We often rent a car in Europe, but to explore a particular non-urban area, not to get from city to city. Unless about 4 of you are willing/able to cram yourselves and your gear into a standard transmission subcompact, renting a car will be more expensive than the train. Train will also be faster from city to city. For your itinerary, I’d recommend the train. With 5 big cities in 16 days you won’t be spending any time exploring in rural areas and you don’t want to spend time looking for parking places.

Thanks.

The last two times I rented my car from Decode Car Hire. I usually plan the route so that I can pickup the car in a certain country drive around to other countries that are near and then dropoff the car at the same country where I picked it up.

Trains in euope arer relatively inexpensive and run pretty frequently so it’s the preferred option for younger travellers. It may be nice to drive between cities in a rental car, but once you get to your detination you’ll have the pain of finding parking…besides all the places you’e mentioned have pretty good public transit. Vienna is a nightmare to drive in with its ring road system.

Having said all that if you have a few people to share the costs, having a rental can be fun and affordable. Often I stay outside of major cities, where hotels are cheaper and parking free, and then take public transit to the main part of the City

Thank up for the information…

I plan on renting a car for my 6 week trip throughout europe this summer. Find places to stay in the outskirts of cities that is also near a subway stop. Cheaper lodging but more freedom to explore the European country side. plus its relatively cheap if your sharing the cost. The only pitfall is the extra cost for being under 25

edit: i am a little worried about parking though. costs can add up…

Jclee, since you’re planning to rent more than 3 weeks, and maybe under 25(???), consider a short-term lease instead. These are often cheaper vs. rental, and no age requirement. Peugeot and Renault have programs, I believe. One might be called “Eurolease.” Do a keyword search on this forum because there’s been good info posted within the past year or so.

update = http://www.renaultus…
http://www.peugeot-o…

Jclee – don’t forget that you’ll be paying $6.00-$8.00 a gallon for gas and that many major highways will have tolls. For example, if you took the major toll highways from Paris to the border with Spain at Hendaye you’d spend about 60 euros in tolls. Some tolls can be avoided by taking smaller, slower roads in some cases, so do your research. Also make sure you get good insurance – many rental policies don’t cover damage to windows, wheels/tires, the roof, and some other things you might assume are covered.

Good points. The Euroleasing seems to include insurance, but fuel, tolls and parking can kill what initially seems like a good deal. If city touring is the main priority, then see if you can cut a week or more off the car rental or lease, maybe by connecting 2 places with cheap transport connections where you don’t anticipate a big desire to get out of the city. Likewise, you might not need a car on arrival for a few days; maybe also at the end of your trip? It might not seem much but easily goes over $300 a week on a rental car when you consider all costs.