Christmas markets starting in Cologne

Greetings stfflngr - You can take a rental car from Germany into France but the fees will be astronomical from one country to the next. You are better off taking the train and also having a rental car means you have to worry about parking which is additional cost at the height of the holiday season. May I suggest you add Colmar France to your itinerary as a day trip from Strasbourg. It is a magical town during the Christmas market season in the Alsace. Colmar is less than an hour from Strasbourg. You can take the train there.

Best,
RJean

I agree. The train is much easier for this trip. We too are starting this years trip at the Cologne Christmas Markets. Have fun.

Definitely train! You can always get a cab if you need to get somewhere locally and there is no easy bus, but you shouldn't even need that. In each city you would park the car upon arrival and end up paying for the rental AND the parking to save a few minutes of train station-to-hotel. Not worth it.

Depending on rental car company and contract you can take rental cars cross-border. Normally tariffs for cross-border one-way rentals are very expensive.
If you decide to rent a car in Germany remember that with expected temperatures winter tyres are necessary by law.
For Cologne and some other cities (not Heidelberg) you need green emission zone stickers - normally default in German rental cars.
Take care to have drining permission for countries travelling with rental car; depending on country of origin a driving license is not enough.

Train is a good option in winter months but be aware fof high delay ratio of DB long-distance trains.

Tip: See a 2023 list of the nicest Christmas markets in Northrhine-Westphalia (German).

Thank you for all the info on markets close to Cologne ! I really appreciate it !