We are staying for a few days in Paris (Latin Quarter) and then picking up a car to head to Loire Valley and Dordogne. We will return the car about a week later to CDG airport. For those of you that have done this, does it make more sense to pick up the car at CDG or at a local spot in Paris? I can do the price comparison just want to know if driving in Paris a sane thing to do (note we have driven in Boston :-)). Bonus question: what's your favorite car rental in France?
TIA
marnylivingston,
Driving in Paris is a major pain, IMHO, plus parking is not cheap. If you can pick up your car after leaving Paris, do so. As so many have recommended here, take the train to the Loire Valley and rent the car there. You can still return it at CDG. (Some car rental agencies will charge a fee for a different drop-off, but not all. Even so, it shouldn't be much.)
I drive the Los Angeles freeways, and even to and from LAX (yuck!), but it is nowhere near as difficult as driving in Paris. And Paris is even worse than Boston (my least favorite city in the US for driving).
We always look for our car rental through AutoEurope. They will show different car rental companies and their prices, etc.
Have fun in France!
I have rented both at CDG, and in a Hertz office in Porte Maillot in Paris (Hertz Location De Voitures - 27 Rue St Ferdinand Porte Maillot HLE). From there, it is a short block to the periphery highwy, and easy running from there. But I have never driven in downtown Paris proper. I jut never had the need to, and didn't really want to put up with the hassle or parking, etc. This from a lifelong Boston commuter too. I have almost always rented form Hertz—in Paris, Bayeux, Caen, Rennes and Cherbourg. But recently rented from Enterprise in Saint-Malo. Hertz just works for me, but beware they typically charge a fee for separate pick-up/drop-off locations.
Paris to the Loire Valley can be done in 2-3 hours on the Autoroute, assuming there's no other traffic. It's a boring drive with no scenery.
I would opt to save myself 4 + hours of boring driving, by catching a train to Saint Pierre des Corps, hiring a car there, and returning it to the same office in order to catch a train direct to the airport.
To get to the Loire Valley, I would never pick up at CDG since it is in the opposite direction.
And on the way back, beware of rush hour traffic on the Paris ring roads.
When you head south, a good collection point in Paris is Gare de Lyon IMO. It is a very short drive to the quai de Bercy expressway leading to the Périphérique ringroad. Barely any city driving.
If you want to play it even safer, you could use Orly airport (access is now quick by metro line 14) or Massy TGV (access by RER B, very close to the A10 to the Loire). Massy would be my preference over Orly but there are more companies at Orly.
As for companies: I am not a fan of Enterprise, I am forced to use them for work and it seems that their locations are only staffed by interns and that their vehicle inventory has no slack whatsoever - my colleagues and I have driven off the lot with a white van instead of a car more than once...
In any cases their rates for the general public are rarely competitive so you are unlikely to end up with them.
I've only driven in central Paris to pick up or drop off a rental car. I agree with the previous post that Gare de Lyon is close to the Quai de Bercy motorway that runs along the bank of the Seine. So if you are accustomed to urban driving, you might consider using an agency at Gare de Lyon. I also agree that you need to drive directly to the ring road (Périphérique) and use it to connect to the A10 autoroute to the Loire. Because Paris can be so confusing, I always use Google Street View to review the route in advance. As for rentals, Europcar is a French rental agency and probably has the most locations in the country.
We've decided to pick up and return the car at Gare de Lyon and rent from Europcar. Our last night will be in Marais in Paris rather than at the airport. Thanks everyone for your input!
