Train or Rental Car from Frankfurt to Grevenbroich?

If it's not too late, I would recommend buying a Lufthansa connection to Cologne or Dusseldorf (the latter is the second busiest airport in Germany, I think.) Using code-shares on United, I have found that the second flight often has a negligible cost (I mean, from the East Coast USA. Even if the change is not in Frankfurt, it's still a convenience.)

I rented a car at FRA last year, and the only problem was how busy they were. Because the only automatic transmission they had (reserved a sedan in advance!) was a giant trade van, I refused it (I expected this to happen, so I wasn't put out ... ), but then I had to wait half an hour or more for the next sedan return to be turned around for me. I'm not whining, I'm just suggesting that your expectation of German "precision" at the FRA car rental counters may be misplaced.

"... or cancel the reservation." Most people start the car rental search with an aggregating site to get the lay of the land on rates and multiple fees. Then some people prefer to take the "Pay In Advance" discount. If you are worried about your flight (what about your hotel - isn't that harder to get the money back for than the car?) then you should not take pay in advance, and study the exact terms of the rental. In my experience, most car rentals are used to no-shows.

Since you seem to have no time for sightseeing on the FRA-Grevenbroich trip, I don't see a big factor in deciding which way to travel. German trains are great, but how many changes did you find on the DB website? Your group sounds a little large, and perhaps with an annoying amount of luggage for any really local trains you might be on. But if the college kids are fit and strong, that's not such a problem. Normally I recommend renting the smallest car that will suit you, but you have so many people that you may have to take a car that's hard to park and hard to maneuver in any medieval cities you may visit.

Thanks Tim! Could you explain what you meant in the first paragraph by getting a flight to Dusseldorf? We have nonrefundable tickets but perhaps this is something different. I was not familiar with the terms you used but would be open to other options. Thank you!

Sorry, I don't have a clever way to get you out of change fees for a new transatlantic ticket! I meant that if you had not bought the ticket, you would search for Newark-Dusseldorf. You don't say whether you have any other destinations in mind, but many posters here don't know what an "open-jaw" ticket is. (That's a separate issue from reconciling yourself to a non-direct flight to your first destination. My wife and I have found that after dozens of trips to Europe, it's not a big deal to take a second flight that delivers you exactly where you want to be. YOU aren't going to a hotel, but you can seldom get into the room when you arrive as we do from the East Coast at 7:30AM or so! So landing at 11:30AM isn't so bad.)

Because we use United a lot (despite their lousy planes), we have had magnificent luck with Lufthansa code-shares. (We fly from Newark, which is a United hub, and there are many Lufthansa flights there, both code share and non-code share. The equipment is nicer, and there is better availability for revenue seats, mileage upgrades, and free mileage tickets on Lufthansa than for United. And as I said, when we have taken a two-segment flight (even to Madrid I think, as well as within Germany) on Lufthansa, the second flight often costs little or nothing. When I made a rookie mistake about checking in for the second flight once, Lufthansa actually paged us to ask where we were!

Your trip won't be ruined by the train trip, you'll just be pretty tired when you get there. I hope you found a car rental office that is near the highway you need for Grevenbroich. Can you drive a standard if they don't come up with the automatic you asked for? Are you going to return the car within Germany?

Yes, we have an open jaw flight from Newark to Frankfurt and then from Madrid to Philadelphia. I couldn't pass up $690 round trip tickets. I tried looking at all different airports and options but this was the best by far economically. We did a similar trip two years ago; 9 countries but started in Paris and ended in Spain. This time we are in need of some train travel as well as a rental car. I looked at dropping our car off in Spain and doing all the driving but it was cost prohibitive. I don't know much about trains in Europe and I like to book everything well in advanced. My one hang up is I have no control over our flight if it is delayed for weather and would not like to lose our cheap, planned out far in advance train tickets and have to purchase new ones if we come in late. A car gives us more flexibility from the start but it is about a 2 1/2 hour drive right off the plane. We are used to driving straight through to Florida at least once a year so long distance is not too much of an issue for us but if we could go by train it may be better. Also, I am not familiar with renting cars as much so the little experience I have had was good and they gave us an appropriate car that we had reserved well in advance. Yes, I can drive a manual car well so that isn't an issue. We will have a decent amount of luggage and that makes a difference when looking at flights within Europe becasue we would have to pay extra for checked bags too. Do rental cars fluctuate much in price or should I secure a new reservation now if that is what we plan on doing? Plane tickets have a huge swing from week to week. Thank you for your time and help!

