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car rental location for trip from Paris to Luxembourg

Posted by (SE Washington, USA) on

We will be staying in the Montmartre area for a couple of days and wish to rent a car before heading to Luxembourg (the first stop on a Luxembourg/Germany/France trip). We plan to leave Paris early on a Tuesday morning and arrive in Luxembourg City by mid-late afternoon. There will be 4 of us. We will return the following week (at least by Wednesday) to have a couple more days in Paris before flying home.

Should we take a taxi to an airport to rent a car, or take a train to someplace like Reims to rent the car?

Perhaps if we arrive early enough we could do one site in Reims but we want to stay open to other short stops along the way. We figure that Reims is easily accessible by train for any Paris visit without a car.

Thanks.

Posted by
7259 posts

If no stops are planned, I would save myself the boring drive on the A4 and take the train to Metz (1 hr 25 min), renting a car there.
If you do plan stops, I would rent the car from Gare de Lyon: you will be very close to Quai de Bercy, which is the start of the A4 highway to the East, and basically won't have to deal with Paris streets.
But rather than Reims, which can be visited without a car, I would plan to visit the Verdun area if you have any interest in WWI.

Posted by
544 posts

Another option to consider.
I have picked up cars from the Hertz rental at the Carousell/Louvre. I found that it was extremely convenient. The trains will take you virtually to their door.
The service was excellent and it's not very complicated to exit the city from there. After visiting the Rheams area, we drove through Belgium and returned the car in downtown Amsterdam.
Presumably returning it to Paris would be less costly.

Posted by
467 posts

Thank you both for your suggestions. Those car rental areas are new to us. Still trying to decide whether we will stop en route. The Metz alternative is one we have considered.

Posted by
2653 posts

Pickup a rental at Gare de Lyon. Transition to the Quai de Bercy (takes less than 1 minute) and go straight to A4. You will barely need to turn the steering wheel, it is straight ahead. Just be careful of the speed limit, 30 km, until you are out of Paris. The roadway along Quai de Bercy has a good number of speed cameras.

It is silly to add expense and time of traveling to take the train to some point just to rent a car when it is so convenient to rent from where you are.

Posted by
1208 posts

There's a Hertz Location at Paris Porte Maillot. It is to the NW of Paris, right near the periphery, so if you drive from there you won't spend much time in the city proper at all. I rented there for a drive to Normandy last late, May. OF course, CDG is even more outside of the city, and more in the direction of Luxembourg.

Posted by
7259 posts

Porte Maillot is totally in the opposite direction vs. the A4 highway to the east which you'll need to take, and there are roadworks in the area for the time being, so I can't recommend it in the OP's case.However, it is indeed a good choice for driving to Normandy, and OK for Brittany / Loire Valley too.

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