Train vs.car

cool; variety is the spice of life

It doesn't have to be one or the other. We've taken plenty of trips where we travel between large cities by train, then rent a car just to visit more rural areas.

I think scythian hit the nail on the head!

Also, some car rental agencies will no honor my auto insurance from the US.

What US auto insurance did/do you have that provided coverage in Europe?

Unless you bought specialty auto insurance from Lloyds, I doubt any auto insurance you had/have on your car in the US ever provided coverage in Europe.

There are pros and cons of driving vs trains etc. To call a person who uses cars lazy is a stretch. To each their own. I have driven on most of our trips, however, we prefer small rural areas in Italy and Spain. We like the flexibility and put up with the downside of finding parking and fuel. On our last trip to Europe we drove in Southern Italy, went on an organized tour and used trains at the end of the trip.

So a car is for soon, but if you do not like driving at home, do not drive in Europe

No doubt that one can cover a lot more ground per day when one has a rental car visiting rural areas, say in eastern Germany, such as the Greater Berlin area and villages in the old Mark Brandenburg, ie, a lot more at your disposal, getting out to see the Brandenburg sites by walking...very interesting, culturally and sociologically revealing.

U.S. credit cards can include auto rental insurance in Europe. All three of my cards do. Depending on the specific trip or country, purchasing insurance from the rental car company or elsewhere might be a good idea. I have never heard of U.S. auto insurance that also covered Europe. When I can get to where I want to go in a relatively efficient manner by train, that's always my first choice.

Traveling by train and traveling by car both have their merits and their downsides; one has to do enough research to know which is preferable for any specific trip (or specific portions of any trip).

With literally dozens and dozens of trips to Europe I have never chosen to drive. Worse, I would rather fly than train, as my train tolerance is only about 4 hours. Having said that, to call a person who uses cars lazy is narrow minded at best.

For every place a train stops, there are 1,000 where one does not stop, and if those are the sorts of places where you find enjoyment, then renting a car may be your only option. To miss what you enjoy in order to conform to someone else's definition of enjoyment would be a stupid waste of money. I can see the beauty in turning a 4 hour train ride into a 8 hour drive by visiting each town, village and back road through the farm land. I do that in my own state on occasion. It can be enjoyable and revealing.

But if your vacation dream is centered on major cities, then train or plane does work. For me at least, because the bucket list is so big, I plan trips around transportation and I dont try and do the inefficient like Budapest and Slovenia where there is no good connection. I am fortunate to have the means to travel often and I know eventually it will fit into a larger plan. Till then, what I can reach is done effectively so I can get to more, for longer periods and at less cost. But my definition of the most effective use of time and money spent is only valid for me, each has their own equally as valid. So let's not be insulting.

The car is extra luxury. Yes, you pay for that luxury. I've done so because I was desperate enough to get to these sites. What I was able to see in rural Brandenburg, ie, out in the boonies from Berlin to Frankfurt an der Oder, or passing through villages, eg., Grossbeeren, Neuhardenberg, Küstrin-Kietz and surrounding areas, and others, would not have been possible without a car, ie, being driven on the rural roads. In Brandenburg, especially....true. very "revealing" as accurately pointed out above.

Likewise in France, east of Paris, eg, going out to Montmirail, Vauchamps, and in Lorraine, where I wished that I had been "motorized" after taking the bus to Gravalotte from Metz. What about the return? Not until 7-8 hrs later would there be a return bus.

So we walked 1.5 hrs or so to the next town where a train station was. Had I had a car, (one of the occasions I wish I had been motorized) and since I was in the immediate area, I would not have missed the villages of St Privat and Mars-la-Tour.

We travel as a family of four and I’m planning our first trip using trains instead of renting a car. I’m finding trains very expensive. To go from Toledo to Seville will cost us about 300€ by train, but renting a fully insured car is about 150€. The travel time is about the same when I factor in connecting times in the train station.

Same in France. I can take the train rt from Paris to Bayeux for the same price as renting a fully insured car for 3 days.

Some will say they don’t want to deal with driving, parking, etc. We haven’t had a problem. For us, a car provides much more flexibility, at a lower price.

With 4 in the car, I bet it is less expensive. You price includes gas and tolls? Good to know.

First, I would substitute the words "Public Transportation" for train. Even in Germany, which has the second (by only 1%) most intensive (track length per area) and most the extensive rail system in Europe, you can't get everywhere by train. However, the rail system is augmented by a robust bus system. I've spent over 150 days in Germany in the past 19 years, and I have never found a place I wanted to go to that I couldn't get to by public transportation. And I spend most of my nights in small towns: in my last 3 trips (55 nights), I've spent 80% of them in towns under 17,000 population (half under 10,000).

In my case, my trips tend to be well planned. Only once have I gone through a town (on a bus) that I thought I would have stopped at longer if I had had a car, but in that case, staying longer would have meant not getting to where I planned to go. I operate on the premise that I will return. I've gone back on three subsequent trips and stayed in the town for 6 days, total.

But a lot does depend on the country in which you are traveling. In Germany, using advance purchase tickets, a trip from Frankfurt to Munich, a little over 3 hours, similar to Toledo to Seville in Spain, would cost about $90 (80€), not $300.

"...by visiting each town, village and back road through the farmland...." True, almost exactly when this applied to me.

My first time visiting Kiel was in 1977 (I should have done that on the 1973 trip) and wanted to do a day trip Laboe, went to the train station to ask how to get there. Luckily, behind me in line was a German guy from the HI hostel (they were all Germans in the hostel) who heard me asking that question and recognized me from the hostel. This guy had a car. Upon hearing my question, he offered to drive me to Laboe since the place was new to him too. My intentional was to see the Marine Ehrenmal and the U-Boat. Going by car took a lot less time than waiting for the next ferry, then transferring by bus.

After seeing Laboe, the route he took back to Kiel passed through Eutin/Holstein...perfect, since I wanted to that town especially the house/museum of Beethoven's contemporary, Carl Maria von Weber, the famous composer in the Romantic era in North Germany. We had plenty of time for that.

Before returning to Kiel we drove through Plön, which would ring a bell given its connection to WW2., drove through Plön, enough to see the Zentrum, etc. I hadn't expect that pleasant surprise.

Obviously, without this guy's car, I would have only seen one place, Laboe, instead of all three Holstein places given this flexibility, likewise in Brandenburg to track down Prussian historical sites out "in the sticks."

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