Bus versus renting a car

Is there such a thing as breaking a car that has a manual transmission from never having drove one?

Are you enquiring about the feasibility of driving a manual car when you have never driven one!

You can specify an automatic when you rent a car.

The winding hilly roads of Greece are no place to learn how to drive a stick shift

Or you can learn how to drive a stick shift before you leave for your trip. There are driving schools that do that. Also agree that you can get automatics in Greece, especially if you get the cars from Athens airport.

Mike

We travel around the Peloponnese regularly by bus. The bus service is reliable and comfortable.

It really comes down to what you prefer. You’ve obviously got far more flexibility if you hire a car, and can cover more ground more quickly. On the other hand being on a bus makes us feel more part of the Greek experience, you interact with people more, and you don’t have the hassle of driving.

Cheers
Alan

I too did my tour around the Pelopennese by bus, it was fine.

If you don't know how to drive a stick shift, you won't be able to get the car in motion if it's a stick shift, it's as simple as that.

I rented a car in Greece many years ago, but usually I take long-distance buses. I agree that the roads can be tricky if you are not used to driving on hills, and definitely don't try driving a manual for the first time in Greece!

Check rome2rio.com for different modes of transportation, distances, and use the links to schedules and timetables.

I am planning a trip to Greece where I will spend a week in the Pelopponnese and will rent a car. My research shows that much of this could be done on busses, but I personally wanted the convenience of a car for this part of my trip. It seems easier to connect sights this way and therefore you can see more (example - if I'm staying near Nafplio I can drive to Mycenae and Epidavros in the same day but connecting the two sights with busses would make that harder). But a car is expensive and a hassle, I don't think it's necessary, just a little easier.

In my recollection from a prior trip many years back - if you stay in towns you can walk to get whatever you need. Near the town center is where the busses will drop you, so that's easy. However, sometimes archaeological sights are off on their own. A bus from town will go there, but there won't be a hotel within walking distance of the sight. People with a car can stay at country inns or home rentals nearby, but without a car it would be easiest to stay in a nearby town and take the bus to the sight. There are also cabs if you ever have the need. I only took the bus a couple times but it was perfectly fine - nothing like a greyhound in the US.

As far as renting a car in general - you can always request an automatic. I've had no trouble getting one, I can't drive stick very well and would not be comfortable doing so in Europe. I wouldn't suggest it unless you can take lessons at home and get pretty adept at driving manual. I have rented automatic cars in Sicily and Spain. I think it is getting more common, but the default is still manual transmission. You will need to specifically request automatic, and probably use a bigger car rental, not a tiny mom and pop catering to locals who drive manual transmission.

I have never rented a car, not in the USA or anywhere.

No one has addressed this very important disclosure of yours yet. All I'm reading about is the ease of getting automatic transmission.

If you've never rented a car before, then you have no idea about the insurance coverage you should have when you rent a car nor which credit cards you have that might already have some if not all of the insurance options that already may be included as benefits of having one of those cards. You need to look at 3 types of coverage including liability (in case you hurt someone or someone's property and have to pay for medical or repair of someone's damage you caused), comprehensive (covers repair to rented vehicle or damage by natural causes or theft, and collision coverage. These 3 types of coverage might be part of your personal auto insurance. You need to find that out.

There are other options you need to consider including collision/loss damage waiver (LDW, CDW) which you should get and may be a benefit of one of your credit cards so you need to find that out so you can use that credit card and not have to pay for LDW & CDW.

Mike, and I am writing this with a very kind heart and not at all meaning to sound snarky, but................
on other posts, you have written about how your mother is worried about your travels.

