We will be in France for four days before our travel companions arrive. We all plan to then visit Normandy for four days before going to Paris. We are looking for ideas for our early visit and best way to meet them later. We are thinking of taking a train to Reims on our arrival morning for a three day visit picking up a rental car after a day or so to visit Verdun and somehow meeting up with our companions on the morning of day four at CDG. We will return the car after Normandy before Paris. We have rented cars in France before but never met anyone at the airport. Any other ideas of where to visit a few days without going to far? Good ideas of car rental pickup/ drop off? Thanks.
Posted by
Edmonds, WA 🌨 ☂
11880 posts
If you must have the car and meet them at the airport, here is some info on short term parking---
https://easycdg.com/airport-guide/car-park-parking-paris-cdg-airport-charlesdegaulle/
Another option is to meet them at where ever your 1st stop is after they arrive.
I have not been to CDG, but from what I have read, picking someone up there would not be a first choice option.
Good luck..... hopefully someone with experience can provide better insight
Posted by
L'Occitanie, France
10629 posts
You would park the car, go into the terminal, meet them in the crowded hallway as they emerge from the secure area, go back to the parking structure and drive away.
Or take the train on your pre-trip, go back to CDG, wait for your friends as they emerge, then pick up your rental car and drive away.
Posted by
Happy Valley, PA
672 posts
This past May, we took an early TGV from CDG to the Champagne-Ardennes Station (the closest station to Reims). Took a taxi to our Reims hotel and spent the day exploring the city (the Cathedral, the Surrender Museum, and champagne tour and tasting at Taittinger). Did it all on foot. Since you are planning to visit Verdun, I assume that you have an interest in WW1, which we did. As a result, the next day, we hired a driver to take us from Reims to Verdun, where we met a private guide and toured the Battle of Verdun sights (woods, trenches, bunkers, forts, destroyed city, Ossuary, etc.). The second day, the guide took us to sites related to where the V Corps operated during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive (MAO; my grandfather's regiment was assigned to the V Corps). We also stopped at the site where Sgt. York performed his heroic actions that resulted in his being awarded the Medal of Honor and also the site of where the surrounded Lost Battalion held out against the Germans for several days in October 1918 during the MAO. Our guide was Guillaume Moizan, and I highly recommend him (DM me if you want his contact info). He also provided the transportation, so we didn't need to rent a car. At the end of the second day, Guillaume drove us to our hotel in Epernay, where we spent the next day before returning to Paris CDG for our flight home.