Driving rental car from Barcelona to Paris

The issue is that when you turn the car in at Paris, it will have Spanish license plates and can not be rented out in France, so it will have to be transported back to Spain. The rental company is not going to want to pay for that cost, so I guess it will have to be you. Thus expect a very high drop off fee. So yes, better to rent in France.

And, you will have a very scenic and relaxing high speed train ride to Paris.

Melissa,

There's often a huge charge for renting a car in one country and dropping off in another. It would probably be a better idea to rent separately in Spain and France.

Yes, it would be easier to take a train from Barcelona into France, preferably one of the high speed versions.

One other point to note is that for both countries, each driver listed on the rental form will require an International Driver's Permit, which is used in conjunction with your home D.L.

To give you a sense of the cost for a one-way drop off in a second country, we were quoted a 600€ drop-off fee to rent in France and drop off in Basel. You could still drive. You could rent in Barcelona and drop off on the Spanish side and take a train into France and rent again and drop the second car off in Paris.

Thanks for all of the good information! Looks like we'll rent the car once we cross the border into France. We have gotten International Drivers Licenses on past trips, but have foregone them on our last trip to Italy last year, and possibly a trip to France two years ago. It was my understanding that the IDL was meant to be used in conjunction with a driver's license to ease language issues and insure required info is available if necessary for things like traffic stops or accidents (God forbid). We've not needed them when renting cars in either Florence or Tours. Thoughts?

I wouldn't drive overseas without an International Driving Permit. It doesn't just translate your state-issued license, it attests to the validity of that license, i.e. makes you a legal driver. Without it you're just showing a card, in English, to an Italian or Spanish or French policeman that may or may not be a valid driving license -- he might assume its validity, and understand what it says, but he doesn't have to. Having the required documentation seems to me pretty basic if you're unlucky enough to have an accident or get pulled over for a violation or any reason. This comes under the heading of respecting your host country by obeying its laws.

To avoid that prohibitive drop-off fee, explained well in the first reply above, and still get the benefit of a long leisurely drive to Paris, I'd suggest a train from Barcelona to whatever city in southwestern France gives you an easy train connection and a good choice of car rentals (Toulouse? Montpellier?), then renting the car there. If you want to linger around the Pyrenees you can bring your France-rented car into Spain as long as you take it back to France.

EDIT: There's a TGV between Barcelona and Narbonne, which might be a good place to get the car.

Melissa,

"We've not needed them when renting cars in either Florence or Tours. Thoughts?"

An IDP IS required in both Italy and France (as well as Spain, Greece and other countries), so you were just lucky that you weren't asked to produce it, as you could have faced hefty fines which are usually collected on the spot! There was a post on the forum last year about a traveller in Spain that was stopped at a routine checkpoint. She couldn't produce an IDP and was fined something like €500 on the spot. The officer accompanied her to an ATM to get the cash. It would take me some time to find that post.

If you were to be involved an accident or whatever, you could be deemed to be driving without a license and would face penalties for that. The insurance may also be invalidated, which means you could be responsible for a huge bill.

Just to clarify, there's no such thing as an "International Driving License". The correct term is International Driver's Permit as it's not a license per so, and is not valid unless used with the "official" D.L. from the persons home jurisdiction.

Rental car companies don't give a hoot if you have an IDL or not. The police, however, will not be happy if you don't have one as you'll be breaking the law. Big doo-doo for you if you have an accident.

The IDP is not going to be requested by the car rental company so not having one will not stop the rental process. Frankly most French policemen could look at a US license and figure it out but you are required to have the translation. The only place where I have rented a car and been asked for the IDP at the rental agency is when I rented a car in Naxos, Greece. The IDP costs so little and is so easy to get that I see no reason to avoid getting one. We were asked for my husband's DL once and the police asked also for the IDP. Hubby showed both and we went on our way. I have no idea what would have happened if he had not had the IDP but the fact that it was requested does suggest something.
My husband used to work in insurance and he insists on getting an IDP. He says that one should avoid doing things that could give an insurance company an out such as making it possible for them to argue that you were driving without the proper required documents. Has that happened and been successful? Who knows. His thing is that he does not want to worry about it for lack of spending $20 and 15 minutes and he is very cynical about the auto insurance industry.

How lucky to have six weeks to make an in depth journey through France. Are you spreading yourself around the entire country ?

Consider this ...
Fly from Barcelona to Nice
Pick up your car in Nice
Côte d'Azur
Provence
Lyon
Annecy/Chamonix
Burgundy
Alsace
Champagne
Amiens
Rouen
Bayeux
Mont St Michel
Loire Valley
Dordogne
Bordeaux
Return hire car and TGV to Paris

If you will be using a car for three weeks or more, you may want to look into leasing instead of renting. See Renault USA or Autoeurope for leasing information. You can also check to see if you can pick up a leased car in Spain and drop in France. I met someone once who had done Italy and France.