Euro trip planner is an important skill to have an effective budget holiday trip around Europe. For this specific post, transportation mode you are going to use is a rental car. Travelers are parents and 3 children. It will benefit you to have estimation on what your situation best fit.
*car rental is optional for foreigner in Europe that has not purchase a car or not having train or airplane to go around Europe.
Renting a car for euro trip may benefit you on several things such as:
- New experience
- Euro trip with baby, it’s not difficult, yet having a rental car will benefit to keep the baby warm during winter.
- Many places are reachable
- Not necessarily to find hotels/motels near train station.
- Rental car functional as warm place, storage, and transportation.
In terms of price, car rental can be economical or not. Depends on the route. The trip about to mention here is not economical because of the long route where every day you change countries. Paris-Amsterdam-Berlin-Prague (short stop)-Bratislava-Vienna (short stop)-Zagreb-Ljubljana (short stop)-Halstatt-Luxembourg-Paris.
Distance reach within 8 days is 3750km, fuel spent about 378.9euro, 100.50Euro for parking and 149Euro for toll fee. Rent the car itself 300Euro for 8 days, rent a car seat (required for babies) 30Euro. Booking at skyscanner. Previously, I had booked directly at Europcar to get a Citroen C5 car or the like at a slightly higher price. I had read the blog that referenced skyscanner (check HERE), and checked that it was cheaper, so I booked Europcar via skyscanner (check HERE).
Once you arrive at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, go straight to the counter to get your car keys. Submit a driver’s license and passports all in the name of the driver. The clerk tried to offer a bigger car when the clerk saw the five of us with 1 24inch suitcase, 2 20inch suitcases, 2 backpacks and 1 stroller. The officer gave us a look at the car we ordered and another car that was more spacious.
The car that we booked was indeed a Peugeot 308 economy car, which could fit 5 people, but the luggage information could only fit 2 suitcases. I’m still happy with the car I booked, because if I change cars, it adds 30 euros / day. Then he lowered it to 15 euros / day and I still refused with the excuse that our budget was tight.
After arranging the car trunk, 3 suitcases and 1 stroller fit in the back. 1 backpack in the front seat and 1 backpack in the back seat. Turn the car over also at Charles de Gaule airport.
I don’t add on GPS (extra payment) when booking a car rental. For the guide, we initially used google map. Make sure you are activating international roaming on your simcard, it will be useful. It turns out that the car rented has a GPS.
It is not an easy decision to become personal euro trip planner.
Learning from google map, when I try to search the distance from one city to another, there is information that the trip will take a private road/country road. But it turns out that all countries are connected by toll roads. It is always optional to get out of toll road and take city road. The maximum speed on the highway is an average of 130km, only in Germany there is almost no maximum speed indicator. There are various toll payment systems:
#Take a toll ticket and pay at the end of the toll trip in that country.
#Pay directly at the ticket machine. Insert a credit card, without asking for a pin, the toll gate opens immediately
#A vignette or toll sticker system. The Czech Republic, Slovenia and Austria enforce this. Once you enter this country, you have to buy toll stickers. Buy it at the vignette office near the country’s border or at a rest area within the country. The sticker must be affixed to the windshield. Don’t overlook this, as there is a sticker check. You can be fined up to 400 euros if you don’t have a sticker. I got an experience where I didn’t stick the Slovenian vignette on purpose, I was intercepted by the police officer. When it was shown, the officer immediately put the sticker on. There have been 2 times the vignette check. The price of a vignette varies depending on the country ranging from 7-14Euro.
#In Austria, apart from having to buy a vignette, you have to pay again when you want to enter a very long tunnel. As far as I remember there are 2 times payment.
For fuel, gas stations are widely available in rest areas along toll roads. Fuel supply companies are very diverse and with various terms for the type of fuel. I’m not picky about places, when it’s time to fill up on fuel, stop by and fill it. I only took 1 benchmark, the hose with the words 95 was what I used to fill it. There are various ways to pay (similar to the United States of America):
#Fill in, then pay at the cashier in the shop at the rest area by stating the pump number. (This method of payment is the most frequent)
#Fill in as needed, then pay yourself using a credit card (required to use a pin).
#Report to the cashier first, state the pump number, pay the deposit as needed, fill it then return to the cashier to take change.
Parking at the Novotel Paris cost you 29Euro/night. Parking at the hotel / hostel typically ranges from 10-29Euro.
When compared to buying a 3 country eurailpass (France, Austria, Germany), a 5 day pass for 2 adults and 2 children (free for infant), the price of a 2nd class train ticket is 994Euro. This is only interstate trains, not including transportation within the city. Comparing train ticket and car rental, renting a car is cheaper for euro trip (in my case).
Does the insurance include in car rental?
Use basic insurance for the car rental price package. To avoid only minimal risks such as theft and damage. The benefits may vary for each provider. For the car from Europcar that I got from skyscanner (check HERE), the insurance benefit only runs after the damage cost is above 1000Euro. If there is a damage cost below 1000Euro it will be our responsibility. If you want wider benefits so you don’t have to pay anything if there is damage cost, you can add medium or premium insurance.
How much do you pay for the deposit? I checked the deposit is quite expensive.
The amount of deposit will vary depends on the type of cars. My credit card was blocked for 400 euros for guarantee. The car I ordered was regular intermediate with automatic transmission. If you choose compact car with manual transmission, the price can go lower.
Can I pick up and drop off rental car in different location?
Yes, but the rental car price may be more expensive. You don’t need to leave your passport behind; the guarantee is a credit card with a sufficient limit.
Read: Review Traveluro Scam or Not
1 Country a day for Euro Trip Planner?
I consider this a challenge. Ideally, at least 2-3 nights in one place. let there be time for shopping. What I skip is time for shopping/culinary. This is more than once I’ve been to Paris, so I’ve compiled an itinerary that I can also go to new countries that I haven’t visited, such as Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Croatia. If you’re tired, don’t copy this euro trip planner. Enjoy your stay in a country and reduce the number of visit.
