the question. Since there are no flights into Lindau, how are you going to get to Lindau in the first place. If you have to go by train to Lindau, why not take the train to a town near Lindau, pick up a car, and drive the rest of the way to Lindau to start you tour?

Lee- That is what we plan on doing- taking a train from Frankfurt down to Lindau. Just wasn't sure where the car rental places are (hadn't looked into it yet). The couple we are travelling with want to stop in Stuttgart to visit a friend, so we may stop there too. It all comes down to a question of time....how much driving we want to do and how many days we want to spend in Munich at the end.
Thanks for your help! Dan

It looks like there is a Sixt car rental agency in Kempten, less than 2 km from the main station, just across the river. Kempten would be on the way to Lindau if you went through Ulm. There are buses at the Kempten station, but it looks like none go directly. You'd have to take a bus to the Forum (main bus station) in Kempten, then another bus back out to near the the Sixt agency - a real roundabout way to get there. But then, 2 km is only about a 15-20 min walk (?).

The station layout on bahnland-bayern.de show a taxi stand to the left as you come out of the Kempten station. I don't know how well manned it is, but the Google Maps view seems to show two taxis at the stand when the satellite view was taken.

I was hoping to find something closer, like in Oberstaufen, but it looks like that's a place people drive to, not from. I did not see any car rental places in Oberstaufen (nor Immenstadt).

You probably want to go all the way to Lindau. Lindau is a small island, and I'm not sure there is enough room anywhere on the island for a car rental yard. You'll likely find them on the mainland, just off the island. It looks like there are two within short walking distance from the Reutin Bhf, on the mainland, and somemore a short distance away. You might want to use a taxi to get there. The station plan shows a taxi stand east of the station, but on Google Maps, I don't see any taxis there. The car rental offices are farther from the Island (Insel Bhf) station, but when I was there five years ago, we regularly took taxis from the Insel Bhf and had no problems finding them.; there was always one available.