What is The Most Expensive Place in Europe To Rent A Car?

by Rich Thomaselli
Last updated: 10:50 AM ET, Tue August 11, 2015

Renting a car in Europe can be a fun experience for those that are comfortable navigating foreign lands.

But depending on where you go, it could cost you.

A new survey showing the most expensive car rental destinations in Europe was released, and The Azores, a Portuguese archipelago, has just earned the distinction of having Europe's highest car rental rates.

The survey was conducted by CheapCarRental.net came after comparing car rental rates in more than 100 European destinations. The current month of August 2015 served as the basis of comparison and rates were established on July 25-28 via a leading car rental comparison engine. Each city's main airport was chosen as the Pick-Up and Drop-Off location.

The Azores' Ponta Delgada airport takes the top spot with an average daily rate of €74. That's almost $82 a day in U.S. currency, the price renters can expect to spend for the cheapest available rental car during the month of August.

Coming in second place on the survey is the Norwegian city of Bergen. Situated along Norway's southwestern coast, its average cost per day is €73. Rounding out the top three is Iceland's capital, Reykjavík, with an average daily price tag of €70.

For some reason, Portugal is costly overall for renting a car this late in the summer. An additional four destinations in the country made it into the survey's Top 20 most expensive European destinations. In order of price, they are Porto, sixth on the survey at an average rental cost of €64 per day; Faro with an average rate of €50; Lisbon just one Euro less at 49 daily; and Madeira, Portugal's other autonomous island, with an average daily price tag of €48.

The following table shows the 20 most expensive destinations in Europe in which to rent a car this late summer. The prices shown reflect the average daily rate for the cheapest available rental car in each destination during the period spanning August 1-31, 2015.

1.The Azores (Portugal) €75

2.Bergen (Norway) €74

3.Reykjavik (Iceland) €70

4.Trondheim (Norway) €69

5.Oslo (Norway) €68

6.Porto (Portugal) €64

7.Menorca (Spain) €57

8.Crete (Greece) €56

9.Athens (Greece) €53

10.Thessaloniki (Greece) €52

11.Corfu (Greece) €52

12.Faro (Portugal) €50