I have to admit, if I had a grown son who was even CONSIDERING renting a manual transmission car who had NEVER driven a manual transmission car, I WOULD BE WORRIED!! Simply stated: Don't do it! You can cause a HUGE amount of damage to the car, yourself, and others (cars behind you, in front of you, people walking, etc.) if you suddenly jerked forward, rolled back on a hill, or came a sudden unexpected stop, and you can do huge damage to the gears. You work in a library: look it up! I'm not exaggerating!
I was trained (years ago) on a manual transmission and I drove one for years, but even I would not rent a manual transmission now...not in other countries and not even here in the USA. I just don't like them!

Greece might be just the place to sign up for your first Rick Steves group tour. Or, if the area of interest is not on his group tour (I haven't looked), consider doing a day tour with a local provider. That way you would not only get transportation but also the benefit of having a guide provide some information about what you are seeing.

I have to line up with your mother.......now I am worried about your going if you MIGHT even rent a manual transmission!

I am assuming you are not discussing your questions about how you would get from point a to point b on this trip with your mother....THAT might take her over the edge!!!

Thanks for your replies. I probably will not rent a car, but if I did, I would insist on getting one an with automtic transmission. Manual transmissions are rare in the USA. I live in a city/surburb next to the Motor City where everybody including myself drives everywhere. The bus here - and probably in most places in the USA - is only used by the few people who are disabled, desperately poor, or can’t or don’t drive.

You can reserve an automatic car from the rental company but that doesn’t mean one will be available when you show up. Insisting on one is fruitless if all their automatics are still rented to others. I tell you this because one year in France we had reserved an automatic because my sister can’t drive a gear shift. When we showed up at the rental location the automatic allocated to us had not yet been returned. I did all the driving that year.

Mike -- To address just some of your many questions

(1) RENTALS , it is VERY simple to rent an automatic car in Greece. They are usually not the smallest/cheapest in the agency fleet, but being from Detroit, you don't do small anyway. So that is not a question. And Scare-mongering about not getting an automatic despite reserving one are not a question either, since you will be going off-season ... and any of the larger companies will have ample supplies with advance notice.
(2) PELOPONNESE - If you have 2 weeks, and plan to spend some of that time in Athens (3-4 days), you could cover a lot of Ground in the Peloponnese in 7 -9 days, using a car. The road from ATHENS or (even easier) Athens airport to the first main place to stay -- Nafplio in the argolid -- is on the most modern highway in Greece - multilane, divided highway, striaght from Rental lot until after the corinth canal, unless you want to stop at the canal. Easy, not scarey, even for a Europe travel virgin.
I have done the peloponnese both with a car and without ... and yes you can get around to various sites, but it takes more days, because the LOCAL bus schedules aren't set up for siteseeing. Example: If going to NAFPLIO for a 3-4 day stay, to see the many places in the argolid, you could do as follows:
• Enroute from Airport, Stop at (1) corinth Canal, then (2) Nemea - a SUPER games-site, then on to NAFPLIO.
• After exploring Nafplio, in 1 day you can drive to (3) Mycenae and (4) Ancient Epidaurus.

• As u leave the area, you can drive up back way of (5) Palamidi Fortress then stop at (6)Tiryns
• Heading west, you could take in (7) Mystra and reach (8) Monemvasia in time to spend the night... etc etc.
--- With Express bus, u get to Nafplio in 2.5 hour, pleasant nonstop ... but seeing other places I list might take a day each, because local bus schedules don't allow reaching 2-3 sites a day.

(3) BUSSES - Intercity busses in Greece (the KTEL bus system) are the main source of public transit for Greeks, there are virtually no trains. These busses are modern, airconditioned, nonsmoking, comfortable upholstered reserved seats with leanback & footrest features. Furthermore, besides their use by tourists, they are heavily patronized by people of all ages, and income levels. You will not be endangered in any way by coming in contact with other members of the riding public.

