Prices in euros

Formentera - Ibiza ferry 24
Ibiza - Denia ferry 108
Ferry Rostock - Hanko 390
Ferries total 522

Car rental 24hrs Denia - Figueres 133.50
Car rental 48hrs Perpignan - Mulhouse 273.50
Car rental 48hrs Freiburg - Rostock 120
Car rental total 527

Accomodation total 107.50
Fuel total 178.12
Toll roads 30

Trip total 1364.62

Total mileage 3271km (2032 miles)
Total fuel consumption 183 litres
Avg consumption 5.59 litres/100km (50.48mpg)

Germany was by far the cheapest place to rent a car, even for one-way rental, France was most expensive. We used Hertz in France and Europcar in the others, none of the companies we found would allow drop-off in another country but all would allow unlimited travel across western Europe. We avoided motorways most of the time, except when we needed to make some distance. This meant we also avoided a lot of the French and Spanish toll road charges, which could have added another 100 euros or so to costs.

Unable to get seats on the ferry to Barcelona, we instead took the ferry to Denia, adding about 500km to our distance. Our main other expense, of course, was the Superfast ferry from Rostock to Hanko in Finland, and their refusal to sell reclining seats onboard, contrary to their advertising. Given a couple of spare days we'd have taken the much cheaper ferry to Sweden then crossed over to Finland on the ferry from Stockholm.

All things considered the cost was very similar to when we'd done the same trip by train in the spring, with the added benefit of having much more freedom and not having to get a big dog and luggage on and off of fifteen trains. For two or more people the cost even compares favourably to inter-railing, especially if you rented in Germany or returned the car to the same location. We even found campervan rental in Germany from €50/day with October 29, 2004 3:44 PM • Permalink