Car in Europe
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Hello! |
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You need to be a resident in an EU country to register a car so you´ll need a residence permit which won´t be easy. As far as I know you´ll also need a visa for stays of over 90 days in the Schengen area. |
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My wife and I spent 2 months in Europe, about half of it climbing. We got a car on the buyback program from Peugeot. It was brand new, cheaper than renting, and also extremely convenient. You may have to pay an extra delivery fee based on where you are picking it up or dropping it off, but it was pretty minimal for us. Look into the specific areas you want to climb at to decide if you need a car as it really depends where you're going. We spent a lot of time in the dolomites and that would have been very difficult without a car. Also, we were quite jealous of everyone who had vans/campers there. You aren't allowed to camp (set up a tent), but parking your vehicles overnight in a picnic area/pull off and sleeping in it seemed to be tolerated. |
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travel.state.gov/content/pa…
AFAIK, the only way to get a visa for a stay longer than 90 days is to be a student or to be working in one of the countries in the Schengen area. |
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thanks guys! |
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As a US citizen you don´t need a visa to travel to Europe, the USA is a visa-waiver country (unlike us Euros coming to the land of the free where we have to go through a long a complicated beaurocratic load of sh#t and pay to have the pleasure of being fingerprinted at the border like any normal criminal). However this is for a travel period of less than 90 days in 180. The only way to get a visa for a longer stay is to apply for residency in a Schengen country. For this you need a job or enough money or be studying. You should apply for this from the USA. |
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You don't need a car, depending on where you climb. The train service is so good in Switzerland and most of France that a car is more trouble than it's worth. Chamonix and that entire valley into Switzerland is just one example. |
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I'll second the euro buy back program. |
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You can only stay inside the Schengen zone for 90 days during a 180 day period. However, there are more than a few countries in central and eastern Europe not in the Schengen zone. Therefore if you split your time wisely you can probably swing 6 months in Europe. Becareful though, because a friend of ours calculated her days wrong and got stopped at the Bulgarian border. Although you might be planning on hitting up the more popular areas in Western Europe, I would recomend spending time in BG. I lived there for 2 years, and it has everything from hard sport to alpine ice. Not to mention much cheaper than any place in the Eurozone. |
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Hate to burst your bubble, but you should really do some research before jumping into a trip like this. The fact that you didn't even know that you cannot stay more than 90 days tells me that you did absolutely zero searching on your own. Not to mention the fact that buying and owning a car in many countries in Europe is difficult and cost prohibitive. Also, do you drive a manual? Can you drive using an american license in "Europe"? For how long? |
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Not helpful anywhere else, but if you wind up in Spain renting a car is unbelievably cheap, 3-6 euros a day, hard to justify buying a beater there. |
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Which brings up a nice point. Europe is not a country, and you need to look up what it is like in the particular countries you want to visit. Car rentals are expensive in france, cheap in spain. Food is expensive in france but camping is dirt cheap. I've heard that is the opposite in spain. |
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In the Netherlands, with a residence permit, your American driver's license is valid for 6 months after which point you will need to have an EU license. That being said, I wouldn't be surprised if it's like that across all of Europe as most driver's license laws are standardized. |
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Grant Kleeves wrote:Not helpful anywhere else, but if you wind up in Spain renting a car is unbelievably cheap, 3-6 euros a day, hard to justify buying a beater there.I have travelled to Spain for climbing 6 times now, and I have never been able to find such great rates. What am I missing? Do you have a website that you use? Thanks |
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Steve0 wrote:In the Netherlands, with a residence permit, your American driver's license is valid for 6 months after which point you will need to have an EU license. That being said, I wouldn't be surprised if it's like that across all of Europe as most driver's license laws are standardized. Not that there's much climbing to do in the Netherlands.I was able to drive as part of my job in France, Switzerland, Germany $ Austria with a U.S. driver's license in 2001, so this would appear to be the rule for a good part of Europe. |
