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Rent a car for last leg ?

Hi !
We, one more time, need your help !

We are looking to plan the last 9 nights of our 24 nights of our trip ( after 5 nights in berlin, 3 nights, in Dresden, 4 nights in Nuremberg and 3 nights in Salzburg).

Our plan is to saty 3 nights in Munich which would allows us 6 nights for Cologne and the Rhine +Mosel valley and Luxembourg. We are looking at the car option for that last leg. We know all those place are accessible by train but getting a car would allows us to move more freely and access place that are not so well deserved by public transport (i.e. Burg Eltz). Snce we are looking to base ourselves in Cochem having a car would allows us to found a place that is not near the train sation (lodging in that place seems to be scarce).

Question:
1) is a car a good idea (we are 2 aduls and 2 yound kids 4 and 8 years old)
2) Should we get from Munich and enjoy stop in route to Cologne or go to Cologne by train and then get a car ?
3) I've read bad things about sixt, can you indicate me a good rental company ?
4) We would drop the car in another place but there's dont seem to have the option to drop at Cochem, where shoul (or could) we drop the car ?

thanks !

Posted by
19636 posts

I love Sixt. They are my go-to rental in Germany and Switzerland.
They have a location at Luxembourg airport. I'm thinking that the closeness to Germany may keep the drop off charges reasonable. They have a location right next to Cologne Hbf.
Trier has a location too.

Posted by
980 posts

1&2) A car can be a pain if you are staying in places without parking or limited parking. Research your parking options before you commit to a rental car. Munich to Cologne is a long drive and very easy to do by train. If it were me I'd take the train to Cologne and relax.

3) I always prefer Sixt in Germany (and now at DFW too!). Not sure what bad experiences people have had but mine have always been great.

  • Drop a car off after hours? No problem.
  • Didn't have the car I booked? Free upgrade.
  • Needed to make last minute changes? No problem.
  • My father backed his c-class MB into a pole even though the back up sensor was beeping like crazy? No charge.

4) Koblenz is you best bet regards of where you rent (Sixt, Auto Europe, Avis, etc)

DJ

Posted by
10177 posts

If you rent do not rent in Luxenbourg if you plan to drop it off in Germany. It doesn't matter how close it is, another country is another country. My brother rented in Germany and naively dropped his car in Mulhouse, France. Just over the border from Germany. He had a rude awakening having to pay hundreds of euros extra because he dropped it in another country.

I always use Auto Europe (www.autoeurope.com) when I rent a car in Europe. They are a consolidator based in the U.S. Using them I'm able to compare prices with the various rental companies. If there is a problem they are able to help without a language barrier.

Posted by
9 posts

I'll only address #1 as I can't remember which of the different rental companies I've used in the past.

Renting a car will make it easy to get from town to town, no doubt, and the cost of one rental car versus 4 train tickets will likely be a cost savings. However, there are some drawbacks. As others mentioned, parking can be an issue. The small towns along the Mosel and Rhine often have limited parking. They also typically have a few streets to turn down to get off the main road, if you miss them, you might be driving a very long distance to turn around and come back (I know from experience). Also, one of the adults won't be able to look at the amazing scenery going by as they are driving. And, don't forget, the Mosel valley is one of the most world renowned wine regions and Germany is essentially zero tolerance when it comes to how much one can drink and still drive. This basically means that one of you will have to abstain in this amazing wine region, which just isn't nearly as much fun.

I'm all for renting a car in Germany, but there were times (like the Mosel valley) that it was a pain to watch my significant other enjoying some amazing beverages with lunch while I sat there drooling. Maybe if you could further refine your travels and do both. For instance, rent a car for Burg Eltz and Luxembourg and do a river cruise for the Mosel valley.

Posted by
148 posts

Thanks for those opinions/advices, they gave me a lot to think about.

A problem i've note myself: we want to do a cruise on the Rhine, it would be that we have to get back to the car.

The opinion about the wine is something to think about for sure !

We,ve put Luxembourg on the list because our flight is from ther august 4 at 10am.

Burg eltz and lodging was our main reasons to get a car if we can go to Burg Eltz anyways and if we found lodging not far from the train station we are good to go !