Car rental /Driving from Prague to Poland, Slovakia Budapest

It’s a great trip. On the way through Slovakia do Štrbské Pleso and Banská Štiavnica and Kosice (and pick a castle or two). You will need to spend a night or two in Slovakia. On the way through Hungary to Budapest do Lillafüred and Eger and a winery or two. Again a night or two in Hungary before you reach Budapest. On the way to Vienna stop in Gyor and the Pannonhalma Archabbey, Melk and the Wachau Valley. Yes, another night or two is required. On the way back to Prague, do Graz and Hallstatt (yes, I like Hallstatt) and Cesky Krumlov. Again, another night or two or three on the way to Prague. The car will make all of these stops possible. I presume thats why you want the car, not for dead heading it from city to city. Trains are better for that.

I am always curious when someone is talking about a trip like this, so I look at the prices. More curiosity than anything else. I rounded the numbers a bit. Its a great idea and you have experience driving in Europe so this will be easy for you. I have lived here 4 years and not yet driven. I know some of the oddities of trafic laws here in Hungary and I am just not ready to deal with them. That and some of the RS posts about driving issues in Europe (theft, accidents, car rental rip offs, traffic fines, etc.) continue to make me nervous. I guess I need to get past it all and explore more.

A 21+ day trip but only 16 days of car rental, Prague to Prague with the places in between that you list. Cheapest car (sub compact Peugeot 208 or similar | EDMR), insurance, extra driver, cross border fees and tolls: €1200.00. To be honest, with all the stops I would want to make, to really make the car pay for itself I would need at least 21 days … maybe more with the car and 28 days total trip. But assuming I drive past everything and don’t stop, maybe 16 days of rental.
Parking garages for 15 nights: €600
Gasoline (1.500km): €150
So, the 16 days of rental is €1950.00 (not bad)

I suspect for two people I would spend €300 if I did it in trains. Then to get some of the same freedom and see some of the same smaller places, I might have to hire a few transfers so lets 4 long haul private transfers with stops along the way at an average of €250 each and I would be up to €1300. Then the only difference is €650 (which is only about €30 a day) and do I want to drive or do I want to let someone else be the driver?

I am also guessing that each day I would spend at least 45 minutes finding parking and retrieving the car over 16 days and that 12 hours lost plus about 3 hours for going to the rental and renting, then returning the car, so maybe 15 hours total. That’s a full day sort of lost. But that’s not terrible for the convenience of driving the car myself.

Interesting and worth thinking about. Thank you.

Hi, Shellie, I agree there can be drop-off fees if you leave it in another country or even another city, and there can be fees associated with an early drop-off, although that depends on the circumstances. That's one thing you will have to check with each individual company that you book the car with. It said, if you pick up in Prague and drop off in Prague, then you shouldn't have an extra drop-off fee.

If it were me, I would start with AutoEurope. I've been renting from them for over 20 years, and I've never had any problems. They act as a consolidator, and so you go to their website, key in your information, dates of departure and arrival, and destinations. Then they will show you a list of car rental companies that have cars for where you want to pick up. They will show you the prices, all of the relevant information, and then you choose which car and which company you want. I like that Auto Europe maintains control over it, so if you ever have any problems, you can contact them. They're always concerned about making sure that you're happy with your car rental company of choice.

You will need to make sure and let the car rental company know what country you will be traveling through with the car, as you may need to get stickers for border crossings or permission, or there may be other restrictions involved. It really just depends. I'm assuming you know this, but when you drive from city to city, parking is always going to be an issue, and sometimes driving in the cities themselves. Some cities now have congestion fees that they enforce for cars that are driving in the city during certain hours. But again, that's something you can research and find out ahead of time.

If you're interested, AutoEurope has a page that gives you specific driving information for every country in Europe, so you might want to check that out as well. Scroll down until you get to the country listings: https://www.autoeurope.com/driving-information

That and some of the RS posts about driving issues in Europe (theft, accidents, car rental rip offs, traffic fines, etc.) continue to make me nervous.

Mr. E, I've driven in England, Wales, Scotland, France, Spain, Germany, and Austria I've never had any problems except for one ticket that I got in Cornwall for driving in a bus lane. The fee was only around £30, and I wound up not having to pay it because they never followed through with sending it to me. That said, one country I would be leery about driving in is Italy, and that's where most of the stories that you hear on this forum come from. It's probably not worth it to me. It sounds like they give out traffic tickets on every street corner. 😊

Those prices above were Sixt with drop-off fees.

I drove in South Africa once. Not a happy experience for me or anyone else on the road.

Hi Shellie. Yes, we did a similar trip about 10 years ago renting from Sixt in Switzerland, driving thru Germany, Czech Republic and Austria, before dropping back in Switzerland. It worked fine. No drop off fees if you return the car in the same country where you rent. Just let them know what countries you will be driving in to confirm. We used free insurance thru our credit card and also confirmed with them ahead of time that all countries were covered. Have a great trip!

Really appreciate the feedback to those of you who have responded to my message. Especially you Mr E, with all of that calculating you did! My proposal/itenerary would not include returning back to Prague so there would be a drop off fee. Not sure where but maybe Slovenia or Vienna. It’s not clear how much that would cost, but the range given didn’t seem crazy. An alternative to taking the car from Prague through all those countries is renting & dropping off separately in each country. Is that crazy or sensible..? I love road trips & wandering. We have some highlights in mind but if it’s a 5 or 6 hour drive the appeal to a car is we can stop & explore along the way & stay as long as we want.. I’m hoping to have a email conversation with someone at Eurocar or Sixt to get the answers to our questions. I can’t tell otherwise how it works to get the vignettes or tags for all the countries. Those who have booked, did you do it all online..?

For my taste, on a 3 week trip (I am guessingat your plan) the only place I would even consider a car is Krakow to Budapest. The rest of the trip the best of the inbetween places are accessible by train.

Thank you Mr. E for your comment on accessibility and ease of trains. I'm on board with that (pun intended) and agree how great they are outside of the US, but having taken trains vs driving, I always feel like I'm missing something when I arrive by train. I'm from California, big state as you know, and we go on road trips constantly and love meandering as we wish, and all the stops that go with it. We drove in Portugal and Germany and left the car in the garage in bigger cities but getting there was a breeze. So, our preferences likely arise directly from our lived experience, me driving, you and others taking trains. Weirdly I only take the train when I'm out of the country.

Its all personal taste. There is no wrong. I am from Texas and dont miss driving a bit. I havent drive a car in almost 4 years.