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mark felber wrote: I was able to drive as part of my job in France, Switzerland, Germany $ Austria with a U.S. driver's license in 2001, so this would appear to be the rule for a good part of Europe.What is that rule that you speak of? That you can drive? It i true, but each country has it's own rules. Example: Spain U.S. citizens visiting Spain who want to drive in Spain must obtain an international driving permit prior to their arrival in Spain. An international driving permit (IDP) translates your state-issued drivers license into 10 languages so you can show it to officials in foreign countries to help them interpret your drivers license. The IDP is not valid by itself and must be carried with your drivers license. Click the following link for more information on driving overseas. France If you are staying in France for longer than 90 days, you can drive with your US license for one year. Austria A U.S. driver's license alone is not sufficient to drive in Austria. The U.S. driver's license must be accompanied by an international driver's permit (obtainable in the U.S. from AAA) or by an official translation of the U.S. driver's license, which can be obtained at one of the Austrian automobile clubs (ÖAMTC or ARBÖ). This arrangement is only acceptable for the first six months of driving in Austria, after which all drivers must obtain an Austrian license. Germany As of January 1, 1999, U.S. driver's license holders must be in possession of a German license six months after entering the country, if they wish to continue driving. U.S. citizens planning to stay less than a year, however, may legally drive in Germany for up to 364 days in Germany on their U.S. driver's licenses. However, they must go to their local driver's registration office (Führerscheinstelle) prior to expiration of the six-month period after arrival and notify that office that they want to continue to drive on their U.S. license until their departure (up to 364 days, as stated above). Note that an official translation of the U.S. driver's license must be brought to the Führerscheinstelle, as well as proof that you are leaving Germany before a year has passed. Proof could be in the form of a return ticket to the U.S., a work contract with an expiration date before a year, etc. The information is out there for you to find. Europe is NOT a COUNTRY, and the rules, laws, ways of doing things, etc vary from country to country! |
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I used doyouspain.com I just checked to refresh my memory, as long as you reserve a couple weeks out there is a couple options starting at 4.50 a day, it seemed like when I was there that you could walk in to almost any rental agency at the airport and get a similar rate, especially if you were staying for a while. |
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Ashort wrote:Hate to burst your bubble, but you should really do some research before jumping into a trip like this. The fact that you didn't even know that you cannot stay more than 90 days tells me that you did absolutely zero searching on your own.thats why i'm doing research now.... more than eight months in advance....:) thanks everyone for the information it has been very helpful!! |
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I was able to drive and did the car buy/back thing through Citroen. I even got pulled over by French military police in les Calanques, they didn't care about my California license. |
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Ian G. wrote:If you don't mind crowds, it's hard to beat France!? crowds ? France is great for sure. And one of the great things about France is that there is so much accessable great climbing rock (and so much accessable great backcountry and lift-served skiing terrain) - that hanging with crowds is a result of one of ...
In the last couple of weeks or so here in France, I have not waited in line for any climb, or had any problem finding parking at a climbing area. Of all the (great!) longer routes I've been doing, I encountered a total of one other party. "choice" in the sense of ... insisting on going to France in August at the same time 600 million people within easy driving range all have off from school and work. listening only to recommendations of other Americans (like on this forum) who are still repeating the places they learned were great 30 years ago -- instead of trying to learn from local French people (or Europeans from nearby countries) about the new great places (which are sometimes less crowded -- and often have less-polished rock). . (which ties with the "ignorance" problem) Another cause of the ignorance is just not owning guidebooks for less crowded places -- which goes along with how heavy they are to carry in airline luggage on trans-Atlantic flights. More E-books and more detailed web info will help here. car : lack of convenient automobile is understandable, because having and driving a car is much more expensive in Europe than in USA. Therefore visitors (not only Americans) flock to climbing areas which offer access to lots of climbing with zero or minimal use of car. These areas get even more popular because most modern smart traveling climbers speak English. So these places are also good for meeting English-speaking climbing partners. And they are obvious targets for writing + publishing English-language climbing guidebooks. All of which is great. Unless you want to avoid crowds. --> "Car in Europe" matters. Ken |
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Yep, guess I must another ign'ant 'merican....sheesh. |