Loire Valley transfer to Paris

Option 2 is way less stressful. Just did it. Other than some minor construction at the St P station the rental car return was easy. You will not want to drive inside the Periferique (sp?) ring road.

I agree. Driving in Paris is a big pain. Option 2 is by far the best and easiest. With 5 days in the Loire Valley you will have time to see Tours. Five days of seeing chateaux would give me chateaux overload, so if you want to see Tours you can day trip there or spend a couple of nights there.

Have fun!

Whatever you do, don't do option 3.

Awesome, thanks! We will do Option 2. I am booking it right now

I would (and have) return the car at Orly airport rather than getting everyone onto a train at that extra expense. We have never paid a fee for returning a car in another city but of course factor that in when choosing the rental company.

Once at Orly you get everyone Navigo Decouverte weekly passes or Navigo Easy cards (your choice depends on the days of the week you will be there -- the weekly ticket runs Mon-Sun of one week and it always the best choice if it works for your dates). The 14 is accessible and runs clear across Paris and if it gets you near your lodging it would be perfect. If you have to transfer to another line, there will be stairs. there are stops at Madeleine and Pyramides if your lodging is anywhere near there just walk.

Doing this you don't drive in Paris as the airports are not in Paris; Orly works best for the Loire. You could also get a cab at Orly to your lodging which would cost 45 Euro fixed fare for all 4 of you and luggage. This is cheaper than getting tickets on the metro and having to walk and possibly climb stairs. If you had the weekly pass then it is 'free' as it is included and you have transport for the week -- but if you have to buy a separate metro ticket they are 13 from the airports and so would cost more than a taxi for this trip i.e. 52 Euro for the train/metro and 45 for the cab. No tip required.

Orly would have worked as we are staying a 5-minute walk from Pyramides, but I have already booked the train tickets! Alas. We will have to get from Montparnasse into the 1er arr. with a guitar no less.

Just an update on this as I finally booked the car rental.

One thing I didn’t plan for is that most car rental companies are closed Sundays, which is the day we land in Tours TUF. There is only one company open, SIXT, which is at the St Pierre des Corps TGV station. We will have to shuttle into Tours Centre and then grab a separate shuttle or taxi to get the car. I’m okay with that as we might take a break in Place Plumereau before picking up the car.

Our train to Paris 5 days later departs from St Pierre des Corps. We will return the car at the same SIXT location and therefore avoid one-way surcharges on the car rental.

If we were to return the car at Paris Orly airport, there would be a US$400 surcharge. In the end, I am okay with taking the train and saving a few hundred dollars. My two strong guys will carry the luggage and guitar from Montparnasse to Opera.

Wow. We rented cars in Europe for decades and have never had to pay a drop charge when dropping in the same country -- our last driving trip we actually changed our drop location several times because of unexpected disruptions to our trip -- with no charge. We even lucked out driving from Amsterdam to Provence to Paris with no drop charge because they had a Paris car that needed to be returned to Paris -- but that was pure luck.

400 in the same country is ridiculous. And yes not only are small town car rentals closed on Sundays but they also close for lunch for a couple of hours sometimes. glad you got it squared away -- have a great trip.

I have never paid a drop off fee as long as the pickup and drop off points were both in France. US franchises such as Avis and Hertz reliably will charge drop off fees, but it can normally be avoided if you avoid Avis/Hertz.

Just for the record, I also would have driven to Paris and either dropped off at Orly or Montparnasse.

Minnie,
I am shocked at the pricy drop-off fee they quote. We have never had to pay a fee over the many years we rented cars in France. Perhaps there was a miscommunication from Sixt. (I have to add, we have never used Sixt...only Hertz, Avis, Euroipcar and Budget.)

I thought it was just Sixt, but I have looked at a couple of others online and the surcharge ranges from $200-400.