Hi. My wife and I are going to take our two kids to Bavaria for two weeks. We were thinking about flying into Munich, renting a car on our way out of Munich, driving here and there, but spending the last two days in Lucerne and Zurich. We can fly out of Zurich and save $200 per airfare. I have wondered if anyone has done this or can otherwise provide some perspective on the car rental, i.e., picking up the car in Munich and dropping it off in Zurich. Any advice? I heard that there might be extra care rental charges for this kind of thing. Thanks for your perspective.
Posted by
Rick Steves' Europe
16893 posts
If you get a price quote at www.autoeurope.com or www.kemwel.com, it looks like they will send you the one-way fee info separately, before processing your payment, at least for that route. It might be $200 or more. There's no obligation to book if you go ahead and request prices either online or by phone. See also http://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/transportation/car-rental-costs.
Posted by
San Diego, CA, USA
321 posts
Hi JC- can you give us your children's age? There are some transportation options that you may be interested in - trains/busses from Garmisch/Munich to Luzern/Zurich. Having a car in Garmisch makes sense but it is a liability in the other cities. Car rental, gas, parking charges in Munich/Zurich/Luzern, Switzerland tolls, and intra-country drop fees will quickly eat up your ticket savings....
Posted by
Knoxville, TN, USA
7209 posts
Drop your car at the German/Swiss Border (in Germany) to avoid huge one way drop fees and then hop on the train. If your kids are <16 they can travel free with you wherever you go in Switzerland. It's a great deal especially in Berner Oberland region with all of the car-free villages accessible only by trains, gondolas, funiculars, etc.
Posted by
OP
4 posts
My children are 9 and 12 at time of travel. The train option sounds like a good option. The train ticket(s) would just have to be less than the car rental fee and the different country drop off fee to be worth it. So here would be my plan, I could drop off the car in, say, Fussen, take a train to Einsiedeln, then take train to Lucerne, then to Zurich. So, that's three legs. Would that be less than the car rental and then drop off fee?
Posted by
OP
4 posts
I just did some research on train travel from where we'd be in Germany to the cities in Switzerland I mentioned, and am starting to think adding Switzerland to our itinerary might not be practical. The rail system takes many, many hours to get from Fussen to Lucerne/Einsiedeln. Is this others' experience too?