[NJblue]

My wife and I are planning a trip to Europe (perhaps Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy) and are considering 3 alternatives: rent a car, take trains, or take a guided bus tour. They all seem to have their positives and negatives. Here is how I see them but would like to get the inputs of more experienced travellers.

Bus Tour: This would be the most convenient with no need to worry about hotel reservations or (hopefully) schlepping bags to/from rooms and bus. (Question: is this latter assumption true?) However, this convenience comes at a cost both in real dollars as well as flexibility. (Question: are tours more costly then "roll your own" vacations or might they be cheaper because of volume discounts that the tour company gets?). What I am most concerned about this type of trip is the loss of flexibility. We may want to take some side trips that are not on the itinerary, or perhaps linger a bit longer in a particular spot than what the tour allows.

Car rental: This would seem to offer the greatest flexibility, but I'm not sure of car rental rates (even the price of gas may make this quite expensive). Plus, I'm not sure about parking a car and the hassles of driving in unfamiliar areas with signs in a foreign language.

Trains: This may be a good compromise with respect to flexibility between cities, but I wonder about once you get into a city/town and want to make side trips where the rail line doesn't go. Also, this seems to be the worst scenario in terms of bag schlepping. I suppose taxis can get you from the station to your hotel, but if you stay in smaller hotels, how easy is it to get a cab to return to the station? Might this be the lowest cost option? When traveling by trains and auto, what is the best way to get a hotel room? Reserve ahead before your trip or take pot luck when you get into town (we will probably be traveling in non-peak times).

One final question, does anyone belong to any of the Villages travel clubs and if so, which one would be the best to talk to people in person about their travel experience. I have been to Germany a few times on business, but vacation travel is different than business travel. My wife has traveled extensively in Europe when she was in her 20's but, that was a long time ago.