Road Trip - Paris to Frankfurt

jan,

In reading over your plans, one issue that immediately comes to mind concerns renting a car in Paris and dropping it off in Germany. There's often a huge drop-off charge associated with that.

Your desire to see "castle ruins, beautiful scenery, and one of us is dying to purchase a cuckoo clock from the Black Forest" is mostly in Germany. Two days is fairly short time frame so (IMO) it would be best to maximize your time in Germany, as that seems to be the focus of your sightseeing.

My suggestion would be to travel via high speed TGV train from Paris to Germany, and then rent a car in Germany. One possibility is a TGV from Paris Est to Karlsruhe (time 3H:44M, one change at Kaiserslautern), which will put you close the Schwarzwald. The Germany experts on the forum may have a better suggestion. Spending your road time in Germany will provide the most time for castles and Cuckoo Clocks (the town of Triberg is probably your best choice for the clocks). THIS list may be of help.

For car rental information, I'd suggest contacting www.gemut.com as they're experts on car rental in Germany. I believe they have a toll free number or you can contact them online. I've always found them to be very helpful.

Hi,

If this is to be done in the morning, I take the early ICE from Paris Est to Frankfurt Hbf. direct. It arrives shortly before 11 am. I used to use a rail pass day for the ride, now an adv. discount ticket since that particular rail pass no longer exists. Basically, a personal preference taking the ICE from Paris than the TGV, which goes only to Stuttgart.

Yeah, I would take the train to Frankfurt since it takes less than 4 hours, you could have the rest of the day to drive your rental car down the Rhine and see some lovely towns and castles.
You can buy authentic Black Forest cuckoo clocks in gift shops all over Germany.

The cost of renting the car one way really isn't that much (sixt.com), and when compared with the cost of taking the train (3 adults, no discounts) and then renting a car for two days, we're only talking about 50euros difference.

So my question is, it there a reason other than cost that we would taken the train and then rent a car? It just seems to complicate things in my mind, for only a small financial benefit. And we are not on a tight budget, thankfully.

However, I don't know the area at all and I will defer to the experts if there really is a good reason (other than financial) to first take the train and then drive. Perhaps the areas we would want to see are all within 2 hours of Frankfurt? I really don't know and the advice is appreciated.

Thanks!

Hi,

Certainly, a number of places in the greater Frankfurt area are worthy of your time. The hard thing you have to decide since they're all worth it....Wiesbaden, Marburg an der Lahn, Wetzlar, Butzbach, Friedberg, Bad Nauheim, Frankfurt-Höchst (undamaged by Allied bombing).

jan,

" if there really is a good reason (other than financial) to first take the train and then drive."

The "really good reason" is the fact that most of your desired sightseeing appears to be in Germany so maximizing your time there would be prudent, rather than wasting time driving from Paris to Germany. The high speed trains travel at up to 300 km/h and no car can match that, so that's a more efficient use of your very limited two day sightseeing time.

Very helpful... we are reconsidering our plans. :)

You may not have added French highway tolls (€30) and fuel costs (€55) to your price comparison - estimates per www.viamichelin.com for the fastest route.

The Rhine and all of its' castles are less than an hour away from Frankfurt. The Taunus mountains are only 20 min. away. Beautiful little villages and towns like Limburg, Marburg, Idstein, Gelnhausen or Büdingen are also only an hour away or less.

Hi jan- another vote to train from Paris to Frankfurt. You might wind up with traffic problems (accidents, road repairs, heavy traffic) if you drive. And it will take time to rent the car and exit Paris. Since you know which day you are going you can get a reduced fare ticket that locks you into a specific train. Some fares are as low as 150€ total in 1st class for 3 folks if booked 3 months in advance (use the www.Bahn.de site). Have a good trip...

Keep in mind you pay for gas by the liter in France and Germany, not worth the expense and the energy driving, unless you intend to see 3 places in a day all in one direction, say Butzbach, Gießen, Marburg an der Hessen ..all in Hessen.