Driving in Paris and French countryside

DO NOT drive around Paris. This is 'DO NOT' as in 'DO NOT stand in the middle of the runway at an airport'.
To drive in Paris is, like any other big city in Europe, requires to know where you are going before you start, to know and have memorised the route you will take (including one-way-streets and other restrictions), to know which lane to be in at major junctions (and to get into the lane long before the junction); and finally, of great importance, to know where you can park when you get there. Parking, if it exists at all, will usually be many hundred's of metres from your destination, will cost a large amount of money, and may be full. Hotels in Paris mostly do not have parking.

The métro is faster and cheaper. If you want to see where you are going and get orientated, buses will be cheaper, and if you count in the walk from your distant parking, possibly faster.

You could get a High Speed Train from Paris to somewhere in Alsace (Strasbourg, Colmar, ...) and pick up the car there. Or, if you want to stop off en route, pick up the car when you leave Paris.

You will probably have lots of different ideas on this, but we prefer not to drive in Paris. We have driven with ease all over France on both the toll roads and the wonderful back roads. We generally go south from Paris and we pick up our car at Orly and hop right on the A6. If you want to get an overview of Paris you can take a hop on hop off bus around the city or take a tour of various areas with Paris greeters. If you are driving north you can always pick up your car at CDG after you spend time in Paris or pick it up in Paris.We just find it easier to get our car outside the city.

Honestly I'm sorry to say I can't think of a much worse way to spend vacation time than "spending half a day driving around Paris to get oriented and see some sights."

Pick up your car on the way out of town.

Spending half a day driving in Paris to get oriented. Absolutely, positively beyond a shadow of a doubt the answer is NO! to the third power. Find a way to pick the car up on the outskirts of town. We lease and always do the pick up and drop off at CDG since they don't charge us anything to do it. Paris i a beautiful city but when it comes to diving, it really looks best in a rear view mirror.

Three reasons to forget about driving in Paris: Complicated, hub-and-spoke street system; parking; other drivers. Would you drive in Manhattan? Right, me neither. A couple of hours "to get oriented" will leave you dizzy instead. Mass transit from Gare du Nord covers all the city.

Here's an interactive route planner, which connects to tourist information from the RATP regional transit authority http://www.ratp.fr/en/
If you want to see the city above the Metro subway, you can Google for suggestions of scenic bus routes.

We've never chosen to drive in Paris, as the Metro, taxi's, and walking are so great. We rode bikes as part of a tour once, and crossing busy intersections was unnerving - the drivers moved quickly and abruptly up to our moving line of bikes, not giving much margin for error, and it wasn't certain that the cars were going to stop before they got a bike and cyclist for a hood ornament!

In the countryside in Normandy, Brittany, the Loire, the Dordogne, the Languedoc, south of Bordeaux, and in Provence, the Autoroutes and "N" roads are more orderly and straightforward. We haven't driven in Alsace, but I'd imagine that anywhere outside of a Big City will be less stressful than driving within the city. Be prepared to navigate by heading towards the next minor or major town, rather than by taking the N235 to the A71 and looking for the N836 exit. Signs tend to include towns. You'll likely encounter roundabouts, too.

Tailgating seems to be the trend in Provence - not sure whether Alsatians and tourists in Alsace tailgate so much.

If you pick up a car in Paris, then head straight out of town. Or you could make one train connection in either Brussels or Paris Nord station to get to CDG airport and pick up the car there. Lille is another option with one train connection from Amsterdam.

My husband's born, raised, knows the streets and learned to drive in Paris. But nowadays, we just pick up the car close to the edge and head out of town. Who needs the headache. BTW, I think Manhattan's easier.

Out of necessity I have driven within the city of Paris quite a bit. Not fun...I will echo the previous posts and tell you to NOT drive around. Traffic is terrible, parking is nearly impossible, and drivers are not patient. Even with someone else navigating it's not easy. Driving around will not orient you - quite the opposite - you'll be frustrated and stressed-out by the end of your 1/2 day. It is not a city in which you just "drive around" and then pull over and park when you see something interesting. Some cities are made for an enjoyable drive around...Paris most certainly isn't one of them!
If you want to get oriented, take a hop-on, hop-off (hoho) tour. You can get around most of the central city this way and get your bearings.

We had a hard time finding Orly airport to drop off our rental car on our 2010 France trip, and drove into Paris twice.. accidentally. This was on the getaway day of a three day weekend, but even on any other day I would not recommend it. When we crested a hill and saw the Eiffel tower looming, it was a moment of sheer terror. I have driven all over France and in lots of countries in Europe, but would not dream of driving in Paris on purpose!