Your remark about busses "probably in most places in the USA" betrays lack of experience with any large cities outside of Detroit -- in Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Chicago, busses are filled daily with commuters of every age, race, class and income level. Living in NYC, I often saw ladies of a certain age, wearing furs, boarding the Broadway bus to go to Carnegie Hall or the Opera at Lincoln Center. Your list of the sorts of people who take the bus (and I can almost hear the ewww in your words) as disabled, poor and nondrivers, left out only one other disadvantage, nonwhite. God forbid you should be classed with any of the above. Mike, I strongly urge you to get out of your area and explore the big world of difference, where you actually mingle with others you don't know, and who may not be similar to you but nonetheless may be interesting people. Some of the problems in the USA are exacerbated by so many people riding around in their own "bubble," the private car.... the ultimate barrier between Us and Them. Thank heaven it's not as much that way in Europe.

Good for you Janet. I was waiting to see if anyone corrected Mikes perception of people who use buses. Just to reconfirm Janets comments. The KTEL buses are heavily relied on by the Greek population and tourists alike.

We have rented cars for several years when we first went to Greece but we pretty much exclusively use the bus system now. It is regular comfortable and inexpensive.

And don't even consider renting a manual car. Greece is hilly with narrow roads and drivers with little regard for the rules of the road.
Let the professionals drive.

I agree with Janet!

When we first started going to Greece we relied on buses to get us from place to place, which for the most part worked out fine.

However, the smaller the island and/or area of the mainland you go to, including time of year, can affect bus service which can limit where you can go, how long you can stay somewhere and how much of the more out-of-the-way and traditional areas you want to visit.

We switched to a rental, always the budget car and with a manual transmission. You can get a automatic but at a higher cost. All depends on your budget and how comfortable you are driving a manual transmission. Since my vehicle has a manual transmission it's not a problem for me.

I find driving a manual gets you more involved with driving regardless of where you are.

If you really want to see more of where you are going then a car rental is your best option. You'll find areas the bus doesn't go, plus you'll be on your schedule rather than the bus schedule.

A budget car on an island will probably be in the 25-30 euros/a day. Make sure it has insurance that covers your rental and not just the other vehicle.

One of the reasons we didn't rent a car on our first trips was more out of "fear of the unknown", driving in a foreign country, license, cost, fuel, etc. Once we rented our first car we realized how simple it was, not just the rental process but driving in most areas of Greece.

Once you leave built up areas you'll find many parts of Greece almost devoid of traffic. Obviously when you go and where you go places a part in driving conditions, but there have been numerous islands we have driven on when the only consideration is watching out for goats and not driving over a cliff as you gawk at the wonderful sites you are seeing.

To be fair, I think even in the US, Detroit is a bit of an anomaly in terms of public transportation. I spent part of my childhood in the "motor city". I think the auto industry historically was so dominant that there is little public transportation. I flew into Detroit a couple years ago for a conference connected with work. I had to rent a car. There was no public transportation. There was not even a shuttle service from the airport which even LA has.

In comparison, my sister has lived for 30 years in Chicago and has never owned a car. She takes a bus to work downtown. I always take the subway from the airport to visit her.

Beth

Once you have a rough itinerary, you can start to look at transfers between the sights on the itinerary, and then choices about transportation modes will start to snap into place. Walk through the itinerary using both bus and a rental car and then you can mull over what will be your best option. Rick Steves helpfully covers some of these trade offs in the Greece guidebook; there are 'Getting There' (I think it's called) sections that sketch out what the bus transfers are like to save your research time looking at bus schedules. It seems like if you want to see a lot and your time is limited then renting a car is going to be more efficient. Or there are an amazing number of pre-packaged tours originating in Athens that may be more efficient than stringing together bus routes, although more expensive.

In the Nafplio area, with the number of sights we planned to see which were outside of the city, we found we were 1/2 day to a day more efficient by having our own car. For another part of the trip I also toyed with a one-way rental so that we used the bus for a long leg of the trip and then picked up a car; it seems like the one-way fees for picking up a car in one city on the Greek mainland/Peloponnese and dropping off in another were pretty high, so we abandoned that idea.