My driving history means I can't rent a car in Ireland. What can I do?

The Age

17-07-2025

The Nordic countries are expensive even by European standards. Germany and Austria are less so, and you might plan to stay longer in those countries. Unless you're planning to visit the Baltic countries I'd be inclined to fly from wherever you leave Scandinavia to Germany.
What you could do is hire a car and take a self-drive tour along Germany's Romantic Road from Wurzburg to Fussen. Although the distance is less than 500 kilometres, you could easily spend four to five days, taking in a clutch of medieval walled towns, the spectacular Neuschwanstein Castle, the vineyards along the Tauber Valley and the villages and churches of the Pfaffenwinkel. At the southern end of the Romantic Road, Fussen is just a short drive from Lindau, from where the Alpine Road threads east to end at the famous mountain resort of Berchtesgaden, close to the Austrian border. The towns in Austria that will stretch your holiday budget include Bad Ischl, Gmunden and Steyr in Upper Austria, Lienz in East Tyrol and Eisenstadt in the eastern state of Burgenland.
Although London is expensive, it does have several world-class museums with free entry and which will keep those young minds entertained for hours. The list includes the Science Museum, the Natural History Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum, all close to one another in South Kensington. There's also lots to take in on the streets, such as the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace.
The London version of Time Out is the essential guide to what's happening in the capital. You might also plan another self-drive trip to take in Oxford and the Cotswolds, Cambridge, Liverpool, York, Glasgow and Edinburgh. You'll make it affordable if you stay in self-contained accommodation with two bedrooms rather than hotels, staying for three nights minimum.
Together with my husband, I'm planning to stay a few days at Tulum as part of a wider trip to Mexico. We'll be hiring a car, what are the main sites worth seeing? B. Werth, Orange NSW
The big drawcard in the Yucatan Peninsula is the Mayan city of Chichen Itza, one of the new Seven Wonders of the World. It gets crowded soon after opening time, so an early morning tour is best, and the site is about a 2½ hour drive from Tulum. Another worthwhile experience of Mayan culture is Coba, largest of all the region's Mayan cities and a 45-minute drive from Tulum, which sees far fewer visitors than Chichen Itza.
With your hire car you could also visit some of the region's cenotes, limestone sinkholes you can swim in. Of the thousands of cenotes in the Yucatan region, Suytun Cenotes Tulum, Ik Kil Cenotes Tulum and Cenote Oxman are among the most popular. Just south of Tulum the Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve is 2000 square kilometres of lush tropical forest, savannas, mangroves, lagoons and coral reefs that provide a home to hundreds of species of birds and animals. The best way to explore this ecological labyrinth is on an escorted boat tour offered by Friends of Sian Ka'an.