My husband and I are traveling with our 3 kids (8, 13, 15) to Paris from 7/16-7/25. Yes, we are a little crazy, but it's booked. We have been to both Paris and Normandy before kids, but it's been a long time. We plan to spend about 4 days in Paris and then rent a car and go on to Normandy. We fly back to the states out of CDG on 7/25 at 11:30am. I plan to stay near the airport the night before because I am planning for epic traffic. I would like to return the car at the airport, but I'm nervous about driving around CDG the day before the Olympics. We have never driven around CDG, and I'm wondering if it's going to be as bad as driving in Paris proper. Thoughts on this?
Posted by
Paris
10188 posts
Presumably they will have already launched the "special lanes" on the highways that are reserved only for Olympic delegations on the 25th because
1) the first competitions actually start on the 24th
2) the opening ceremony is on the 26th, and surely teams, trainers, etc are already arriving on the 25th
Posted by
915 posts
Where is the last place you'll be staying in Normandy? Would it be better to plan/arrange a car return outside of the Paris...Rouen, Rennes, Giverny and take the train back into Paris/ CDG.
Posted by
OP
5 posts
Yes, I'm sure those lanes will already be in place. We're actually flying out the day before the opening ceremonies. Thanks for clarifying! I am thinking that there will be special lanes from the airport to the venues, but not to the airport. I will look that up. I know they have published some info on altered routes. We will be coming back from Normandy, and I wonder how close we need to stay to the airport in order to make the flight. We will not be checking any baggage, so that should save us a little time.
Posted by
OP
5 posts
KD, that is a great question! That is another option I'm considering. We could stay in Rouen, but I feel like we need to be very close to the airport in order to allow for traffic or train travel time, depending on which we choose. Any ideas on a closer city that would be a good place to return the car, spend the night and take the train to the airport in the morning?
Posted by
Atlanta, GA, USA
795 posts
I think that KD was suggesting to cut your rental short to be able to drop it off at a better/less hectic place outside of Paris and travel the rest of the way into Paris/CDG via train. If you want to make the journey all the way to CDG, folks here have some recommended hotels that are (I believe) on the tram/internal train system of the airport, should you want to stay there overnight.
Posted by
915 posts
I would stick to your plan to spending the night prior to departure at CDG. I would not try to take a train back to CDG on day of departure. I was thinking drop off day before departure and then train to CDG for the evening prior to departure.
You may want to look at a car rental drop off in Mantes de Jolie, but it looks like most trains go through Paris central, then transfer, then on to CDG, so that might be just as hectic.
Is there anyway to get to CDG via train that does not go through Paris central? Perhaps someone with expertise can comment on that.
And yes, Katherine is correct.
Posted by
Paris
10188 posts
The A1 between Paris and the airport will have one lane closed.
I just found the website.
The "Olympic Roads" / Voies Olympiques have one lane closed to non-Olympics, non-badged vehicles as of July 15. The A1 between Paris and CDG will keep this lane closed to other traffic all the way through September 11; other roads will be closed for the Olympics, re-open, then re-close for dates surround the Paralympics.
This page is in French, but you can run it through Google Translate
https://anticiperlesjeux.gouv.fr/impacts-routes/voies-olympiques-paralympiques-routes
Posted by
OP
5 posts
This is all really helpful! Thank you!