Car rental from Paris to drive to Honfleur and then back to CDG

We always use Auto Europe for our car rentals in France. The company checks numerous companies, then offer you the best prices.

meredith.etheridge,
Rouen is a good place to begin your visit to Normandy. I would take an early train to Rouen, spend the night there (beautiful and a nice way to spend a day), then rent a car and drive on to Honfleur the next day. Driving in and into Paris is one of my least favorite things to do ever. (And I am from the Los Angeles area!) You should be able to drop off your car at the airport without an added fee, if you use one of the major agencies (check with Autoeurope). The drive from Rouen to the coast along the Seine River is lovely, especially along the Route des Abbayes. It would take one day from Honfleur, but you would see some of what I consider to be a really pretty part of France. If it is easier, you could return your car in Honfleur or Caen and take the train to Paris/CDG. I am not a fan of doing anything with car rentals at CDG, even though we have rented from there often. Just a thought.
Bon voyage!

I have both picked up at, and dropped off at CDG. It works, but it is a big city airport with all the associated traffic, hassles, etc. More recently I have chosen to pick up and drop off far from the city. On my last trip I picked up at the Hertz office just within the city limits at Porte Maillot. From there I drove to Normandy. But I dropped off in Caen en route to Paris.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Hertz+Location+De+Voitures+-+27+Rue+St+Ferdinand+-+Porte+Maillot+HLE/@48.8758198,2.2924655,15z/data=!4m15!1m8!3m7!1s0x47e66e1f06e2b70f:0x40b82c3688c9460!2sParis,+France!3b1!8m2!3d48.856614!4d2.3522219!16zL20vMDVxdGo!3m5!1s0x47e66f8d305254ef:0xef1e9178177c5bc8!8m2!3d48.8779199!4d2.2885913!16s%2Fg%2F1thd5_62?entry=ttu

I agree with renting car away from CDG. I have rented from.the airport twice and the last time I decided never again. I would follow advice given above as that seems to me most logical. If you are planning to see area around Normandy it will be very busy if you are going the beginning of June and at this late date might even have a hard time finding hotels even though Honfluer is about 50 miles from the Normandy beaches if you are going there. When we were in Bayeau in September our B&B was already booked for the early part of June just fyi.

Thanks everyone! I have arranged to pick up and drop off the car from Porte Maillot - do you see any advantage to returning the car in Caen instead (think it would be an added $60 one way fee) and taking the train to CDG?

You may consider getting a train from CDG return to Caen and renting the car Lots of options and way less headaches driving.

The only advantage to returning the car in Caen would be not having to drive back to Porte Maillot. But if you've driven from there to Honfleur, why not drive back? From Porte Maillot you'll need to get to CDG by either RER/Metro or taxi. It may be simpler just to drive from Honfleur to CDG, since the $60 dropoff fee would be comparable to the taxi fare from Porte Maillot.

So, three choices: (1) Drive from Honfleur to CDG, suburban traffic on divided highways, one long tunnel as I recall, maybe some tolls and a $60 dropoff charge; OR (2) Drive from Honfleur to Porte Maillot, then taxi to CDG for a fare roughly the same as the dropoff charge; OR (3) Drive from Honfleur to Porte Maillot, take Metro and RER to CDG with luggage and at least one train change, costing less than the taxi. My choice would be #2.