We will be renting a car in Berlin in April, 2016 and touring Germany and Austria for one month. Where would the best location be for the rental? We will have already toured Berlin and will be looking to get out of Dodge so to speak and avoid the heavy traffic. Any advice will be appreciated. We will be traveling to the Rhineland when we rent the car.
Earl
I've never done it, but I do remember a recommendation a few months ago to lease rather than rent for that long a period.
Attempts to clarify this before the trip and making a reservation. Look at the cost of one-way rentals and clarifies the question whether you are allowed to go outside of Germany. Here we have the usual suspects, Hertz, Avis, National and the local company Sixt. At the airport you have the largest selection and also Breitschatzplatz/Budapester Str they are also to be found.
April 2015 we did a similar trip. We arrived in Frankfurt, picked up our rental car, used it to travel through Germany with a day trip to Colmar, France and two nights in Austria, then returned the car in Berlin in the Mitte district. We used economycarrentals.com to rent the car. They are a wholesaler and the actual car rental company was Europecar. We returned the car in Mitte as it was near our hotel and we didn't want the car in Berlin. It was not hard to get there but there was quite a bit of traffic. Getting a car at the airport might make it easier to leave and/or return the car.
"will be looking to get out of Dodge so to speak and avoid the heavy traffic. Any advice will be appreciated."
Rental agencies have caught a LOT of flak for the way they operate in Germany. Do some research and see what you think.
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g187275-i116-k4618853-Rental_car_scam_by_hertz-Germany.html
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g187309-i118-k4518754-Thrifty_Terstappen_Munich_Airport-Munich_Upper_Bavaria_Bavaria.html
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g187275-i116-k4081322-Don_t_rent_a_car_from_SIXT_that_s_all_I_am_saying-Germany.html
Germany is exceptionally well served by train - better than anywhere else its size on the planet, I'd guess. And there's never any traffic to deal with - no parking, no parking fees, no fill-ups, no door ding worries, etc. either.
"We will be traveling to the Rhineland..."
This is a great place to be carless. Trains run along both sides of the Rhine and just about everywhere else too:
Rail map, Rheinland-Pfalz
Day pass for two adults allows at-will travel for the above area: €28 for
Mini-group day pass for core (VRM) area: €21.80
3-day mini-group pass for core area: €43.60
(If you happen to be 60+ you can get a one-month train/bus pass for the core area for €65 each.)
High-speed train trip from Berlin to the Rhine (Koblenz, for example) for two adults: €48 with a pre-purchased "saver fare."
Wine Witch Night (Apr. 30 in Oberwesel) is fun - locals celebrate the new season with a wine fest - and at night they burn a wine witch (representing the previous harvest) and crown this year's new queen. PHOTO
