Octogenarians driving Easter from Toulouse to Chartres and Easter Monday from Chartres to CDG

We are almost octogenarians. We have booked several times through Auto Europe. Their site lets you indicate that you are older than 75. They will then show you rental car companies which are OK with that age. Since their rentals are prepaid (fully refundable) there is no issue when you pick up the car. We are using AVIS for our French rental this summer. Hope this helps.

In 2023, hubby was 80, son 43, both drivers on an Avis rental in France. No age problem. Didn't get a separate "guarantee. Ages were listed on the contract application. Just go through Auto Europe. They offer several rental companies.

Also, get an International Driving Permit to have along with your state driver's license. About $20.00 at AAA. There are lots of comments on this forum re it. We always take one, and always rent a car in Europe.

Yes, that will be an awful time of day to hit the periferique on any day of the week, much less a holiday return day. You can expect traffic to start backing up, slowing down, and finally stop and go from about an hour outside Paris as more and more autoroutes merge into each other. Then once you make it onto the periferique, you can count a couple of hours stop and go until you get to CDG.

I'd look for an alternative route that keeps you way outside of Paris, or leave Chartres no later than 10 am, or return the car and take the train. Dropping the car at Orly wouldn't help because the traffic jams begin well before Orly.

Note that Chartres is on a local line and those trains do not have reserved seats. I would hope that people would offer you seats since you are octogenarians if the train is overcrowded.

For the Toulouse-Chartres trip on Sunday, it will probably be a rather quiet traffic (whatever the day, I no longer take the Toulouse-Cahors section by autoroute, I'm fed up with the slowdowns and traffic jams at the toll booths)

Driving to Paris on Easter Monday is always problematic when you arrive near Paris. Check the traffic forecast for Monday, April 21, this day is classified as RED in regions 1 & 2.

https://www.bison-fute.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/Calendrier_Bison_fute_2025.pdf

Although it is impossible to predict road traffic precisely, the closer you get to Paris, the more traffic there will be.
By car, an option to avoid the Paris périphérique and the hassle of its traffic jams is to bypass Paris by the RN104 (called "La Francilienne") with this itinerary

https://maps.app.goo.gl/gTAFLkHyeZqW5xG56

Thanks JoLui, that's the route. But even with that route, waiting until 3 to leave Chartres is risky. Post-lunch is the heaviest traffic. It lets up around 8 pm. It's better to leave Chartres earlier and have lunch closer to CDG (Chantilly, Compeigne, other)

I've experienced many slow downs from Corbeille Essonneon into Paris. You can see the position on the map in relation to Paris 47 kilometers away. An accident or another event on the outer ring will stall that traffic too.