train - vs - lease

Your brother would certainly seem to understand the advantages of the train, having been to Europe many times before.

For me, the advantages of a car are for traveling in rural areas. If you want spend time in the countryside, it's hard to do so by train. But cars come with high fuel costs, road tolls (Switzerland charges an annual road tax you pay when you drive in.) So take those into account if cost is a concern for you. Also, you'll need an International Drivers Permit for at least one of the countries you'll be in (Italy) but they're easy to obtain from AAA. Hope this helps.

I'm pretty much anti-train. Don't spend more than a few days in big cities on a month-long trip and then just park it for the duration. Flexibility in poking around is most important to me, even when traveling alone. Have done price comparisions when traveling with wife and feel that car is cheaper than train for two. Also have looked at lease-backs and never found them to be better deal than straight rental -- need to explore some more, apparently.

What do you want to see in these places? If your trip is primarily cities, an automobile is almost always an unecessary hastle, particularly in Paris. Even for people who have never taken a train, linking cities in Europe by rail could not be easier. But as the others have noted, sometimes it can be difficult to explore the country side by public transportation.

Doug, Ed, Tom: Again you all have some fantastic information. I didn't think about parking in big cities, and also about the countryside. I downloaded the map that Rick Steves has on his site and the trains don't reallt go to far into the countryside, and some of the small towns we want to visit no train goes near. So best way to do this is lease a car for 3 weeks then gop to Rome for a few days then the train to Paris and then fly home. Everyone on this site really helps, they give different ideas that maybe you didn't think about. Thank you all Bill

Hi Bill-
On our first trip to Europe we did the buy back (lease) program through Autoeurope. It was a fantastic experience. One advantage of leasing as opposed to renting is that the lease is all inclusive. The cost is in US dollars and there is no nickle and diming you for extras. You are totally covered with $0 deductible insurance. When you arrive they pick you up at the airport and take you to your new car. Drop off was very easy too. One thing to keep in mind with their program is you pay an extra charge if you pick up or drop off outside of France, so you might want to plan your trip accordingly. We picked up in Frankfurt so we had to pay for that, but no charge for dropping in Paris. If you do the lease be sure you make your arrangements well in advance.

This is what we did - most of our trip was in smaller towns. We did stay 3 nights in Munich. We parked by the hotel and did not drive again until we left town. We spent 2 nights in Amsterdam. We stayed outside the city center in a hotel next to a train station. Again, we parked and did not drive again until we left town. When we arrived in Paris we turned the car in. If you are flying round trip to Paris I would suggest picking the car up at the airport and leaving the area right away. When you return, turn the car in at either airport (don't try to go to the one in town --- huge mistake!!!) then go into Paris on public transportation for your time there. You DO NOT want to drive in Paris. Trust me...

It is easy to use the trains going to city to city, but I do like the use of a car for the freedom it gives in the smaller areas.

Which ever way you decide, I hope you and your brother have a fantastic trip!

I thoroughly enjoy the trains and do everything I can to not rent a car! For areas without train service such as Tuscany and the Périgord, we've taken excellent day tours and been very pleased.

I'd say this is another case of "to each his/her own".

Bill,

Given the relatively short duration of your trip, my suggestion would be to use trains for the most part and short term rental cars where required to get to any out-of-the way locations you want to visit. When planning your route, keep in mind the high fees that are often charged when picking up a car in one country and dropping off in another.

One of the reasons I feel this would be a better option is that you're planning to cover a fairly large geographical area, and travel by car will be slower and less efficient than by train.

It's going to be difficult to get to all those seven countries by car within a 30-day window. You'll be spending a lot of "windshield time", which will reduce your sightseeing time. Also, NO CAR can travel as quickly as the TGV or other high speed trains (300 kmH!). You'll also have to consider fuel costs, parking costs, tolls, highway permits (Switzerland), International Driver's Permits for each driver (mandatory in Italy and some other countries), and possibly vandalism or other "hazards".

Carefully planned rail connections will be far easier and less stressful (IMHO).

Happy travels!

For most itineraries that go beyond the cities, it is usually best to mix it up. Use the train (or even fly) to get from one region to another; rent a car to explore the region.

Of course it can be fun and rewarding to drive from one place to another too, so you might plan a "road-trip" segment in your itinerary. The green Michelin guides are especially helpful for that.

If you don't mind my saying so: It looks as though you have added some more destinations to your itinerary, but not more time. You might want to think about that.

Have fun!

WOW !!!! thanks everybody, your input is awesome. Right now I'm leaning towards the train, I just got some maps and will start seeing where we want to visit, then see if the train goes to the area or what. It looks like the cost will be very similar when you take into concideration the parking fees, fuel, permits and and tolls that starts adding up. So if I can find some hotels close to the train station then that's probably the way we will go. I want to really thank everybody for all your valuable information, you have all been very helpful and this site is great. Bill

If you're going to start in Paris and end in Rome, flying open jaw (home-Paris and Rome-home) on a multi-city ticket will give you more sightseeing time and will eliminate backtracking.