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Itinerary Help

Posted by on

My husband and I will fly into and out of Amsterdam in a couple of weeks to spend a month in Europe. My tentative plan is to stay in Amsterdam for several days, fly to Berlin and rent a car after a 3-4 night stay. From Berlin we would drive all over Germany (I need help with this) being sure to see The Black Forest and/or The Alpine Road, possibly Frankfurt and Munich. We want to see as much of the beautiful scenery as possible and we like to spend weekends "where the action is". We also want to visit a concentration camp and other historical points of interest. Prague and Dresden seem too close to pass up once we are in Berlin but maybe we would be better off flying or driving to Munich or Frankfurt after Berlin?

Maybe we should rent the car in Amsterdam and drive it through Germany across the Alps and over to the Lake Region, Tuscany and the Cinque Terre, before heading south to see the Amalfi Coast. We would like to visit Rome again so we could fly back to Amsterdam from Italy for our return flight home to California.

The other option is to rent a car only in the locations we really need it.mI understand that there is a hefty charge to rent a car in one country and return it in another so I'm thinking of renting the car in Berlin, driving around Germany and possibly Switzerland, and return it in Munich or some other town with an airport where we could fly to an airport near the Cinque Terrre, travel by train to Rome or rent a car after the Cinque Terre visit to drive down to see the Amalfi coast. At some point we want to spend a few days in Rome. I would like to hear what others think and any suggestions for making this a better trip.

Posted by
2779 posts

First of all: DO rent a car. It's the perfect way to see the country. But make sure you get a car with automatic transmission and a Diesel engine (much cheaper than regular). Also make sure it's a real sedan and not some kind of cross-over hatchback etc. During the day store all your luggage in the trunk. Only leave inside the cabin whatever normal locals would carry in there... a bagpack, a coat, a bottle of water etc.

Also keep in mind that there are special rules for taking a car into the Czech Republic. So make sure you let your car broker or the rental company know well in advance about your plans.

And you're probably aware about one-way rentals. They are expensive. So if possible, build a looped itinerary so you can pick-up and drop-off your car in the same country (doesn't have to be the same city).

Consider flying to Rome from Amsterdam and then to Berlin from Rome. From Berlin you can create your tour via Dresden, Prague, Munich, Milan to Tuscany, Amalfi and then via Switzerland (Lucerne, Basel) back into Germany (Black Forrest, Heidelberg, Rhine river valley, Mosel river valley)... and drop off your rental car at Düsseldorf central train station. From there take the train back to Amsterdam.

Posted by
4 posts

Thank you so much for the helpful advice but I'm confused why you recommend going to Rome first if we will be driving to Italy later?

I've been thinking that seeing Amsterdam, Italy and Germany is too much driving for 30 days. I had not considered going to Rome first but it would make since as we don't want a car in Rome.

I was thinking we could decide once we get there whether or not to go to perhaps just Northern Italy though we really want to go back to Rome to see all we missed on our honeymoon 10 years ago.

I will look into flying first to Rome then to Berlin to rent a car.

Posted by
16893 posts

I think the idea is to "make the flight count" by covering your longest possible route, reducing some driving or train time. Flying Amsterdam-Rome may cost about the same as Amsterdam-Berlin or flying between Italy and Prague or Berlin won't necessarily be much more expensive than a closer destination like Munich. Try www.skyscanner.com.

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