Any experience renting car from Reims train station? Alternatives?

Since public transport is your preferred travel method, have you considered renting the car just for your Meuse-Argonne Cemetery visit and returning the car to Reims area?

There is an Avis rental office near the Champagne Ardennes TGV station with easy access to Reims center by tram or bus.

You could then continue on to Strasbourg by the TGV train. You can visit Strasbourg and Colmar along with the wine villages by train, bus and Kutzig Tourist Bus.

It is super easy to leave Reims starting from the central station. The highway is, like, 1/4 mile away.

And I would return the car at your next stop. If it is Strasbourg, again the car rental parking lot is really close to the end of the A4 highway, maybe a 5 min drive. In Metz I have no idea, but Metz is not a large city.

I agree with what @jeanm has posted. Strasbourg, Metz, Nancy are all big cities and a car is of no advantage visiting them. If you wanted to visit some small towns in Alsace then the car could be useful although bus/train service is extensive in the region. But if your main objective is the Verdun cemetery then I'd suggest renting the car for just the day and doing the rest of the trip by train/bus.

Thanks for your input. I am interested in at least visiting one battle area, probably will just focus on the area around Verdun as this is where the family member unfortunately met his demise in battle.

I will probably opt to just do a one-day rental. Unfortunately, one of my absolute biggest annoyances is having to backtrack. Sort of a cost-benefit analysis of time is money, so to speak. Looks like Strasbourg airport has an option for a drop off if needed. I am aware of a one-way drop off fee. I will not necessarily be saving any time by having to backtrack to Reims for TGV in the end, although it may ultimately cost more.

I did follow the route via Google street view and it seems simple enough.

Tweety bird,
I have been to Verdun 3 times, my husband has been 5 or 6 times. It is very moving to see how the forest has grown up, over and around the site of so much suffering and death. Although covered in verdure, the humps and dips of the battlefield are still distinguishable. A car is definitely the way to go. You can stop at various places to appreciate what occured there. The new(ish) museum is really very good, and the Douaunmont Ossuary and cemetery are a must. There is even a memorial for the carrier pigeons who played an important part in World War One.

The area around Reims has lots to see and do re both World Wars, but Verdun somehow touches one in a different, more personal way. At least it does to me. I hope you get to go there. Definitely rent a car to drive around the battlefield areas. Give yourself at least 4 hours to see the museum, the Ossuary/cemetery and various battlefield stops along the way.

Just a note, try to see the 2005 film "Joyeux Noel" if you can, before going to Verdun. And PBS has a doc on the same subject that is good as well. It is called "All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914". Both give you a feel for what the trench warfare was like for the soldiers there.

Oh yes, the drop off fee may not be too onerous. Have you checked on the website for the car rental company, or on the Autoeurope website? In some cases there is none. It all depends on company, location, distances, etc.