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Hey, thanks for the link to your log. Wonder how I missed it. Seems you had a great trip! Would've been better if it hadn't snowed, from the driving perspective. Especially when you have a Golf GTI at your disposal. lol:

We'll be renting from Hertz in Tasch, only for a day. Few queries :
1) Can we rent for a certain amount of time and return it, say, few hours early?
2) How did you pay for the car transport train? Cash or card? I'm guessing it was the Furka tunnel car transport. I'm hoping the Furka pass opens, but if it doesn't we'll have to take the train as well.

In Switzerland you cannot overspeed :(. You can return the car anytime you want. We used our debit card for the train, but I will suggest to carry cash.

I went through this thread and the IDP one and am now positively confused!
We booked an impulsive flight ticket to paris to-and-fro for 12 days in late september.
I was planning to drive in France and Italy (paris - marseille (pick up rental) - milan - venice - florence - rome - coastal routes back to Marseille (drop the car)- Paris)
Have checked and IDP seems like a very difficult option as of now, as my issuing RTO is not there on parivahan and both license and passport have different addresses in different states (Currently I am in BLR). The issuing RTO in Bengal has refused already :Frustrati

So, should I completely drop Italy from the itinerary and go to upper Europe (Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and back to Paris) ?

Any thoughts would be great!

It really depends on what you want to see and do. Did you check with the rental agencies whether they might accept your current driving license? Worth a try.

Weather wise, western and northern Europe in Europe can go either way. Going south in Europe always improves your chance of having better weather. Having said that. I myself will be in the UK and Wales for two short holidays, at the beginning and end of September. The UK is very easy to get to from Paris as well. Hop on the train that takes you right under neath the channel.

All the countries you mentioned are easily doable by train and local public transport. Good luck and enjoy.

Jeroen

Hi Guys,

I have a query regarding riding a Motorcycle in France. From the information that I could gather, I see that I need to carry a document "Drafted in French or accompanied by an official translation." for my Indian Driving License.

I do hold a UK Car Drivers License(manual) which is valid for driving in France. However, my query is regarding riding a motorcycle for which I do have my Indian license. On checking the services provided by the Indian Consulate in UK I am unable to find the service that would provide me an official translation to make my license valid in France. As per the information, the Indian license should be valid in France for a year considering I have the translation document.

The reason I want to ride a motorcycle is, I believe it would be easier than driving a car on the right hand side of the road, which I have never done previously(have just been a passenger in UAE). Am I right in quoting this? As far as the traffic rules are concerned I should be ok as they are similar to the one's in UK just reversed the other way around. For example, the right of way on a roundabout is for the vehicles approaching from the 'Right' in UK, in France it would be the other way around, that is priority is for the 'Left'.

I am not planning to ride/drive in Paris. I just need to ride if the need arises in Marseille as the the public transport is limited there.

Any inputs provided are greatly appreciated! :)


Thanks,

aghate

No need to worry about IDP. Indian Driving license is accepted everywhere, including Europe, and Hertz in Paris.

I am hoping your driving license is a smart card and in English.

I plan to tour around Italy at the end of Oct and Nov 1st week. I have a friend who is in Florence, will make Florence as base and drive around. Have booked in Sixt for SUV class, BMX X1/Jaguar E-Pace or similar. Have booked it for 13 days for INR 36k with all insurance including windshield/Glass/Tyre, with 80k excess. Also booked Auto Transmission, so that I can concentrate more on signs, etc. Also used to driving AT in India.

Other options I see are Audi A3, BMW 1 Series, VW Tiguan, Peugeot 3008, etc. Autoeurope and Booking.com offers Zero excess, but with Pay and free cancellation.

Just thinking what to finalize. I have driven in US but not in Europe, have traveled in train mostly before, so want to take risk and drive this time :).

I don't intent to drive inside cities, have mostly booked hotels in outskirts near to metro station. For Naples/Capri I have booked train as Naples is know dangerous for traffic, theft and mafia.

I will pick the car from Rome airport, Florence. Then Planning drives for other places, Venice, Milan, Como.

Do I need to book smaller car as some places roads are small in Italy? Might get difficult in Autostrade if I get Smaller under powered car. Any suggestions?

I think either options are fine. SUVs should be alright in Italy. Choose according to your needs and preferences. I had used SIXT in Italy and I had good experience. I had taken Alfa Romeo Giulia which is a sedan and I had no problems driving that and infact really enjoyed it a lot.

Since you are anyway not driving near Naples roads should not be a problem. I drove on the Amalfi Coast also where roads can get bit narrow. In Tuscany do research on scenic routes and areas and avoid Autostrada and take scenic smaller roads as much as possible.

I have been exploring self drive options for upcoming Europe trip and notice that it may work out economical only if i intend to drop off at same city. charges keep increasing if i choose a different city(and goes through the roof if another country).

What is the best way to explore neighbouring countries? Suppose few days in Italian Tuscan side and keep going up towards Austria/Swiss till Germany. I am looking at entry and exit via different airports to make the best use of time. Looking at the one way drop charges, I feel trains might be cheaper and faster (though I read that cars are cheaper to hire than trains).

Hi everyone,

Recently. I was on a vacation in Europe and wanted to rent a car for a day in Amsterdam. I had earlier booked a car on the same trip in Paris with Europecar and the experience was good. While in India, I had called Rentalcars for the confirmation about Indian driving license being accepted and they had called Sixt and confirmed it was accepted and put it across my booking too.

But I landed at the rental counter after changing 2 trains and walking a mile only to find they won't give the car to Indian license holders and also to people holding India issued International Driving Permits. I told him about the earlier confirmation but the guy was adamant and did not provide me the car which meant I had to make travel arrangements at higher costs and also drop off some sight visits due to this. Also, the amount for a small car they were charging me was close to 11K just for 9 AM-7PM rental duration.

Never renting out with Sixt ever and not through aggregators like Rentalcars.com

I am assuming the rental outlet was not near any airport or train station and was in the city or suburbs. I have had a similar experience with Enterprise in the US. The issue is that these outlets generally deal with locals and don't have much experience with foreign DLs and err on the side of caution.

A colleague suggested picking up the car from the airport and the agent there didn't even bat an eyelid looking at the Indian DL. From the next time onwards, my profile was already there in their system and I was able to get cars from the same outlet next to my hotel which had refused me the first time.

Yes, the outlet was in a business park around 20 miles from the center of Amsterdam. I had chosen this location since it was on my route to the destination. I got your point and will make sure to remember this. I had no issues in Paris and my outlet there was near a major train station.

In 2019 I had booked car of Hertz through autoeurope.com from Rome, Italy. And I knew IDP (International Driving Permit) was compulsory in Europe, so had gone with IDP. The moment I went to Hertz counter at Rome Airport, he asked me for IDP as I had Indian License. And gave me the Audi Q3 I had booked for.

Even for Americans IDP is compulsory, they cannot drive in Europe with American license.

So any European country except UK, wont give you car without IDP. So there is no ban on Indians driving in Europe, as long as you have IDP. And IDP being made online process should help next time..

The stupid part on Rentalcars is that I had called them and was on hold until they called Sixt and confirmed my Indian DL in English would be accepted. They also put this across my booking. Also, I had rented in Paris earlier on the same trip where only my Indian DL was asked. No word about IDP by Europecar. As mentioned by someone above, I think it was the location which was the reason for not giving me the car. Counters at airport or train stations give it away without IDP.

But get an IDP to be safer. At least in Rome Airport Hertz counter he said IDP is compulsory for Indian License. Before going I checked in Hertz India call center and they said the same.