Visiting Geneva, Strasbourg, Stuttgart, and Annecy

Strasbourg requires a French Crit'Air sticker, and Stuttgart needs a German one. A car rented on the Swiss side will come with Swiss vignettte for driving on Swiss motorways. On the French side, it may not have a Swiss vignette, but it will probably have a French Crit'Air sticker, but you should confirm that. If no vignette, you can just avoid Swiss Motorways. In Stuttgart, you need a German Umwelt Plakette (similar to the French Crit'Air).

For this itinerary, any reason not to take trains? Will probably make life a bit easier.

hey hey rwbryan86
i agree with sam with the driving part and what's needed. also wonder why not trains but it's your trip.
where are you flying from and how many total days/nights do you have, how many is we?
look at autoeurope.com and do comparisons, insurance, laws/rules in different countries, signage of road signs, tolls, gas/petrol cost,
parking anywhere is a PITA (may be further away from your place than expected & cost at garage, do they take cash or credit card, ZTL zones, crossing each border, have both DL and IDP and passports, big enough car for passengers & luggage.
your time is so short with a night here and there. remember check in is 3-4pm check out is 10-11am. if stopping along the way, care about luggage in car, no valuables left inside
we stayed in geneva for 2 nights, didn't care for it. it's very international business like, some places close early with workers going home at 4-5. stayed in annecy for 5 nights and loved it all it's beauty with some snow capped mountains, gorgeous lake, many things to do and see. good luck & enjoy
aloha

Thanks for the quick responses! Sorry I left out some details.
"We" is my wife and me. Will be there 12 days - 12th day being getting to the airport for trip home.
Relatives to see in Strasbourg.
Have a niece who spent 6 months in Annecy. She recommended getting a car. Trains may take us to a city but may not get us to the places we want to visit. Have used trains in France and Italy. They are fine point to point.

Then I would suggest taking the train to Annecy then renting a car for a few days. At the very least, go to Strasbourg and Stuttgart by train, returning to Geneva airport and rent a car on the French side to go to Annecy, returning to GVA.

BTW, I have used T-Mobil on trips for the last 6 years without problems.

I lived in Stuttgart for 8 months and the Germans call it Stau City. A stau is a traffic backup. Traffic in that city is terrible. Also, the city is not really great for touring. Exceptions are the Mercedes Museum and Porsche Museum. Also, another museum with then oldest car in the World.
What do you plan to see in Stuttgart?

Thanks again for the replies and follow-ups.

This is a somewhat last minute trip, so we are still not settled on details. Comparing train transport versus rental car, we thought that cars would get us to sites we might want to see that trains couldn’t get us close enough. Plus, we would be on our time schedule, not the train schedules. As for Stuttgart traffic, we would use public transport as much as possible. Also, to our knowledge, trains don’t run to Annecy. You take a bus or Uber from Geneva.

Again, very thankful for the thoughts and tips. We are still thinking this through and willing to adapt.