Anonymous wrote:Cars in European cities are not an advantage. I lived in Europe. I would suggest (as others have done) that you do the big cities without a car. Then, pick an area you want to see and rent a car there. Return it and then take a train to the next city. Repeat. Easier and cheaper and parking will not be as big a problem.

You do see more driving on your own--but in the cities, it is a mess.

I was the PP advocating for driving and i agree with this method...we usually fly into one city, pick up the car as we leave the city, do rural stuff in between the second city, drop off car in second city, do the second city, then drive home.

Cars in European cities are not an advantage. I lived in Europe. I would suggest (as others have done) that you do the big cities without a car. Then, pick an area you want to see and rent a car there. Return it and then take a train to the next city. Repeat. Easier and cheaper and parking will not be as big a problem.

You do see more driving on your own--but in the cities, it is a mess.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi Everyone! My man and I are thinking about flying into Barcelona this summer and taking a two week car trip to Rome, stopping at various cities along the way. I started researching car rentals that allow you to pick up a car in one country and drop off in another and darn it is expensive. Anyone have any tips? Thanks!

Driving around is so American.

In Europe, see if you can leverage 3 key things there for your itinerary:
- high speed train
- dirt cheap airlines like EasyJet
- cruise lines from Barcelona into everywhere in the Mediterranean

Driving around lets you go many places that trains don't. And YOU determine the times, not the train schedules.

Seriously. A car's completely unnecessary in the cities; if you'd like to see out of the way places outside the city, a car makes it a lot easier.

But PP might be right. Pioneering is so American.

I wouldn't drive from Barcelona to Rome either, though I would consider renting a car in the individual cities (but not actually drive in the cities)

OP don't forget that if you do rent, you may need international driver's license

OP here. Thanks everyone for your advice!

Anonymous wrote:OP here! Thank you for your replies. I think I am going to go the train route, stopping for a couple of days in certain cities. Has anyone done this and had success?

Lots of people do this. You fly into one city, take the train to the next city you want to go to, etc. It's a really common way to get around. If you want a car for a certain area, then you just rent the car for the time period that you are in that area, return it, and hop the train to the next city.

I'd look at Auto Europe:

autoeurope.com

Very well respected company, been around for a long time, bundles rentals with basic liability coverage, free cancellation up until a few days before. But read their rental info sheet closely, there are sometimes significant fees that aren't paid until you pick up the car. They send a 4 page PDF and it lists those charges, "Additional Fees to be paid Locally" on page 2.