Car Hire & Driving in Mainz, Germany
Welcome to Mainz Car Hire, Germany.
Mainz Car Hire
Mainz has long been a city of economic importance, thanks in part to Mainz’s strategic position at the confluence of the Rhine and Main rivers.
The Romans founded a military garrison at Mainz in the first century BC, and since the Middle Ages Mainz has been the seat of a succession of archbishops, many of whom are entombed in Mainz’s vast cathedral, which you can visit in your German hire car while in Mainz.
Much of Mainz was destroyed during World War II, but has since been meticulously rebuilt as you will be able to witness in your German hire car while in Mainz.
Today, Mainz is a thriving university town with pleasant, pedestrianised areas that you will need to leave your German hire car to fully appreciate.
Mainz also has an exceptionally mild climate so you can almost guarantee good weather to explore Mainz in your German hire car.
The highlights of Mainz that you should visit in your German hire car while in Mainz include:
Dominating Mainz’s Altstadt is its cathedral, which you can visit in your German hire car. Starting as a mountain of red sandstone, Mainz’s cathedral was begun in AD975, and burnt down days before it consecration in 1009. Most of what survives in Mainz today and can be seen in your German hire car was built in the 12th and 13th centuries; only the vast bronze doors of Mainz’s cathedral are original which you will find at the south entrance of Mainz’s cathedral in your German hire car.
Apart from the sheer size of Mainz’s cathedral, the most impressive thing about Mainz’s cathedral is its collection of archbishops’ tombs, which can be visited in your German hire car while in Mainz and document the gradually evolving styles of memorial design between the 13th and 19th centuries.
Mainz’s most famous son is undoubtedly Johannes Gutenberg, who around 1438 became the father of the modern printing press. The Gutenburg Museum, which you can visit in Liebrauenflatz in your German hire car while in Mainz, has a series of exhibits outlining his work and the evolution of modern printing.
If it’s serenity you’re after while touring Mainz in your German hire car, head for St Stephen’s Church, which lies just a few minutes in your German hire car to the south west of the Dom. The church itself is pleasant enough, but the sublime blues of Chagall’s stained glass makes it a place you must definitely visit in your German hire car while in Mainz.
For more advice on what to see and do in your German hire car while in Mainz visit the Mainz Tourist Information Office, which you will find at Bruckenturm am Rathaus, 55116 Mainz in your German hire car.
The Mainz Tourist Information Office can also supply you with a Mainz Card, which provides free entry to many of the museums in Mainz that you may wish to visit in your German hire car, together with a free guided tour of Mainz, which is good to get your bearings in Mainz before exploring in your German hire car, plus a free hotel drink.
Western Germany Car Hire
There is much more to Western Germany than the economic powerhouses of Dusseldorf, Bonn, Frankfurt and Cologne/Koln, as you will be able to experience in your German hire car while in Western Germany.
Once you’ve seen Cologne/Koln’s cathedral in your German hire car, experience Dusseldorf’s K20 museum in your German hire car, and visit Beethoven’s birthplace in Bonn in your German hire car; you can retreat to the wine producing valleys of the Mosel and the Rhine in Western Germany in your German hire car, and explore their castles in your German hire car.
For cultural highlights in Western Germany, looks also to the attractive towns of Munster, Trier, Aachen and Mainz in your German hire car.
In Western Germany you can obtain a German hire car at Cologne/Koln, Dortmund, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, and Monchengladbach/Gladbach. For an idea of what you might expect to find on a trip in your German hire car to these places in Western Germany, visit our Cologne/Koln Car Hire, Dortmund Car Hire, Dusseldorf Car Hire, Frankfurt Car Hire or Monchengladbach/Gladbach Car Hire links.
The quality of the German road network makes driving a German hire car an excellent way to explore Germany.
Although constant driving in your German hire car at high speed can be tiring, the Autobahn makes it possible to cover long distance across Germany in your German hire car in a short time, enabling you to move easily in your German hire car from one area of interest to another.
A German hire car is the best way of getting around Germany if you aim to explore smaller towns, villages and the countryside of Germany.
The best known feature of Germany’s extensive and well maintained road system that you can use in your German hire car is the Autobahn, the network of toll-free motorways covering the whole of Germany. However other roads like Bundesstrassen (national roads) and Landstrassen (main roads) are generally engineered to a high standard, with good surfaces and helpful signposting to help you navigate in your German hire car.
While driving around Germany in your German hire car you will find that Autobahns are identified by a white letter ‘A’ and a number on a blue background and national roads by a black letter ‘B’ and number on a yellow background.
The previously inadequate road network of eastern Germany has been transformed beyond recognition through the construction of motorways across eastern Germany, like the Ostseeautobahn, which links the Baltic coast to the rest of Germany, and through the improvement of other roads, which now make the roads of eastern Germany a pleasure to use in your German hire car.
The downside to all this rebuilding across Germany is the density of traffic. In your German hire car, you may find that congestion can be acute in built-up areas and anywhere at holiday times.
There are more than 100 named tourist routes that you can use in your German hire car which criss-cross Germany. Some, such as stretches of the Deutsche Alpenstrasse (German Alpine Road) that you can use in your German hire car, were purpose-built as scenic highways through Germany, although most are ordinary roads linking places of similar interest that you may wish to visit in your German hire car while.
The best known of these routes that you can explore in your German hire car while is probably the Romantische Strasse (Romantic Road), which run from Wurzburg in northern Bavaria to Fussenn at the foot of the Alps and takes you through picturesque, historic towns in your German hire car on the way.
Even if they are not designated as such, many of the roads you can use in your German hire car through Germany’s well-wooded uplands qualify as scenic routes, and extensions of the Autobahn networks that you can use in your German hire car also offer spectacular visual experience of the German countryside.
Germans are fast drivers and determined popular resistance among motorists has prevented the adoption of a compulsory speed limit on Germany’s Autobahn. Although the speeds can be a little unnerving when driving in your German hire car, most drivers are aware of what they are doing and respect the rules of the road, having passed Germany’s particularly rigorous driving test. Once you have become used to conditions in your German hire car, you will find the behaviour of fellow road users fairly predictable.
While exploring Germany in your German hire car it is useful to have knowledge of the rules of the roads.
Germans drive on the right; on roads without yellow diamond priority signs, you should give way to traffic from the right in your German hire car; seat belts must be worn by all occupants of you German hire car; children under 12 must use an appropriate safety seat while travelling in your German hire car; you should halt at tram stops where there is no central reservation in your German hire car and allow passengers to cross the road; you should give way to trams and buses in your German hire car as they leave stops; ensure you use dipped headlights on your German hire car in poor visibility and in tunnels; do not use side lights when driving your German hire car; give way to pedestrians in your German hire car when turning at uncontrolled junctions (intersections); do not drink and drive you German hire car as the penalties are severe; traffic lights are supplemented by priority signs, which must be obeyed in your German hire car when the lights are not functioning e.g. at night or weekends; insulting behaviour to others while driving in your German hire car is an offence; fines can be imposed on the spot by police and your German hire car may be confiscated; finally a flashing light may indicating that you can turn right in your German hire car when traffic lights are red, but you must give way to traffic coming from the other direction.
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