Driving from Frankfurt to Prague

Best car rental agency: Sixt! But tell them where you're going upon pick up because then they can't give you a Mercedes or BMW (which are their main suppliers) but have to give you some Ford or Volvo. Either way make sure it's a Diesel car! For travel advisary radio get the local AFN frequencies and other information from afneurope.net. About the travel route: There's pretty much only one route: A3 from Frankfurt to Nuremberg, A6 to the Czech border and then onwards to Prague.

Andreas,
Thanks for the reply. Do you know if there currently is any construction taking place on the two highways you mentioned enroute to Prague? How is it to drive on those highways to Prague in the winter time?

Dustin, like on every German Autobahn: Yes, there is. During commute hours A3 is also known as Germany's longest parking deck... But if you drive between 9am and 4pm and then after 6.30pm to 7am you'll be fine. One of the "bottle neck" is Aschaffenburg (right after the State line between Hesse and Bavaria) where they're working on tunneling in the freeway. When I last drove it a ride to Munich they just had found another WW2 bomb that they had to take care of. The freeway was closed and some 2 million cars or so (at least it felt like it) with me being one of them tried to bypass the site on narrow rural roads. That's why I recommended to really keep listening to the English language traffic advises on AFN. By the way, in 99% of all cases you make it in just over 1 hour from Frankfurt to Würzburg - that is if you know how to drive German style ;-)

Just want to stress again to tell the rental agency your itenerary. Some agencies won't rent cars at all for Eastern countries, others only rent certain vehicles and/or charge you more. Insurance can also be higher. You don't want to find out too late that your agency doesn't permit you to take the car to Prague.

One more thing, stay out of the left lane on the Autobahn. Unlike in the U.S. it's a passing lane. Get in to pass quickly then get back over. If you don't, you'll get honked at mercilessly and maybe rear-ended. I drove in the 85-90 mph (not kmh) range and seemed to pace traffic reasonably well. Cars came by in the left lane that were probably double that speed.

I am renting a car in Frankfurt and i plan to drive to drive to Prague. Is there any construction along the freeway. Is there anything i need to know driving on the Autobahns in Germany and along the Freeways on the other parts of Europe

I am planning to book a Hotel close to the center of Prague. Would it be difficult for me to find parking. The Hotel Web sites dont say anything

Appreciate any help

Thanks

Dustin. I'm also planning to rent a car in Germany and drive into Eastern Europe. Have you identified which rental car companies will rent to you and what additional fees or restrictions there are? I read somewhere that you either had to buy the rental car company's CDW/Theft policies and that the only way to waive them was to present a Canadian Gold Visa or U.S. Gold Mastercard for the purchase which I thought very strange.

Dustin, Steve and Eric: Check out www.autoeurope.com They rent cars that you can take into the Czech republic. Personally, I would not drive into Prague city center. I would stay at a hotel on the outskirts of the city and take their great subway system in. I do that for any large city. Driving in the city is difficult because of one-way streets, cable cars going down the middle of streets, parking and street signs that I can't read fast enough. Just isn't worth it. Also, when you stay on the outskirts the hotels are often less expensive. Don't forget to reserve a diesel car. The gas is cheaper and the car gets better gas mileage. Have fun--all of you!

Dustin's post is almost 2 years old and he most likely came back from Prague more than a year ago as well...