Normandy to Paris by car via Versailles

Why pay the rent on a car? There is parking in Versailles but a car parked for a few days is a target for thieves. We've not had a car broken into as we traveled but there are signs throughout France reminding you not to leave valuables. Check and see what the cost of returning the car after a one way drive.

Alternatively, if it is cheaper to keep the car than pay the one-way fee, book a hotel in Versailles, which is likely to be cheaper than Paris, enjoy the palace and gardens and the town until late at night, ride into Paris in the morning and see if the hotel will hold the car in their parking lot for the time you are in Paris. They are likely to be willing if you book lodging with them on the front and back end of your visit to Paris, you are likely to save money on lodging and still have a night to wander the streets of Paris. They might also be willing to hold some of your luggage so that you don't have to carry all your gear on public transportation. A great hotel in Athens, Palladian Home, did that for us when we stayed with them before and after our visit to Hydra.

That said, I am wondering where you are renting your car. Are you taking public trans to Normandy? After multiple searches for short term leases, we were able to get a car from Europcar with no deductible for less than a short term lease and are dropping the car off at the Geneva airport. Like you, we are a group of 4 adults traveling through France. Have a great trip.

/ This is my first time planning a trip to Europe-any and all help is appreciated! /
I'm not going to try to talk you out of the car, because SOMETIMES it's cheaper for four people. But have you looked at our host's website (top left menu?) He has rail maps and free general advice, as well as his books, which are of course not free.

It is impossible to give you good advice without the complete itinerary and the month of the year, and which year. If you have a lot of big cities, the car will be a hindrance. If you are concentrating on more rural sights, it may be pleasant and convenient. Many posters here seem to think that European cities are connected by American interstate highways, and that all hotels have parking garages!

Thanks for the responses! The reason that we are renting a car: My husband and I are meeting Dutch friends (live in America) who will have been in their hometown for several days prior to our arrival. The plan is for them to pick us up (via previously rented car) at the airport, and spend a few weeks from late August to late September traveling.
I too, am leery of leaving the car, as well as traveling by car the whole trip. Gas, Parking, Tolls... But, I am not the one in control of that decision, and it does offer convenience.
I do appreciate the suggestion of staying at Versailles, but as of now this is what I have:...Our accommodations are booked (but all can be canceled): Amsterdam (3nights), Brugge(3n), Bayeux(2n), Paris(3n), Le Puy en Velay(1n), Menton(3n), Florence(4n).
These are not booked: Venice(2n), Dolomites?(1n), Lake Constance(2n with local acquaintance), Ams(2n)-then home.
I had thought that we would be able to leave Bayeux and see the gardens at Giverny, then see Versailles-leaving the car to take public transport to Paris. My original idea had been to look into leaving the car at Giverny, then go to Paris. Leave Paris, retrieve car, see Ver., travel on. However, Versailles is closed on the day we leave Paris. Thus leading me to consider seeing both G&V before going to Paris...any ideas??? We are willing to skip Versailles(time will be tight)-how about parking at Giverny, then on to Paris? Or, is there rt public transport Bayeux to Paris with a stop at Giverny?
We need to leave the car somewhere before Paris as our hotel is in the 2nd arrondissement-none of us want to drive that!!!
We would also expect to leave the car parked while we are in Venice-I suppose that should be a new topic on Italy forum...
Is this enough information to help you help me? Thanks, Tammy PS I love RS (have Europe Through the Back Door), and have listened to HOURS of Audio Europe, I do believe my aging brain suffers from information overload! And, now it is time to seriously plan! Thanks again!

If none of you have done the drive from Paris to Florence before, you may find that you are spending more time on the road than you expect. We found that we always cover ground at a slower speed than Google calculates. We have traveled from Paris to Tuscany multiple times but we have always given ourselves at least 4 days to drive it (adding more days to sightsee). My suggestion is to spend 2 nights in Brugges instead of 3; you can tour most of Brugges in the evening and before breakfast (the museums are interesting but time in Monaco or a short stop at a Loire Chateau will be more rewarding. Add that extra night to your journey from Paris to Florence. It will destress your drivers -- 5 hours a day on the road always feels like you've done nothing but drive (we traveled from Paris to Venice via Luxembourg and Switzerland in 14 days in 2014 and I realized just how overbooked we were, passing things we wanted to visit because we had to get to our B&Bs by a specific time. I so wanted to zipline near Lauterbrunnen but rain storms and traffic, plus the "had to" stops for a pretty mountain vista or to take care of our kidneys (remember there will be 8 kidneys in your car) , wiped away the time we had set aside for activities. The same thing was true when I used Google Maps to plan our trip through England...roads were slower than they reported and weather made us more cautious. I finally recalibrated our driving strategies for our trip to Greece last year and found that limiting driving time to around 3 hours a day made our trips more pleasant.

I would make the general comment that this trip has a mix of stops that are a nightmare with a car (like Venice and Paris) and stops that are good with a car, like Bayeux and the smaller places. (We stayed outside Bayeux, since we wanted the car to be even easier to handle.)

I don't think you have thought enough about the reality of car use in Europe, and especially your family needs. As a cautionary example, we drove across the Netherlands a few years ago, and I made sure our hotels had parking of some kind. I stupidly planned to drop off our luggage at our B&B before returning the car to an in-town Avis or Hertz (?) place within Amsterdam, for our final stay of the trip. The last hour in the car was a nightmare of medieval arches, one-way streets, trade vans blocking the one travel lane, threatening No-Standing signs, and so on. And, as mentioned earlier by others! .... I needed to use the toilet. I have spent hundreds of days in Europe, so I SHOULD HAVE known better!

I have driven OUTSIDE the major cities of Belgium, and I'm telling you, you don't want to drive inside Brugge, even with a GPS. If you get a car with America-level comfort, you won't fit around some of the corners, not to mention the previous paragraph about Amsterdam, a much more renovated and modern city.

There are a few things to point out.

I too, am leery of leaving the car, as well as traveling by car the whole trip. Gas, Parking, Tolls... *But, I am not the one in control of that decision*, and it does offer convenience.

Does this mean that the three others want the car, or does it mean only the other couple?

The other issue is that the other couple will need to do all the driving if you aren't present to be registered as second drivers when the car is rented.

Most of this trip can be done by train except Paris to Le Puy to Menton. That's the one route that's not well-served by high-speed train. Those are two very long drives. I've done them. Getting to the Dolomites would be easier with a car, too.

I visit family in Menton every year and highly recommend you have parking assured anywhere you sleep on the coast. Parking is very tight everywhere. We use parking garages, a lot.

Menton is on the Italian border, so every other place you may want to visit is to the west of where you are staying. It's a long haul to get up to the autoroute or a long drive via a Corniche to Nice, Eze, St. Paul de Vence, Antibes, etc. Only Monaco is close by and that's easy to get to by commuter train. Actually, everywhere is easy by commuter train except St. Paul de Vence.

It makes sense to pick up a car leaving Paris to go to Le Puy en Velay. You can make Giverny and Versaille day trips from Paris. Then drop the car in Menton. You can then pick up and drop off in Italy, too, and fly back to Amsterdam.

A car with a NL license plate and tag will attract attention in France and Italy. Be sure you have locked parking anywhere you spend the night.

You can lease a car for much less than renting for four weeks. See AutoEurope at autoreurope.com or renaultusa.com