WE will be in France for about a month in late spring. After 5 nights in Paris, we will pick up a car and drive for the rest of the month. Our usual protocol when doing this is to NOT drive in the %26quot;big city%26quot; (ie, Rome, Athens, Dublin, so far) and to go back to the airport, pick up the car and go on from there, returning the car the same way and either staying our last night in town (sans car) or at an airport hotel if we have a very early flight.
It is not the most convenient method, I agree, but it has worked for us, because I find the thought of driving in these cities harrowing (tho spouse would relish it!)
Any thoughts as regards to Paris/CDG pick-up specifically? This is not our first Paris visit, tho it is our first car rental/hire in France.
Merci.
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It depends a bit on which direction you are going to or coming from. If it%26#39;s the south, then it%26#39;s a major detour to go out to CDG and then back.
Driving in Paris is actually not too bad, provided you avoid horror spots such as Arc de Triomphe and Place de la Concorde. For example, if you were heading roughly eastwards, you could pick up a car at Gare du Nord, head straight out along Ave Jean Jaures, out Porte de Pantin, and you%26#39;re on the N3. I have done this in the opposite direction, and the only problem was that the rental company had not given adequate directions to their depot.
If you were heading south, you could do something similar from Gare Montparnasse.
Another alternative is that many of the hire car companies have depots near the Peripherique. You could go there by metro or taxi, then head out of Paris.
Of course, if you are heading roughly north there is nothing wrong with using CDG. Returning to CDG (or Orly) might be a good idea, as airports provide signs saying the direction to follow to return a rented car. The streets around railway stations have no such signs.
Another thought has just occurred: rentals from airports are usually more expensive because of the fees the car company has to pay. Perhaps you should compare the cost of renting from CDG with a rental from another Paris location.
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I just noticed you%26#39;re from California.
I found driving in San Francisco to be more nerve-wracking than driving in Paris.
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g%26#39;day sydney! yes driving in SF is a kick, eh? We lived in that area for almost 10 years when my husband worked in SF. He is content to drive anywhere any time (he does quite well in the %26quot;wrong side of the road%26quot; countries!) but he did admit when he saw the traffic in Rome that picking up the car at the airport was not a bad idea. Still, he%26#39;s a guy, so he thinks he can handle it. lol. (now listening to me stressing and yelping is another story!)
Our plan is to pick up the car (at CDG since that is where we are flying home from and may be spending the last night there) and head west, initally to Giverny, and then on to MSM, and to return to the Paris area from the east (Riquewihr area), making a large circle.
If I am convinced that makes no sense, well, then I guess I will have to admit he%26#39;s right. But I%26#39;m still not sure--can%26#39;t read French, and I worry about getting lost (and thus annoying the locals)....
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Ah well, Rome is a different matter. I have driven into Rome once, and will never do it again.
You don%26#39;t have to pick up and drop off at the same place, but if you are heading for Giverny then CDG is a good departure point.
You need a good map. Either the Michelin 1 cm = 2 km road atlas, or the sheet maps to the same scale for the areas you are visiting. If you can%26#39;t find them in Borders, try www.mapsworldwide.com/
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Yes we have the spiral-bound Michelin 1 cm=2 km. Spouse loves those types of maps, he%26#39;s already been studying them, which doesn%26#39;t help much as I am the navigator! lol (he once stopped in the middle of a country lane in Donegal and asked me if I knew where we were. Not being an Irish speaker/reader, I hadn%26#39;t a clue. Donegal? I answered sweetly.)
The only part of this trip that concerns me is getting and returning the car. Spouse is an excellent driver (if you ignore the speeding ticket in Greece when he was %26quot;merely keeping up with local traffic.%26quot;)
I just read another thread on this very topic of rental car drop-off and that thread just reinforced my position!
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I think my wife would say that I have much in common with your husband. And once I asked here where we were (when she was navigating on the map) and got the answer %26quot;No idea%26quot;.
Just get on the train to Chartres and hire the damn car there!
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Nick, LOL.
Perhaps your wife and I should take a trip together and you and my hsuband could do a road trip together!
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Chartres is a great place to pick up/drop off a car. Just don%26#39;t do Hertz because it is NO WHERE near the Chartres train station. Find somewhere outside the main Paris ring like Versailles or Fontainebleau that the train goes to and you will be fine. I guess it all depends on which direction you will be going.
We rented Hertz out of CDG last spring and without the navigation system we would have had trouble finding our way out of the airport onto the desired highway. The pick up fee from CDG wasn%26#39;t that much......Maybe 30-40 euros extra.
This last trip we contacted out cell phone provider and enabled the International DATA roaming on one of our iphones so we could use google maps.
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