Haut de France -passing through

Considering the hefty drop-off charges in another country renting a car in this case France makes in general sense if you drop it off there too.

With the places you mention you mean Northern France?

Northern France isn’t that bad, the interesting places are just a bit harder to find. I visited Compiègne last April and is really nice, much overlooked and certainly worth a visit. The Imperial Palace there is huge and forms with Versailles and Fontainebleau the “big three”, although not as spectacular as the other two, interesting enough to enjoy a few hours there. With a bit of luck you can have the feeling having the whole place to yourself, there where just a few dozen visitors then, a blessing nowadays with all those overrun places.

Historic Senlis is also worth a visit, especially combining it with nearby Chantilly, the château with it’s interesting Musée Condé and the Great Stables, is actually not to miss. I visited Beauvais on the way back home to the Netherlands, in general the place itself is not so attractive, but that big chunk of cathedral is nevertheless really overwelming. One of the facades is cleaned up and really shines stunningly under the sun, glad I have seen it.

You can also make a stop in Amiens, not only for the impressive cathedral, but also for the surrounding streets. Further on the way to Lille, the two unique town squares of Arras are certainly worth a stop too.

Depending where you want to go in Belgium, to my opinion the most interesting route to follow is Senlis with Chantilly, Beauvais, Amiens, Arras, Lille…. Seeing all of them will be a bit too much I think, so select a few you think are of interest.

Senlis is a great town to spend time in. We stay there whenever we fly out of CDG. The only problem for your plan is that it's only a 20 minute drive from CDG, and you might be looking for a longer drive to your first stop.

If you are arriving from a transatlantic flight, it is generally not recommended to drive a long distance immediately upon arrival (I can personally attest to this from the experience of driving from Heathrow to the Cotswolds). We stayed overnight in Senlis upon arriving at CDG, then drove on to Alsace, which is approximately the same distance as Belgium, the next day. This allowed us to have a leisurely drive after we were well rested.

Thanks all for the suggestions. It sounds like Senlis is near the top of the list, but glad to hear there are plenty of options.

-Happy trails.