[jyl]

Depends if you want to see big cities or smaller towns/rural areas.

If big cities, then take the train. Navigating, traffic, and parking a car is a hassle. You could easily burn up half a day driving in circles, looking for a particular hotel, then trying to find a parking lot, etc. With the train you simply step off, carrying your (lightly packed!) bag and saunter to a cab, metro, etc.

But if smaller towns and rural areas, consider a rental car. That way you can meander from the Porsche factory to the castle to the whatever, looking for inns along the way.

However, July is high season so if you're going to go without reservations, be prepared that you might have to try a few times before finding a hotel room in whatever town you've wandered to.

And travel is never fun when you're trying to pack too much in, forget trying to see some of four countries in a week, think less ambitious and more relaxed. Otherwise all you end up seeing is the autoroute which sucks.

Driving in the countries you mentioned is pretty logical. I've always just gone w/ my California license, not sure if that was wrong but have never been questioned. Take it easy until you figure out the signage and road markings. Watch for trolleys and trams when you're in a town - basically whenever you see tracks, be wary.

Exercise strict lane discipline! On the autoroutes, if you are doing 100kph in the slow lane, people will blow by you at 140kph trusting that you won't suddenly change lanes. If you are doing 100kph in the fast lane, people will come flying up behind you at 140kph expecting you to get the hell out of the way. Passing on the right is really bad too, it suggests you're an American - or a Frenchman.