My girlfriend and I have a trip to Germany planned this summer. 7 days starting near Frankfurt and ending in Hamburg. My preliminary plan is to spend 1 night near Frankfurt, take a train to Munich for 2 nights with a day trip to Eibsee, train to Berlin, then renting a car there and driving to Rugen Island for 3 nights before heading to Hamburg. I've checked bahn.de for prices and with all train tickets plus renting a car for 3 days I've estimated a cost of about 660eu
My alternate plan is to just rent a car for the entire trip which would cost roughly 275eu more. My question is do you think it's worth it to have a car the entire time or with parking/traffic would it be more of a hassle to have a car anyway? We've never been to Germany so I have no idea. Thanks in advance for any advice!
by Character-Sound-8024
9 comments
Please note there are euros and not dollars in germany please respect this adapt your posting.
The us currency is not a thing here.
Parking in Hamburg is a Horror Trip as is driving in Berlin
I would start with looking on a map and reconsidering your route. Your current plan is over 2200 km in 7 days. According to Google Maps it will take you 24 hours of driving. The total travel time by train will be similar.
If you’re awake for 16 hours per day during your trip you will spend over 20% of it travelling from location to location. And it isn’t scenic travelling: You’ll bee seeing mostly bushes, noise barriers and other infrastructure. Of course, some travelling is unavoidable, but I would try to minimize it so that you have more time for activities.
I would do everything by car. While the trains are getting you there as well, by car it is easier to stop at things along the way. Much better use of your time spend sightseeing.
I don’t get how the car would cost you 660+275 euro. I just checked Europcar for example a SKODA KAMIQ fully insured, with unlimited km, pickup at Frankfurt airport, dropoff at Hamburg would only cost about 50€/day, fuel may be expensive here but still… No where near the amount you said.
Either way you will spend all your time on the road/rail. I would adjust the route.
You are literally traveling the who length of Germany in 7 or less days. I did 11 days in Berlin, Munich and Salzburg and still felt like I didn’t see everything.
Do yourself a favor and reduce the number of destinations you want to squeeze into one week. Plan one day of travel between the larger cities, that’ll reduce stress dramatically and makes you resilient to train delays, traffic jams, problems at car rentals.
When choosing to rent a car, factor in fuel cost as well. You can use GMaps to estimate distances and calculate the resulting cost. City parking can be expensive as well, you can have a look at Parkopedia to get an idea on price tags for that in the cities you’re planning to go.
About your personal modal split, you might consider doing intercity travel by rail, rent a car for countryside trips. Check, whether a Eurail Germany pass is a sensible offer for the itinerary you’re planning.
Personally, id rather take the train. Dont have to deal with the hassle of driving, parking, and traffic. Also, fuel is quite expensive in Germany.
As a german: I would always prefer a car over a train here… at the moment the Deutsche Bahn struggles with staff shortage (no matter if they are train driver, repair staff or everything else) what leads to trains arriving a lot later or don’t come at all. My husband had to take the train lately. 5 Minutes before departure he got the message that the train would’t come at all…
I know Germany seems small in comparison, but that is an awful lot of traveling from place to place for not seeing much in the end.
I’d recommend taking trains to watch the country change at leisure, but maybe plan one trip (i.e. one way) per day, and take time to explore the cities a bit. European old towns in summer nights are a treat, would be a shame to stress out squeezing in so much.