We have booked a half day champagne tour in the afternoon in Reims on Friday March 1. The tour van will pick us up at the train station in Reims. We're staying in the 5th Arr. in Paris and planned to take a train to/from Reims for the day, but the train cost is ~42 euro round trip per person. There are 6 of us going, although 1 will skip the champagne tour and spend the time exploring Reims.
I see that single day car rentals for 5 of us are less than 100euro (one may decide to take the train separately to spend more time in Reims) or less than 200 euro for 6 of us. How difficult is it to drive in Paris, just to get out of the city? Is there a better place to pick up a rental car, either within the city or a cheap metro ride away? For background, I have driven in many foreign countries and cities including Rome, Naples, Palermo, Lisbon etc. I don't speak French but at least one of the passengers can help with sign interpretation. Are there other alternatives people can recommend? Possible private car and driver hire? I know that would be more expensive than car rental but if it's close to the train cost, then we could have more control over the timing.
Thank you.
Posted by
Chicago
8550 posts
We used to drive in Europe a lot and Paris is like any big city -- not harder to drive in than Chicago where we live now. Carefully map things out before you set off and rent a car on the eastern edge of the city near where you get on the main road to Reims. And arrange parking in Reims.
Posted by
OP
260 posts
Thanks, when I looked closer at car rental costs, I realized it may be more expensive if I need to fit more than 5 people because the insurance costs are so much higher. Also, since we won't be getting back to Paris until after 8pm there's only one place that's still open for drop off.
I'd love to know if anyone has a recommendation for car and driver hire. It may still be more expensive, but I just want to look at the options.
Also, has anyone ever used flxbus? It looks like it's cheaper and slightly later return departure time but of course it's a longer travel time.
Posted by
Paris
7300 posts
Car and driver will definitely be more expensive than the train.
And a 200€ car rental, once you add gas and tolls to and from Reims, comes closer to 260€, so the same price as 6 train tickets with a lot more hassle.
Another option maybe: the train to Épernay could be cheaper than the train to Reims. If you wake up early, there are 10€ one-way tickets! Could the tour pick you up there instead?
Posted by
L'Occitanie, France
10621 posts
Where do you see 100 euros per person? If it's Rail Europe, it's misleading.
Looking on the SNCF Connect app or website for March 1, price ranges from 12.60 euros one-way 2nd class or 14 euros 1st class all the way up to 19 euros for direct trains with no connections. The returns for March 1 range from 12-17 euros.
The train takes 46 minutes. You can't even rent a car and get it out of the garage that quickly.
I would really like to know where you saw the 100 euro figure because there are often questions on these forums with misleading prices. People should always look on the seller's website, in this case SNCF for prices with no mark-ups.
Posted by
OP
260 posts
Bets, I used the ~42 euro per person from a friend, before looking it up on SNCF. But for the trains we're looking at on SNCF I realized she was looking at first class. I don't see anything less than 18Euro each way for the 10:30 outbound, 7:30 return, 2nd class, which is fine too. Unfortunately, there's only one seat left at the lower 18euro price, so the next price up is 23.50 for that time.
Still, it sounds like a car would be too much of a hassle, and the flx bus is an option but doesn't save very much in the end because we'd have to take a taxi to the tour pick up point.
Bets I don't see the prices you're quoting, do you have a discount card?
I'll need to talk with the others in the group to see whether we should save the money and take the earlier train or just pay the difference for the time we want.
Posted by
L'Occitanie, France
10621 posts
The prices you are seeing are a lot less than 100 per person. Great.
Flixbus will take longer than the train.
Yes, I do have a discount card...I forgot about that when I quoted what I was seeing.
Posted by
OP
260 posts
Thanks all for the replies. I decided just to go for the train tickets. We booked 2nd class both ways, I haven't read much about the difference between 1st and 2nd class but the one picture I saw on seat61.com of seats in 2nd class, they will be fine. We won't have any luggage, I assume our assigned seats will be close together and the train trip is only 45 minutes so it will be fine. During my day of indecision the outbound trip price rose by a few euro per person but it was worth the increase given that the earlier (cheaper) trains would have put a lot more pressure on us for getting up and ready early in the morning.