Adventures in Germany: Bavaria & The Alps ����
This page covers some of the key points you need to know about driving in Germany as well as basic information on renting a car.
Renting a car in Germany brings about the same as it does in the United States most of the major US and European car rental agencies are represented in Germany, including Avis, Hertz, Budget, Alamo, Sixt and Europcar car rental are available at all airports and most major railway stations and other places of the city, although you'll pay more often for the convenience of the latter.
For Americans, the best deals are usually available by booking with an American company before departure, you not only get the best rate, but it will be in US dollars, you'll need to book these at least 14 days before you plan of the pick-vehicle rental rates vary considerably between different societies, but all are quite competitive call around or check the Web for best prices you can use a service like consolidator Autoeurope once you find the best rates and shut your itinerary immediately provided to ensure you get a car note that the basic rates do not include VAT 19 Mehrwertsteuer, registration fee or airport fees; expect those to equal 25 or so daily rental rate levels do, however, include the required liability insurance.
To rent a vehicle, you will need your driver's license and passport, I advise you to use a credit card to rent as longer automatically cover your insurance deductible in case of accident or other incident, however, be sure to check with your credit card company to see if it offers this coverage, it applies to rent in Germany, and what you need to do to qualify for this example waive the exemption CDW collision damage option on the lease.
European rental cars usually come equipped with a standard manual transmission word really applies here if you want or need an automatic, make sure you specify when you book probably cost extra, but if you really want luxury, you can also to inquire about renting a car or sedan German premium sports; Most rental agencies keep ample numbers of those available for tourists with the desire and the corresponding budget.
Most car rental agencies will allow unidirectional rental in Germany pickup the car in one city and return to another at no extra cost if you do this, make sure that this is the case before renting Most rentals also allow unlimited Mileage If you plan to travel outside of Germany, make sure this is indicated on the contract and that the vehicle is well documented for international travel chances are, most agencies will travel to most other Western European countries Italy can be risky, but probably nowhere in the east of Germany except Austria.
Electric and hybrid cars are available for hire from most major companies.
Things to check before leaving the rental field every rental vehicle must have a green certificate of insurance green card It is important that you have this before you start If you are stopped by police, to travel to another country, or have an accident, you must file this document Make sure the vehicle has any of the warning triangle of the necessary emergency equipment, first aid kit, spare wheel and jack and safety vest and a disk parking also check what type of fuel the vehicle uses-- many German cars use diesel, which is helpfully the same word in German Before going on the road, make sure you know where all the buttons, knobs and controls are take a small test drive around the field to get an idea of the car This will allow you to make discoveries or adjustments before going out into the environment foreign driving when you need to focus If you have questions, ask the attendant-- much in my experience, they're more ha ppy to help.
Petrol Petrol and diesel diesel are readily available throughout Germany, although the filling stations Tankstellen are not nearly as prolific as in the United States yet, you should have little problem finding a place to tank when volltanken you need most small towns have at least one station, and there are 24 hours stations located at regular intervals along the motorway and the main roads leading brands are Aral, Avia, BP, Elf, Esso, Fina, Jet, total, and most of Shell stations are now Selbstbedienung or SB -Tanken self-service as the United States, fuel bleifrei unleaded is now the norm pumps in Germany essentially work the same as in USA Europe uses a different formula to calculate the octane number, so that the scores seem to be higher than those for the classes corresponding to the U-States ned more, remember that the fuel is distributed by the liter.
Sticker-shock Americans probably gas price experience in Germany Expect to pay three to four times more legs for gas in Germany and the US In January 2010, regular unleaded averaged 35 Ђ1 liter or about 7 25 per gallon and diesel was about 13 Ђ1 about 4 gallon 27 with most of these costs is due to higher taxes See other sites of interest below for links to the sites with current fuel rates.
Autogas LPG alternative fuel is widely available in Germany Almost half of service stations have LPG CNG stations available are far less prolific with less than 1000 across the country.
After a slow start, Germany has significantly increased the number of e-Tankstelle charging stations in the country in recent years, in 2016, there were about 7,400 electric car charging stations across the country with the government and automakers pledging to help build more.
Germany has two major auto automobile clubs is the largest ADAC Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil Club German Auto Club The other is the AvD Automobilclub von Deutschland Auto Club of Germany both offer the usual range of services motorists greatest interest to the tourist is the roadside assistance StraЯenwacht, Pannenhilfe operated by the two particular clubs ADAC, which provides assistance to members and non-members in fact, the ADAC says assist all eight seconds and can repair the vehicle on the road more than 85 times the base using the yellow angels is free, but you will pay for parts or towing to ask for help on the Autobahn, use the phone the nearest emergency, located 2km intervals; Arrows on road signs will direct you to the closest view the Emergencies section of the Autobahn page On other roads, call 0180-2 22 22 22 from a pay phone or mobile phone.
