Car rental at Kiel Airport is not what the name suggests: Holtenau, the small field north of the city, has had no scheduled airline service for years and operates for general aviation, so there is no arrivals-hall desk row to walk up to. Renting in Kiel means using the city's own branch network - offices cluster around the Hauptbahnhof and the commercial streets, convenient to the Ostseekai and Schwedenkai cruise terminals where Baltic sailings turn around. Fly-and-drive travellers typically land at Hamburg Airport, about 90 minutes south, where every major network keeps long-hours desks, and drive up the A7/A215. Within Kiel itself a car is optional; it earns its keep for the fjord coast, Laboe and day trips into Schleswig-Holstein.
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