My husband and I will be visiting Germany for 7 to 10 days in March. It will be my first time there but my husband was stationed there for two years (almost thirty years ago). We are thinking of renting a car after arriving in Frankfurt, visiting relatives for a couple of days and then heading to Bavaria. Is it mandatory/recommended to purchase insurance with our rental car? We would prefer to set our own itinerary and map our course. Should we book accommodations in advace this time of year? What about cell phones? Mine will not work there. Is it best to buy one while there?
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Is it mandatory/recommended to purchase insurance with our rental car?
Check with your credit card company if they provide free insurance coverage when renting a car using their credit card.
Should we book accommodations in advace this time of year?
You%26#39;ll probably will have no problems in smaller cities or in the country, and probably not in larger cities unless there is a large trade fair. But I think in a large city it is preferable to have reservations after doing homework to decide the best areas to stay for your interests. If there is any special place you want to stay, I would recommend having reservations. I know if I were to visit Neuschwanstein Palace I would want a room at the Villa Jaegerhaus with a view of this palace which is lit up most of the night.
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As Marcopolko wrote, check with your credit card. I have gone with just that in the past. IF you rent a car, consider renting it outside the airport. IF you pick it up at the airport, they will add close to 20% for the rental. I do not think that you will need reservations, I have never used them and only once had an issue finding a room in Marburg. We then went to a village outside the city and were able to get a room without any issues. We have traveled in the high summer season and Christmas markets and only had the one issue.
try autoEurope and gemut.com for rental rates.
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I like your idea of renting a car and planning your own trip. I don%26#39;t think you need to worry about booking rooms in advance. We usually only book the first couple of nights if we stay at the same place and then wing it from there. Never had a problem especially with a car as you can stop and ask when you see a place. You can find a place to stay. If you get Rick Steves Germany, Austria and Switzerland book there are plenty of places mentioned that are very reasonable in price with phone numbers and rates which are pretty accurate. If you are going to Neuschwanstein and know when you will be there I would take Marcopolko%26#39;s advice and stay where he recommends and book in advance. I haven%26#39;t stayed there but I will in the future if we get back there based on his recommendation in prior posts.
I try to avoid driving in the big cities if possible. We prefer the smaller places but when we go to bigger cities we stay just a few miles out of town and take the train to the center.
You very well may be covered on CDW insurance through your credit card. Check with them and if you are covered make sure you decline the rental company%26#39;s coverage where indicated on the rental agreement. If you go to gemut.com you can get good advice on rental car rules as well as good rates through them.
If you wanted a phone you could purchase a gsm phone before leaving and get a sim card for Germany. You could then give that phone number to relatives back home and they could reach you in case of emergency. There would be a charge to them but not to your phone. You can learn more about this by going to celestial.com. This worked well for us on our last trip and I still have the phone for future visits.
Good luck.
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Do not buy insurance. It is costly and carries a high deductible. Instead get a credit card that provides CDW/theft coverage. If you have Amex you can also buy a CDW/theft policy for $19.95 per rental. Contact the people at www.gemut.com, they are most knowledgeable and helpful re European rentals, especially Germany.
You won%26#39;t need advance reservations in March, unless in one of the larger towns like Frankfurt, Munich, Berlin or Hamburg, there is some sort of convention or congress. Travel with the Michelin Red Guide to locate good accommodations all over the country. It%26#39;s the most useful travel book around.
If you have a GSM phone ask your service provider about overseas roaming (about $6 for one month through Cingular) and lower your per minute cell phone costs to about 99 cents per minute. Unless you%26#39;re going to spend a lot of time on the phone it%26#39;s probably cheaper than renting or buying a phone in Europe.
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I just noticed a mistake in my reply. The Sim telephone web site I mentioned should have been telestial.com NOT celestial.com. My senior moments seem to come more frequently these days. :)
I apologize for the mistake.
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