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rent a car in Amsterdam or Germany?

Posted by (Safety Harbor, FL, US) on

Does anyone know: if we fly round trip to/from Amsterdam, and want to go to Germany too, would it be better to rent the car when we leave Amsterdam and drive from there, or take a train to Hanover and rent the car for a day or two there? We only need the car to go to Ludwigslust and experience the autobahn driving a little, so we would drop it off, preferably before getting to Berlin.

Posted by
12040 posts

Need more info. Where are you going in Germany besides Ludwigslust? Either way, though, I wouldn't particularly recommended driving in or around Amsterdam. The traffic between the major cities in the Netherlands is some of the worst in Europe. There isn't much auto traffic within Amsterdam itself, but that's probably because the inner city is designed more around bicycle than motor transportation.

Posted by
2297 posts

I agree with Tom. We've driven from Schiphol to Germany several times - and it's no fun with traffic jams all over the Dutch autobahn. And if you want to drop off the car before going to Berlin definitely rent in Germany to avoid additional charges for dropping off a car in a different country than where you picked it up.

Posted by
1525 posts

We will be going (by train) from Amsterdam to Cologne and picking up our car there for a week of hopping around rural Germany.

I don't know why the autobahn would be anything to experience though. You don't have an interstate highway near you in Florida? It's not because of the famed "no speed limit" thing is it?!? I drove through Montana once just after they began their no speed limit experiment. It was no big thrill. Personally, we will be avoiding the autobahn.

If you don't have a definable NEED for the car, I would just stick with the train.

Posted by
23 posts

Thanks for the advice! We'll probably rent for just in Germany then.

Posted by
12315 posts

I picked up a car in Amsterdam and within an hour was pulled over by two bicycle police (a man and a woman). Apparently I was driving in a bus only lane. It wasn't horrible though, they were polite and just told me where I could turn around and where I should go.

Interesting that it was a leased car with French plates but the first thing they asked, in English, was where I was from.

Leasing created some limitations on where I could pick up and drop off. As a general rule, picking up and dropping off outside of large cities is the better way to go.

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