If you use a rental car, contact the rental agency for roadside assistance.
German cards, like most other Teutonic, excellent quality The best cards are Hallwag German franchise Rand McNally and automobile club ADAC series RV Verlag Euro-cards Town of the city and metro is excellent each card appears be almost as large as the city itself Michelin also publishes a competent collection of regional maps and city even free maps available from tourist offices tend to be more than enough in scope and detail.
Licenses, traffic laws and parking, and the signs and signals are processed in detail the traffic laws and signs and signals pages.
Germany 12th network-- road pretty amazing for a compact of the world There are 644.480 km of roads, with more than 225,000 km of this total being the main roads and highways which about 13,000 km and 40,000 km of Autobahn federal roads BundesstraЯen, offering a paved access to even the most remote corners of the country on these roads a huge and growing volume of traffic in 2015, there were more than 62 million registered vehicles, against 55 million in 2009, 36 million in 1990 and only 17 million in 1970 in Germany also serves as a crossroads of Europe channeling much of the east-west and north-south traffic on the continent.
You will find that the roads in Germany are well designed and maintained; It is rare that you find a pothole and snow removal is almost instantaneous Signage is to put it succinctly uniform and complete, German roads are first class.
A note on the roads most roads in the former East Germany have been rebuilt or updated from their previous dilapidated state Unfortunately, the burden of doing this has resulted in delays in maintenance and road expansion to the west again, the overall quality of the road network is excellent.
Roads and streets in Germany and Europe in general tend to be narrower than Americans are used to that question is one of the reasons as well as high gas prices that small vehicles are the rule here.
Germany has a hierarchical road system from forest roads unpaved to the world famous Autobahn A brief description of the types of roads in Germany.
Waldweg Forest nature trails Feldweg - paved and unpaved a way these are generally good repair forest roads are often limited with access controlled by a barrier.
Streets StraЯe - All cities and streets are paved, sometimes with cobblestones Generally in good often narrow state with tight turns, but usually with enough room for two cars to usually pass called that signs can be difficult sometimes to find the varying traffic.
Community Liaison GemeindeverbindungsstraЯe roads - two-lane roads connecting the villages and small towns generally well maintained light traffic.
County roads KreisstraЯe - two-lane roads connecting the small and medium cities These roads have official numbers starting with K or the official county code Sometimes, these numbers may appear on the guide panels or cards, but not usually universally well maintained moderate traffic light.
Roads LandstraЯe or StaatsstraЯe - Very similar to the county roads are usually connected cities Again, these roads have official figures usually four digits starting with L or St, but these figures do not usually appear on the universally well-maintained traffic signs moderate to intense.
Federal roads BundesstraЯe - A little more and usually much busier than the national highways and county roads are numbered with B numbers, eg B35 and signaled These roads are generally two lanes, but often, especially in cities and areas tourist, they may have four or more lanes in major cities, they can even be faster KraftfahrstraЯe, SchnellstraЯe, or so-called Autobahn itself routes Autobahnдhnlich or yellow Autobahn Gelbe Autobahn, signposted federal roads connect major cities and tourist areas universally well maintained traffic density.
European motorways EuropastraЯe - These aren t separate roads, but are co-designated by other routes, usually Autobahn The European road system, with roads designated with an E, provides the continuous numbering between countries, regardless number of roads for example, nearly Saarbrьcken the German A6 through France and becomes A32 in France, however, the two roads carry the designation E50 making it easy for international travelers to follow the route of European roads are marked with the sign .
Tourist itineraries Germany has more than 80 themed routes for tourists Best known is the Romantic Road Romantische StraЯe, a route of 180 miles through small picturesque villages of Bavarian Wьrzburg the foothills of the Alps Fьssen Other popular routes are the road BurgenstraЯe castles of Heidelberg Nьrnberg and fairytale MдrchenstraЯe way from Frankfurt to Hanover While guided bus tours are available along most of the roads, the best way to see them is driving you roads are well marked and information are available in every town along the way if you choose to fly one of these routes, to outside the main tourist season to avoid crowds and get the best rates for hotels and restaurants.
Brian Guide to Getting Around Germany Bases driving Rent a car, Guide, Germany, driving.