Driving from Paris to Normandy

Somewhere in the La Defense complex, at the end of Metro line 1, would put you on the right (northwest) side of the city near the Peripherique and whatever route you take to Caen. Slightly closer in is Porte Maillot, on the Peripherique, which has rental offices.

If you have internet access, look for a rental company with an office in either of those areas, reachable by Metro, or farther out on the RER "A" line. If the price and other variables are right, that would seem like your best choice.

There is a EuropCar on Avenue Foch in the 16th. It's pretty close to the 8th. I don't find driving in Paris that bad except for Etoile so one good thing about this location for me is that it is past Etoile and the second thing is that it is easy to get to the highway. You can map it out on Google maps. It looks more complicated than it is once you start driving. I also often suggest La Defense as mentioned above and Porte Maillot. By the way the route from Avenue Foch connects you to the highway system at Porte Maillot.

And of course there's always the route of just taking the train to Caen and renting the car from there.

I'm with Tim. We like the train to Caen and fetch our reserved rental car from right across the street from the Caen railroad station. We use AutoEurope but there are 2 or 3 other rental agencies there. We don't mind driving out of Paris, it's when we want to avoid returning it, especially on a weekend afternoon when traffic can be stacked up. Just a tip -- returning a car to CDG on the same day of your flight is a risky proposition. Many things can occur driving into CDG from Normandy and all of them can delay you considerably and you might miss your flight. We ALWAYS book a hotel at or near city airports the night before our flight home, regardless of the departure time. You can spend most of the last day enjoying Paris, even having a farewell dinner, then getting to the hotel after dinner. Works for us.

What good timing. Just as I was wondering what sort of traffic I might expect between Rouen and CDG, the response showed up! I think I will train from Paris to Caen, rent the car, drive to Rouen, return the car, and then train back to CDG.

Rethinking this - Is it possible that it could take 6 hours to drive from Rouen to CDG? This would be in early February. I know it doesn't snow as often as it does in say, North Dakota, but....I don't really want to drive in accumulating snow.

Taking the train to Caen and renting there means you're paying for a train ticket and a car on the same day. But certainly easier than driving out of Paris, and you save on gas and tolls.

Rouen can be a confusing place to drive in and through -- lots of one way streets and for some odd reason, every time that I have been there it has been raining. I would not drive from Rouen or Caen to CDG on the day that my flight is departing unless the flight is scheduled to depart after 4 PM.

Rouen to CDG is under two hours. You totally bypass Paris if you take the A15. It makes no sense to turn in the car and take the train to Paris and have to change to the RER to CDG. But, as others have said, it's best to get to CDG the night before to turn in your car and be ready to fly the next day.

My flight departs at 2:50. I'm hoping that if I leave by 6:30 am I can get there in time to refuel the car and drop it off. I'm going to keep an eye on the weather though.

I think you will be fine making your flight with a 6:30 AM departure. In case of catastrophic weather, call the rental company, arrange to leave the car in Rouen, and take the train to Paris the night before.

I like to rent from the location that I plan to return the car. In this case CDG is in the wrong direction for someone traveling to Caen. But departing from CDG is easier driving than from central Paris. Also if you like chateaux or chevaux you might like to visit Chantilly on your way to Rouen and Caen.

If you leave from the 8th, or nearby, and you are a Monet fan you could stop in Giverny where he lived and painted water lilies.

I didn't have any problem getting out of Rouen with a rental car. In my case, I spent a weekend in Paris, took a train to Rouen, checked in with the rental agency to verify their lunch hours, walked around town for a few hours, then picked up the car and drove to Etretat (first stop for me in Normandie after Rouen). The Hertz office is right next to the train station but pay attention to their lunch hour, it's similar to siesta in Spain. It was a little confusing getting out of town. I think I drove around a block once before I figured out the correct turn but traffic wasn't too bad (mid day Monday in mid September).