Like Bets.. my father was born and raised in Paris.. and when he would go back to visit his mom and friends ,, he never drove in the city.... even last time I went with him , we rented a car to drive to Switzerland.. we parked it outside Paris,, took the RER into Paris and spent our time in the city using metro.
I still have some relatives that live in Paris.. they keep their car in a long term parking garage( its stored in a slot and when they want it , it is lowered on an elevator!) .. they never use it in the city but only keep it to visit their children who live outside the city.. They are aged now.. the metro is too hard on them ( stairs etc) so they now take buses and taxis.. rather then drive in a city they have lived in all their lives.

There is no way I would choose to drive around Paris as a method of "seeing" anything.. yes.. pick up a car and drive out of Paris.. but driving in Paris just for the sake of it is a mistake.. parking is a hassle, traffic a hassle, and how exactly is the driver going to be able to enjoy the sightseeing aspect of it if he keeps his eyes on the road.. ( which he/she will need to do .. every minute)

So, another no.

Pick up the car when you are ready to leave the city.

VS...."Eiffel Tower" and "sheer terror" are two words I've never seen in the same sentence before. I can just see your faces through the windscreen with wide eyes with the city spread out below and the Eiffel tower standing majestically before you....just struck me as very, very funny!!

Only if you like to gamble. There are so many things that will destract you that a mistake is easily made.

The countryside however is not always free of concern. Be aware of young drivers who think the rules are specially made for them. If they have right of way like in narrow streets of little towns, some just take it without thinking. And little crossings there seems to prove sometimes little roundabouts, so the rules of priority are different. Happened to me once in Arnage near Le Mans, paying attention to traffic coming from the right and the young mans car hit mine at the leftside. That little rectangular square looked like a crossing but proved to be later a roundabout. Mistake at my expense!

Roads in France have been very much improved the last two decades. And in general you can drive in France very safe, but there are still here and there some flaws or not quiet logical situaties in the system you have to be aware of, that sometimes can take you by surprise.
Last week I had to turn left on a large crossing in Versailles in the dark during rush hour and that dark spot in the middle showed where to make the turn. With no experience it is likely you will not notice that and can get you in trouble.

Before hitting the road in France study signals and rules at home. Study the French drivers behaviour outside Paris first, it is a country with a Latin mindset and that´s a bit different from ours which you have to deal with.

I've driven in Paris twice. On my first trip there we were arriving with a car. My plan was to drop our bags at the hotel and then turn it in. When I think about it now, years later, my blood pressure still goes up. It was one of the most stressful things I've ever done, and I'm a cancer survivor if that means anything to you. I've been driving in large cities since I was 16. This past October I was arriving in Paris from London by train. I needed a car to get to get to Normandy. This being my 4th trip to Paris I felt more confident about driving from Gare du Nord to leave town. After all, I knew my way around Paris better by this trip. I had a GPS. How bad could it be? BAD!!. When you rent a car at Gare du Nord you do the paperwork at the station. Then you have to go outside and around the corner to a large parking garage. The cars were underground, on the -5 floor. It was dark. We needed to use the flashlights on our phones to be able to try to see what condition the car was in. There were no rental company reps there. If we had a problem with the car we would have had to return to the station. This was a Friday afternoon. Getting out of Paris was a nightmare. Our 3 hour drive to Normandy took 4+ hours. The only bad traffic was in Paris. Do yourself a favor and pick up yiur car at CDG. There are much better ways to orient yourself to the city. A map comes to mind. And as someone previously mentioned, the Hop on/Hop Off bus might do the same. I've never taken it there, but I have in other cities.

OK, that was definitive - clearly it is inadvisable to try and drive in Paris unless it is absolutely necessary. The current plan is to pick up rental car in Lille, France and return it there. Then take train to Paris and there use mass transit. Thanks to all for informative responses and to RS for hosting this forum.

Simple, don't drive in any major city. Not Paris, not London, not Rome. It's just not worth it. Not Manhattan or Boston or Chicago either, for that matter.

To see the sights take a sightseeing bus. To see the countryside, driving is fine. We drove in the beautiful area around Beaune and Dijon with no problems; roads are good, plenty of signage. The only thing that I had tucked away was that odd priorite a droite possibility, but it never seemed to happen.

Get a GPS but also have a good paper map.

So, like everyone has said, take a train outside the city and rent your car. Then enjoy the drive to Alsace. Lots of great villages to explore! Have fun!

Aw phred, Chicago is one of the easiest places to drive. The entire city and most of the suburbs are on a straight-line grid, with a few diagonal streets, it's as flat as a pancake, and unless you get a pocket of construction it's near impossible to get lost. Traffic is slow in rush hour. Otherwise, it's a breeze. The only disadvantage is the cost of parking downtown.

Chani, I drive in Chicago, and usually have no problem, but I wouldn't say it's without confusion. All those interstates: 80, 90, 94, 290, 295, 65, 55, 57, 355. They all join, cross, separate, and rejoin at different times, and actually have names like Dan Ryan or Eisenhower. "Wait, did I need to stay on 90 or 94??!!" has been heard in our car numerous times. But yes, once you're in the city it's usually pretty easy.