Travel Tip: Getting Around in Europe

I have been to Europe four times in the last decade and found it to be like one big candy store: Too many places that I want to sample in too short of a vacation.

When I plan a European trip, I always look first at transportation connections and costs before I book flights and hotels so I can determine whether the itinerary I have in mind is feasible and affordable. For example, going from Barcelona to Berlin might sound like fun, but if the one-way airfare would be $750 if I flew non-stop, driving would take three days and the car rental would run me $1,500 because of "drop-off" fees, or the train ride would last 29 hours and require fourteen train changes, including one at 3:00 a.m., I would probably come up with a different and more workable trip.

Here are my tips on whey to fly, when to take the train, and when to drive, while on your Grand Tour of Europe.

When to fly  

Who likes to fly: No one (except maybe the pilots)? When I travel in Europe I only fly when taking the train or driving a rental car would be far slower or far more expensive.

In 2006 and in 2009, I flew in and out of London and spent time there at the beginning and end of month long European vacations. (You can fly non-stop to London from the U.S. West Coast in about ten hours; many cities on the European Continent are just one to two hours of flying time away from London). On the first trip, I hopped a British Airways flight to Vienna, arriving two hours later; an overnight train ride would have lasted nineteen hours and been much more expensive. The same held true for the second trip when I flew from London to Prague.

One-way airfares within Europe can be sky-high depending on which airport (some cities have more than one; London has five) you are flying from and the time of day you are traveling. The fares for our mid-afternoon flights from Heathrow to Vienna and Prague were quite reasonable, but we would have had to steal and hock some of England's Crown Jewels to pay for some of the flights that departed earlier in the day.

Even if you can find a cheap base airfare from a discount airline, the extra fees for baggage and other services may make travel on that carrier less than the bargain it first seemed to be. And discount carriers may only have one flight per day to your destination which increases the odds that you may be stuck overnight if that single flight is canceled.

So even if train travel will be slower, always check out its cost before plunking down your money to go from city to city by air.

When to ride trains 

If you are staying in the historic center of major European cities you can reach the train station from your hotel quickly by taxi, subway, or bus. In smaller towns, you can probably walk to the station in just a few minutes.

Trains run to many (but not all) cities and towns in Europe. Connections are usually well-timed and easy to make if you have to change trains to reach your destination; if you miss one train another will likely be leaving soon.

Travel by train can be as fast, if not faster, than flying, especially once you factor in the time you will spend getting to and from airports, checking-in for flights, and clearing security checkpoints. Some trains literally fly down the tracks. The Eurostar "swims" its way under the English Channel in two and half hours or less on the London-Brussels and London-Paris lines.

Rail travel is not dirt cheap. For example, the First Class train fare for the six-hour trip from Berlin to Munich is about $200/person. Rail passes can save you money, especially if you will spend five or more days traveling between cities, and if you are traveling with friends or family (my wife and I can travel together on a single pass). But the variety and pricing of passes is complex, and has to be compared with point-to-point ticket costs to determine the cheapest way to go by train. (Rick Steves' Europe Through The Back Door guidebook and his Web site have detailed information on rail travel).

When to drive 

Having a rental car in a big European city makes no sense at all. It is easier and much cheaper to get around on foot, by cab, or on buses, trams, and subway systems. Parking can be minimal, non-existent, and expensive. Trust me: You do not want to drive a rental car around London, Paris, or Rome if you can avoid it.

But not every place you will want to visit in Europe has rail or air service. Small towns and villages can often be reached only be car or bus, and once you get there, having a rental car will let you easily explore the surrounding countryside. Driving gives you great flexibility, can be faster, and works well when you leave the large metro areas behind and head off on a "road trip" across the Continental landscape.

European highways seem to be in a much better state of repair than those in California. Driving on the toll roads and freeways is not that much different than in U.S. except on some roads (like the German Autobahn highways) where cars in the fast lane travel at speeds well beyond the highest posted limits on American freeways. From time to time you may get lost (having good maps will help prevent this; a GPS may or may not be useful), but that can happen when you travel in unfamiliar territory back the States, too.

Renting a car in Europe can be expensive. The base rental rate may seem reasonable, but taxes and other surcharges can add upwards of 50% to the cost. You may pay extra so that a second person (your spouse or other traveling companion) can drive the vehicle. Gas prices will shock you. Sometimes collision, theft, and liability insurance are mandatory and automatically included (adding costs to the rental), but even when such insurance is optional, I always pay the extra money so I know that if someone damages or steals the car, or if I am in an accident, I will not have to worry about dealing with the financial aftermath in a place where English is not the primary language.

You can save money (possibly $200/week or more) on car rental if you are willing to drive a small, stick-shift vehicle, as many Europeans do, instead of a large, four-door, full-sized car with an automatic transmission. You will also find it easier to squeeze those little cars into tight parking spaces that abound in European cities, and you will feel less "pain" in your wallet when you have to fill up the gas tank.

If you rent a car in the U.S., odds are good that you will pay a substantial "drop-off" fee if you do not return the car to a location in the same city where you picked it up. But in Europe, you may be able to avoid those charges as long as you return the car in the same country where it was rented. For example, on my 2006 trip I was not charged a drop-off fee even though I drove the car east to west across France and dropped it off hundreds of miles from where I had rented it. In September of 2009 I left Munich, Germany and drove my rental car south into Austria, then through southern Germany and over the Rhine River into the Alsatian region of eastern France. If I had left the car in France, the drop-off fee would have been something like $150. But I avoided the fee by driving back across the Rhine and leaving the car in Baden-Baden, Germany where travel by rail on to my next destination was easier as well.

In theory, you only need a valid driver's license issued by a U.S. state to rent a car in Europe. But sometimes car rental companies will ask for your International Driving Permit when you pick up your car. You can obtain these passport-like permits from American Automobile Association or National Auto Club offices.

The Bottom Transportation Line 

The bottom line for getting around in Europe: Look at your transportation options, and then choose what will work best for reaching your desired destinations without stressing you out or breaking your budget.