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Rental car question

Posted by (Sacramento CA) on

We will be flying into Copenhagen in July and staying for 2 nights before driving to Malmo to visit family and then driving to other destinations in Sweden for about one week, ending up in Stockholm for 3 nights. (Flying into Copenhagen/departing flight from Stockholm)

I would appreciate any opinions on whether we should pick up the rental car from the Copenhagen airport upon our arrival and drop it off at the Stockholm Arlanda airport -- OR -- pick up the rental car at a rental office in the city of Copenhagen on the day we begin our driving tour.....and also drop it off upon our initial arrival into Stockholm (probably Sodermalm neighborhood), use public transit while in Stockholm, and then take a taxi or shuttle to the airport on departure day?

I am fairly certain we don't really need the car in Copenhagen until we are ready to head out, but not at all knowledgeable enough about Stockholm to know whether we should have a car while there.

First time visitors to Sweden! Thank you for your opinions!
Amanda (Sacramento, California)

Posted by
11569 posts

You do not need nor want a car in those cities. Buy a transit card.

Posted by
11294 posts

Europe doesn't have cities like Houston or Phoenix - cities designed around cars, where even a short term visitor would have difficulty without one. Europe has cities like New York and Boston, where a car is an expensive headache.

So, you never want a car for visiting a city in Europe. It can be handy for getting outside the city, but even then, Europe has much better mass transit than the US, so you often don't need a car even for that. For rural areas or connecting small towns, a car can definitely be handy, or even necessary.

You don't want a car for Copenhagen or Stockholm. I'm not sure if you need one in Malmo or not (it depends on where your family lives and what you plan to do). As a smaller city, it's probably not as much of a hassle to have a car in Malmo compared to Copenhagen or Stockholm. It does sound like you will want a car between Malmo and Stockholm. So, rent in Malmo and drop off as soon as you get to Stockholm. If you rent in Copenhagen instead of Malmo, you will pay a lot extra because you are dropping the car in a different country from where you picked it up. There should be frequent train and bus service between Copenhagen and Malmo.

Posted by
30 posts

Suki, thank you for your opinion! I agree!

Harold, thank you also! I would not have even thought about renting the car in Malmo so as to be in the same country! I think that will work for us. That's why I love these forums so much....you learn a great deal from fellow travelers!

Thank you both again!

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