I rented a car for pickup at Nice airport this 26 December from Europcars. I have since learned that picking up a car from this company can sometimes take hours. Here is my question. I arrive at 15:20, my daughter arrives at 16:50 both in Terminal 1. Since it can take a long time to pick up a car, I planned on getting it and then looping back and picking her up at T1 arrivals. However I now suspect that private cars are not allowed to pick up at Terminal 1? Can someone confirm this? If so can someone please suggest a better way for 1) getting the car and then 2) getting back to pick up my daughter? Perhaps there is a better meeting place once I get the car? We are not going to Nice immediately but are going to drive on to Avignon that night so we would prefer not to wait for the car after we both arrive.
Thanks in advance.
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Area directly in front of T1 is restricted to bus and taxis. Just a fraction back from this area are car parks p1,p2 %26amp;p3. Check out niceaeroport.fr/acces_stationnement_en/parki…
Any of these car parks are close to arrivals.
Only Set-Downs (kiss %26amp; fly) are catered for.
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Peteram,
Thanks this is very helpful. I was on that site but managed to miss this page.
Regards
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TA32, where did you read about it taking hours to pick up a car through Europcar? Are there certain times of the day that are busier? I%26#39;ve rented a car through them as well, arriving at Nice train station at 4:00 and was hoping to pick up the car at the airport and be on the road by 6:00 as we have a 2/hr drive to our destination. Unrealistic?
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It is much easier and quicker to pick up your car at the train station. However, long lines for pick up are mainly confined to summer weekends when much of the world arrives at the airport.
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There is no problem at all doing a pick-up from the Kiss-and-Fly at Terminal One, providing the people you are picking up are definitely ready and waiting for you. Unlike the Kiss-and-Fly at Terminal Two, the one at T1 is not just a single-track line, but also has a small car park attached to it. This car park is a common venue for pickups, and is also used by private car-parking companies to return cars to their owners.
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At the time I booked, I saved over 30% renting through Europcar over Autoeurope. Unfortunately they only have the pickup office at the airport (or so it seems from their website) but I though the savings would compensate for the extra hassle of getting to the airport from the rtain station. LondonBob, can you tell me, can one pick up a Europcar rental in either terminal? My registration confirmation does not say.
Many thanks!
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You can pick up a Europcar rental at their office just behind the hotel Le Meridien--and save the airport surcharge at the same time. However, if you can cancel the Europcar rental you could book instead with Sixt, which has none of Europcar%26#39;s current add-on surprise charges, and, at least in our opinion, much better service. Their airport rental office is right across from Terminal 2, where you can get the shuttle to Terminal 1.
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FYI, Autoeurope is a consolidator, one of whose suppliers is Europcar. You don%26#39;t ever rent directly from Autoeurope--they place your rental with one of the major agencies as a rule.
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At the airport, Europcar and the other rental companies are all based at Terminal 2 only, a short walk away from that terminal. Access is along a footpath which passes between the T2 multistorey car parks opposite the terminal, and the path begins exactly where the frequent shuttle buses from T1 make their only stop at T2.
As your daughter is arriving at a different time to you (I missed this when answering previously), rather than picking her up at the T1 Kiss and Fly (which is only free for 5 minutes and gets very expensive thereafter) you would be better to park in the T1 short stay car park so you can leave the car and meet her inside the terminal. Charges in T1 short stay are not too excessive for a short duration (in fact it%26#39;s free for the first half-hour), and most times that I%26#39;ve met people there I%26#39;ve managed to park very close to the terminal.
Also, once you%26#39;ve rented the car, they can%26#39;t force you to drive out of the Europcar car park, so you could wait there for a bit as well if you wanted.
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I was the original poster. Thank you all for your replies. My daughter and I returned yesterday from a very nice vacation. My experience with Nice Airport Europcars turned out to be very good. As a poster noted, the main problems with long lines are in the summer. They gave me an upgrade, which did not have covered storage, so they immediately gave me another. I ended up with a Citroen Picasso with an automatic transmission even though I booked a Renault Scénic with a stick (I was not familiar with either car so I think that was an upgrade:). In any case once I learned not to try to put the car in reverse using the windshield wiper lever I was very happy with the car. As to meeting my daughter, who arrived on a later flight, I got the car at T2 and drove around and parked in P2 in front of T1. Amazingly as I walked back into T1 arrivals, my daughter was entering from customs. So all turned out well. BTW, one poster asked where I saw problems with Europcars? I googled %26quot;Europcar Nice France Airport Problems%26quot;
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