Driving up from Loire to Paris

Why not just drop the car in Orleans and take the train to Paris?

Is this your first trip to France? To me driving in Paris would be a nightmare but some do drive to/from Gare du Nord.

There are lots of car rental places in Orleans - might it be possible to stop there, eat and sightsee, drop off your car there, then take the train to Paris? (Wow, Pam and I had the same idea simultaneously!)

Does the drop off have to be CDG? Orly airport would be soooo much better. On the right side of town coming from Orleans/Amboise, and an OK taxi ride into Paris with the luggage.

Orleans is fine, but not my favorite. If Chartres is not on your planned route, it would be a better choice IMO (despite the slight detour).

Do not attempt driving to "near the Marais". I do it occasionally since that's where I live but it requires 360 vision and a good sense of direction.

maybe traffic is worse than dealing with the schlepping of bags

Much worse than you can imagine. Especially to go to the Marais on a Saturday just before Christmas.

We are renting the car at CDG and driving down to Amboise via Chartres lunch/cathedral on the way. So we are scheduled to return the car where we originally picked it up at CDG.

I can check but I would be willing to bet it is significantly more expensive to drop off at a different location than pickup.

Worth checking on how much more it would cost to drop it at Orly. If you're stuck with CDG, I suggest you drive there, around Paris, and take a taxi in to your hotel with your luggage. That's 50+ euros on that side of the price comparison. Or you could save most of that with the RER B into the city, then Metro or taxi to your hotel. Don't drive into Paris just to drop off luggage (or at all).

Check with the rental agency about the difference in price. It may not be as much as you think, and I can guarantee you dont want the hassle of driving in Paris.

Great, thanks everyone. I think I'll either change the reservation to an Orly dropoff or go around Paris to CDG and take the RER/Metro to the hotel.

Is Orleans worth the stopoff for an hour or two? We will have already done Chartres on the way down to Amboise.

Have you ever driven in a European city before? Trying to drive to somewhere near the Marais that close to Christmas when you're not familiar with Paris sounds like a nightmare to me.

Try to see if you can change the location where you return the car. Returning it in Orleans seems like the obvious choice in my opinion. From Orleans there are trains to Paris that take around an hour to Gare d'Austerlitz, which is pretty close to Marais. It might cost a bit more to return the car in Orleans, but you also have to consider that it will save you both time and stress.

Don't drive to CDG the Saturday before Christmas. That's a huge travel and shopping day. Although a lot of traffic is leaving Paris the 23rd, you'll still hit jams as you approach Pais, as far as 40-50 kilomètres away.
You have dozens of freeways merging, and the circle around Paris can take a couple of hours if you hit it wrong.

If I had that drive ahead of me, I'd just get rid of the car asap and get into the city. It's not worth stopping for breakfast. We have big lunches in France, but breakfast is a drink and yesterday's bread and jam.

I've lived in Paris with family to visit on weekends in Burgundy and Brittany, giving me nearly fifty years dealing with this traffic toward the city.

If you can still get train tickets from the Loire, that would be first choice. If not, drop the car at Orly and let a taxi driver deal with the traffic. Going to CDG and taking the RER and metro is unnecessary hassle.

I'm taking the train from home to CDG the day before and flying on the 23rd. I couldn't get tickets for the train we wanted on the 22nd bc many trains were already sold out when I bought tickets a few weeks ago. Good luck.

If I had that drive ahead of me, I'd just get rid of the car asap and get into the city. It's not worth stopping for breakfast. We have big lunches in France, but breakfast is a drink and yesterday's bread and jam.

Okay I changed the reservation to drop off at Orly. We do want to see Orleans even just for an hour since it's on the way and we're huge cathedral buffs. We'll never have another reason to go there otherwise.

I looked into it and the rental companies that are competitively priced are outside of Orleans, plus having to find a place to store luggage, etc...I can live with a taxi or public transport from Orly if it means avoiding Paris traffic. This should save us a good two hours or more.

BTW I'm from Southern California, nothing is worse than Los Angeles traffic. At least in Paris half the drivers aren't also carrying a gun.

Can't address Orleans but we have driven from Amboise to Paris via Chartres. It was worth it so I expect Orleans will be as well. Enjoy!

abearden23,
Good advice here. Don't try to drive in Paris. I have lived in So Cal since 1963, San Diego and mostly Los Angeles county. I commuted on L.A. area freeways for many, many years. Believe me, there is no comparison between L.A. traffic and that of Paris. Many Paris streets were established in the Middle Ages for carts and pedestrians. They are narrow and don't always run straight through. I would take ten L.A. drives to one Paris drive. Leave your car at Orly and taxi to your hotel. Have fun on your trip!

If you're huge cathedral buffs and staying in Amboise I would head towards Tours for the cathedral, drop the car off, then catch the train to Paris.

In my opinion Orleans will just be a logistical nightmare, and driving on the Saturday before Xmas could take you a couple of hours from Orleans to Paris Orly. Getting through the toll booth might take an hour. It has happened to me, and that was in summer without any fog/ice/snow to be taken into consideration.

The advantage of dropping the car in Tours is that St Gatien cathedral in Tours is oft overlooked, but far more impressive than Orleans.