Since you are flying Lufthansa, see if you can add on a Rail&Fly. Then you can take any train, even ICE trains from Frankfurt airport to Duesseldorf airport.
https://www.lufthansa.com/us/en/lufthansa-express-rail-fly

DB has some really good advance purchase ticket that you could use from Frankfurt to Düsseldorf, but they are train specific. If your flight is late arriving, you could lose the ticket. You are far safer with a full fare ticket, which is valid any time that day, so no risk of late arrival, but far more expensive. The Rail&Fly tickets, mentioned above, are a great alternative. They cost something like 34€/P, and are valid for any train that day. You normally buy them in conjunction with your flight reservation, but I think Lufthansa will allow you to add them later. If so, that would be your best option. It's probably faster to take the next ICE to Düsseldorf (at least hourly) than to wait for a connecting flight.

I wouldn't recommend driving first thing after you land from a transatlantic flight, so the train seems like a better option. It's one hour to Cologne or 1:20 to Düsseldorf from the airport. But why not take the train all the way to Grevenbroich and avoid the rental car cost? There are trains from Cologne to Grevenbroich.

A Rail&Fly ticket would cover you on the train all the way to Grevenbroich, for the same price and no specific train commitment.

I guess it comes down to "Why Grevenbroich?" Family, friends? Maybe you will want a car while you are there. It seems to be a conurbation of smaller towns in the center of a triangle of Cologne, Duesseldorf, and Moenchengladbach.

I need to get to Dusseldorf to pick up our rental car. We are staying with friends in Grevenbroich for a week but need our own car for transportation. I appreciate all of the information provided to me. I had not heard of the rail option from Lufthansa but will check into this. With having 5 of us, it can be costly to take trains so we opted for a car which worked well for us 2 years ago. The only place we are not renting a car is in Paris and we will take trains and walk the city. I have never seen anything like it there with the traffic and driving all over the road and sidewalks.

Are you picking up the car in Duesseldorf city or at the airport?

Just looking to Duesseldorf Hbf (city center), ICE trains are about every 15 minutes and take 1 hour and 20 minutes or so. With a Rail&Fly at 34 EUR per adult, that is 170 EUR.

If you wanted to take your sweet old time, you could travel on regional trains taking 3 1/2 to 4 hours for 76 EUR with a Quer durchs Land Ticket. Would get to see the Rhine Gorge as you take the slow way along the river. Also, trains are less frequent, like 1 per hour.

(Paris) I have never seen anything like it there with the traffic and driving all over the road and sidewalks.

You've never been to Rome?

Thank you Sam for the great train advice! I have not traveled much by train in Europe but when I had the opportunity in Spain I enjoyed sitting back and watching the scenery. It was much better than driving and trying to figure out all of the road signs in the different countries. I so appreciate all the train travel advice and the fact that you each took time to help me.

Nigel, no, I have not been in Italy but I have heard a lot about the driving. Even in the states driving can be precarious. It makes it much more difficult when you are in a foreign country not knowing where you are going or able to read the signs quickly. I was just surprised at the lack of road rules in Paris and our German friends warned us of it as well. Glad I rented our car outside the city and drove from that point. All in all, I have had great adventures and no lack of great stories!

Rail & Fly is only available at time of booking your flight with Lufthansa, just an FYI to everyone.