Paris to Loire Valley driving advice

Driving the A10, or any route that starts with an "A" which is an autoroute, is always faster, has great rest stops and gas stations but has toll charges. Most "N" roads are good two lane, and sometimes, 4 lane roads. Because these roads are "toll free", sometimes there are more trucks and cars using them. However, these roads do go through many smaller towns. When driving on these roads, you can get up to speed outside of the town and then you have to slow down when approaching and going through the town. There are many speed/radar traps. These roads are more scenic and you can stop at an occasional tourist site or a patisserie/bakery (my favorite). On your trip from Chartes to Chambord, you also have the choice of the N10 which is fairly direct and goes through the town of Châteaudun which is supposed to be quite beautiful. Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to tour this gem.

I enjoy driving through France and you will too. Enjoy your trip.

Driven the N10 between Rambouillet and Versailles a few times and have to say I like to avoid this road. It's busy with a lot of traffic lights, so slow moving traffic and gets annoying after a while. Likely you want to go to Rambouillet for a break there, but the following route is the one I liked much better and can recommend to you.

The D91 from Versailles to Chartres is besides the first 10km with a few nice stops very scenic, something you wouldn’t expect so close to the outskirts of Paris. You can visit the abbey of Port-Royal des Champs and the one of Les Vaux de Cernay, I visited only the latter, is absolutely stunning and a perfect place to relax. Halfway between the two lies Château de Dampierre, really lovely for a stop or driving along. A few km further Château de la Cour Senlisse is worth the little detour. Near Cernay-la-Ville the D91 hits the D906, also a nice road for going further through the countryside to Rambouillet.

Rambouillet is certainly worth a visit. If you join a guided tour in the château there a visit to Marie Antoinettes “Laiterie (milkhouse)” and a cottage is included. You can go further to Chartres following (the hassle free freeway part of) the N10 and A11, or you can continue following the D906 to Maintenon. Can’t remember that part of the D906 as very scenic, but Château de Maintenon is one of my favorites, so a place I like to recommend for a visit. Didn’t driving it, but I think the D6 to Chartres is scenic too.

Know that some parts of these scenic roads go to (many) little places with 30km speed limits, so the average speed will be lower as usual.

We drove to Chartres and I would recommend the A10 & A11. Once you're on the A10, it takes about an hour. Merge onto the A11, then take the exit at D910. The town is about 2-3 miles from the exit.

The trick is getting out of Paris. If I had it to do over again, I'd pick up our rental car at Orly. From Orly it's just a couple of merges to get onto the A10. We made the unwise choice of getting our rental at Gare Montparnasse, which was a little closer to our hotel but meant navigating a long way (it felt like forever!) through surface streets to reach the A86, and then we missed the exit to get onto the A10 because our directions had indicated an exit with an "a" or "b" suffix, which turned out to be incorrect. A few euros more to take a taxi to Orly would have made our drive to Chartres much, much easier & faster.

From Chartres to Chambord, the N10 to D924 takes you pretty directly south to Blois. (Leaving Chartres, take the D910 south toward Thivars.) I believe it is mostly rural so you'll be driving most of the time through open farmland, not city/suburban streets with many traffic lights. Those last few miles from Blois to Chambord, I'll take a guess on the D33 but have not actually been there, so others may have better advice.

Drove from cdg to Chartres in June and then on to Villandry the next day. Just followed my friend google maps. Very easy except for heading out of Paris, Sunday traffic and rail strike. Easy driving in France except for some small rural roads. Enjoy

I think most of the Chateaux are on the south bank. If you're staying north, make sure it's close to a bridge. Chartres is a good stop on the way. I wanted to visit on my way back to Paris but had turned in my car for a bicycle and took a train back. I couldn't find a decent train route through Chartres and on to Paris, so I went later as a day trip from Paris.

I usually pick up a car when needed. I'd suggest a train to Chartres, then rent a car there. When you're done in Loire, turn in the car and take a train back to Paris. If you end in Amboise, your train likely connects through Tours (or, as I recall, a longer route back through Orleans) so you could conceivably drop your car at the station there.

A = Autoroute, aka Autobahn, aka Motorway. Motor vehicles only, two carriageways, usually 2 lanes in each direction, no traffic lights or other hindrances. Fast, boring (with some exceptions). And, apart from near big cities, they have tolls.
Speed limit 130 Km/hr, less when wet and some local restrictions.

N = Route Nationale. Long distance cross country road. May be single or dual carriageway. Reasonably fast (not as fast as Autoroutes), but sometimes goes through towns and villages. May have crossroads, traffic lights, roundabouts, pedestrian crossings, cyclists etc.
Speed limit 110 km/h if dual carriageway, 80 Km/h if single carriageway. Urban speed limit of 50 km/h

D = Route Départementale. The lowest level, could be any local road between villages.
Note the numbering is by Département. Each Département has a D1, D2 etc. Road numbers therefore change when you cross a Département boundary.
Same speed limits as Route Nationale

You can take the RER train to Versailles and pick up the car there. Many rental agencies are located close to the Chantier railway station, from there a fairly easy drive to the D91. The first 10 km of this road runs through urban area, has for the most part 4 lanes and wasn’t busy at all during my drive around rush hour 3 years back (that changed not much later completely joining the huge traffic jam on the A86 closer to Paris).

The D91 runs through the Haute Vallée de Chevreuse park, due to strict building regulations these parks are well preserved and a joy driving through. Vaux de Cernay abbey has a hotel and a restaurant in a very beautiful setting, worth a stop for having a drink there.

We took the train once to Chartres, stayed the night and picked up our rental car the next morning. The train trip was pretty inexpensive and it allowed us to recover a bit from our overnight flight. The train station in Tours is an easy and convenient place to return a car.