We have five couples traveling to Germany, Austria and Switzerland in mid-October 2018. We are going to Salzburg via train when we first arrive in Munich from the states and then returning to Munich to pick up cars for 4 days of driving the roads with Fussen as our base. We are now thinking maybe we should either get a 7 passenger van for a party of 6 and a car for the other group of 4 or maybe just a large 12 passenger van for all ten of us. We have found the Sprinter Mercedes Benz luxury 12 passenger van from Autoeurope as a possibility. Does anyone have experience with them? Or does anyone have some suggestions on what we should do on either going with the smaller van and car way or the large van way? We will just be using the vehicles in Fussen, Oberammergau, Mittenwald, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Seefeld in Austria and possibly Innsbruck. We will drop the van or cars off in Ulm before catching the train to Switzerland. Would appreciate some advice. Thank you in advance.
Posted by
Rick Steves' Europe
16895 posts
If you take the 12-passenger van, you'll probably have to accept the rental company's collision insurance. The coverage provided by Visa Cards, for instance, excludes vans above 7 passengers.
I also wonder whether the larger vehicle is covered by a regular driver's license. When I bought my Int'l Driver's Permit this summer (not required for Germany), the agent checked off that I was qualified to drive a vehicle with maximum 8 passengers.
Posted by
OP
12 posts
I had seen something like that. We have one in our party who has a CDL, so was thinking of maybe getting an international cdl if required. So, if we go with smaller van and a car we won’t have any of those problems. I’m thinking our cdw Insurance thru our credit card will provide the insurance we need without having to buy the insurance at the rental place.
Posted by
Washington DC
28275 posts
Be sure your vehicles provide sufficient luggage capacity.
If you rent in Germany and later drive in Austria, I think you'll need to buy an Austrian highway vignette for each vehicle.
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
34047 posts
When buying the Austrian Vignette check if the large van qualifies for the car price. It may very well not do so.
Posted by
Stuttgart, Germany
137 posts
You don't need a vignette (sticker) for Seefeld, and for Innsbruck only if you take the motorway. The distance from Seefeld to Innsbruck is short enough to take the country roads parallel to the motorway.
Posted by
Paradise
7115 posts
"We will just be using the vehicles in Fussen, Oberammergau, Mittenwald, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Seefeld in Austria and possibly Innsbruck."
All these towns are close to one another, and all have train stations. Train trips between them by train are short (with the exception of Füssen, which is easier to reach from the others by train + bus, or by bus alone, than by train alone.) See map with red lines indicating the railways:
Two small-group day passes for 10 people total would run about €100/day and allow you nearly unfettered access to the trains and buses in this area, including the routes in Austria that concern you. As mid-October is low season, I doubt you'd have any trouble getting seats.
You are using trains before and after this visit to the Alps. Why not just use them in the Alps too? When you travel between Salzburg and this area, the Bayern Ticket day pass covers the entire trip, btw. It's valid to Füssen as well. And at the end of your stay, if you wish to visit Ulm, the Bayern ticket covers that too:
http://www.munich-touristinfo.de/Bavaria-Ticket.htm
The Werdenfels Ticket day pass (slightly cheaper) covers all the rail and bus lines you see on the map above - and connects you to Munich as well.
Here's a map of the Bavarian train network, all covered by the Bayern Ticket: http://www.bayerwald-ticket.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Streckennetz_Bayern_2012.pdf
Füssen is not the geographically central town for your outings, whether by car or by train/bus. I'd use one of the other towns for a base instead. It's unclear how many days you are staying in the area, but a new base will likely save you some ground travel miles. If it turns out that Garmisch-Partenkirchen is a good base town for you, be advised that city buses are completely free of charge for guests:
https://www.gapa.de/en/Info-Service_en/GAPA-Card-Gaestekarte
Posted by
OP
12 posts
Thanks everyone for your replies. Russ, we are in Europe for 12 days and 3 of those are in Salzburg via train from Munich and we going to book some of the tours there. We come back to Munich and was wanting a car for only four days to travel the smaller roads to the cities I listed earlier. We were wanting some flexibility on where we go, what we do, stops for picture taking, etc., that’s we went the rental car way. When we drive to Ulm that fourth day and drop the car off, we are traveling by train to Lauterbrunnen and then on up to Murren for 2 nights before going to Lucerne for 1 night and then back to Munich (Freising) for two night sounds before flying home. After Ulm we are traveling by train only other then the gondola to and from Murren. So, we are definitely taking advantage of the trains while we are there but want to make sure we rent the right vehicles for our 4 day rental. I’m kinda leaning more toward one car for 4 and then a mini van for the other 6. Other replies above concern me with respect to my credit card insurance covering the cdw, requirement for a cdl, etc.
Posted by
Paradise
7115 posts
"When we drive to Ulm that fourth day and drop the car off, we are traveling by train to Lauterbrunnen and then..."
Hmm. Sounds like a long day, long drive, long train ride (about 6+ hours from Ulm.) If you are driving to Ulm for the purpose of dropping the car(s) and catching a train, well, Ulm is a big detour to the north - a drive of 130 km. Than you're catching the train south. I would look into dropping in Kempten (very close to Füssen), Lindau or possbly Singen and checking the train schedules from there. Using these towns reduces your ground travel miles.