Expert: Rangutan - 8/18/2007

Question
We are planning to rent a car at Frankfurt airport and visit southern Germany.  
The last few days of our trip will be spent in Wurzburg.  We are finding car
rental prices very high.  Would it be advisable to return the vehicle in
Wurzburg?  Is a vehicle necessary to tour this city and area?  We were thinking
if we do not need a vehicle for this final part of our trip we could take a train
to the Frankfurt airport from Wurzburg.  Please let us know your thoughts
about this and if you have any other advice on car rentals.  Thankyou.

Answer
Hi Brenda

Hiring a car makes traveling so much easier and saves time when visits are so short. The larger cars are very expensive due to exhaust taxes, fuel will be a major cost too. In Germany you will find smaller cars much popular and they are only half the rental price of the limousines like Ford Galaxy or Mercedes.

The larger rental firms have never charged me extra for a different drop-off point, you can test this also on the on-line query form at: http://www.e-sixt.com/main/car-rental/Germany/Frankfurt%20Airport%20Term.%201+2/...

Contact the "big 5" (Avis, Europcar, Herz, Sixt or Thrifty) querying (English is fine)about specials and about returning the car elsewhere:
http://www.travel-library.com/carrental/europe/germany/frankfurt/
Get and keep written offers and specials in writing, I have often got surprises when the time comes to paying!

Würzburg is on the crossroads between a lot of other cities so the rail services are particularly interesting. For tourists there is a perfect special offer; Upto 5 passengers may travel throughout Bavaria on one "Bayern Ticket" at €29 per day, includes all public transport systems in Munich and Augsburg too! http://www.bahn.de/p/view/international/englisch/travelservice/laender_tickets.s...

Würzburg has an excellent tram and buss network like most cities in Germany. Unlike the USA, one does not really need a car to travel at all. Würzburg city info:
http://realtravel.com/wurzburg-germany-travel-guide-d30998-1.2294981.html
http://www.gemut.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=200&Itemid=192&sh...
Wurtzburg Tram/Bus Network diagram:
http://www.wvv.de/storage/med/vvm/343_Schematischer_Liniennetzplan_09-2005.pdf

More answers or more info anytime...

Regards
"Rangutan" Rudi