Car rental vs trains

Helen - A few considerations to offer.

Your itinerary covers a lot of ground. Some of the longer parts might be done more easily by train. So you might consider renting a car only for the parts of your trip that aren't well served by train. If you pick up in one country and drop in another you may have additional charges.

Autoeurope is a good rental agency. Its website lets you estimate your costs.

Most large cities have long term parking garages. While theft isn't usually a major problem, don't leave anything visible in your car.

What destinations do you plan to visit? If you are visiting mostly cities, you can do it all by rail. I have yet to encounter a European city where a car was not more of a hinderance than a benefit. And I'm not sure if you can always depend on finding a safe place to park on the outskirts of a city. If you're visiting the countryside or smaller towns, then a rental car might fit your purposes better.

since you are novice travellers, get Rick Steve's book "Europe Thru the Back Door" which is loaded with helpful advice. His TV shows are available on DVD, and one of the episodes also has advice for travelers.

IMHO you are doing exactly the wrong thing. Trains or cheap flights (be careful of baggage weight on the flights) are the ways to get between major cities. Europe, unlike the US, is well served by public transport. Most cities and towns have good rail service and it goes to where you want to be; its nuts to try to drive into Paris, but the train takes you easily to the heart. Same with Rome and other big cities. And once you step off you don't have to worry about long-term parking or theft. Yet you seem to be planning the oppposite, using a car to get between them. A car is useful when you're in areas where trains don't work so well, such as Tuscany. For the rest, use public transport.

I agree with Mike. You will dread the car as there is no place to park (we even found problems in small towns in Germany) anywhere. Take the train. It is comfortable, fast and on time.

For your itinerary, I hope you are spending at least a month in Europe. Otherwise, skip half the countries and go back again next year. Now, you can spend less time traveling and more time sitting in a cafe in the main square enjoying life.

Honestly, having a car in Europe is like having a ball and chain attached to your ankle. Trains are THE way to go.

And another problem with this idea- the outskirts of many major European cities are usually the places where you'd least want to stay, much less park a car. Type "Les Banlieu" (sp?) into google, and you'll see what I mean.

Thank you for your replies. Regarding our itinery during the 8 weeks... It's a mixture of war memorials in Poland, Belgium, Flanders, D-Day beaches, along with Lourdes, Provence, Tuscany and the major cities such as Paris, Rome, Warsaw, Amsterdam. I guess it's this mix of large and tucked away places that makes it difficult to decide on transportation mode. Also, is it better to rent a car on arrival, rather than before leaving home, because it's awfully difficult to figure out exactly when we will be where???!!!

I can understand your desire to rent a car for places that are difficult to get to. However, 2 points. In Switzerland, the train/bus/boat transportation system has to be the best in the world. A car is definitely not an advantage. In fact, some Swiss villages don't permit tourist cars. Second, in Italy, a car is great in the hill towns but not in certain cities. In the Cingue Terre, tourist cars are not permitted in the 5 towns. The parking in the summer is so limited, they close off the road to the parking lots above the towns. Your comment to park outside of a large city is wise. For example, there is absolutely no parking available in Florence and you need a permit to even be in the historical areas. The police will take pictures of your car.

You could look into tours of some of the sights you are considering. For example from Paris some people I know took a tour to the D-day beaches. You could do it by car, too, and one advantage of the car is you can linger as long as you want.

I'd suggest spending some more time researching your trip. Considering the time & money this trip is likely to cost, it may well be worth spending the money for an hour of two of an experienced consultant's time. Rick's company offers this (link at top right), or you may be able to find someone in your area you can work with face-to-face (get references first). I took a RS tour and was just amazed at how knowledgeable our guide was in giving post-tour suggestions to people on the tour who were interested in things like the D-day beaches.