Car Rental Return - CDG / Paris

My advice would be to return the car in Paris. Of course, you could do what you describe. It's easy enough to return a rental car at CDG. We have done it and just followed the signs. There are multiple return areas. I'd pick one near Terminal 2 so I could easily get to the RER after dropping off the car. The rental return is in the middle, between terminal 2A and 2B or between 2C and 2D. Just follow the signs when you get to the airport for Terminal 2 and start looking for signs. The international pictogram for rental cars shows a little car with a key over it. Most of the signs at CDG say "voitures de location" and some also say "rental cars". The first signs to follow when returning a rental car are the "P" parking signs. But again, I would just return the car in Paris if that is where you are headed. There are lots of rental agencies are on the edge of town if you are concerned about driving in Paris itself. Unless you are coming to Paris from the northwest heading to CDG for a rental car drop-off is not super efficient.

Thanks for the reply / advice. I'm staying in the Marais area of Paris so if I were to drop off a car without getting too deep into the city, where would you suggest? Any train stations with rental agencies?

Thanks again.

We picked up a car once at the Europcar on Foch Ave - easy to get out of the city - near the Arc de Triomphe, but don't have to go around it...it is underground, so the entrance could be tricky to find...and just a block or so walk to the Arc metro...

You could drop the car off at Gare de Lyon and take a taxi from there to Le Marais. But for more precise suggestions, it really depends on where you are coming from.

Thanks for the reply. I would be driving in from Normandy.... Honfleur, Deauville area I believe...unless we wind up going to see the cliffs to the north ( I forget the name but it begins with Ere-something).

It's Etretat. For all of those places, you would probably head to Paris on A13 and come into Paris from the west so La Defense would be a good place to drop off the car. From there you could take Metro Line 1 into Paris and depending on where you are staying in Le Marais, your closest metro station may be on Line 1. Another option would be the Avenue Foch location mentioned above. You would avoid the Etoile area (the one area in Paris where I will not drive) because you get to the EuropCar location before you get to the traffic circle from hell. You could then take the metro (again Line 1) to your accommodations. Of course, you could take a taxi from either location. I'd probably drop off at Avenue Foch.

With JHK's advice, there is no need to go all the way out to the airport and pay for a costly ride into the city.