Reims to Charles de Gaulle

Posted by Catherine on 06/24/18 12:13 AM

Hi All,

I'm finding it tricky to return a rental car on a weekend. My husband and I will be heading from Colmar to Reims on Saturday, July 21 and unfortunately the rental car place closes on Saturday at noon in Reims. We were planning on spending 2 nights in Reims 21-22 and on the 23 take the TGV train right to CDG airport.
So my question is...
1) Is it an easy drive from Reims to CDG that we just turn in the car the day we fly out? We fly out at 1:00pm. Is there a lot of traffic if we leave around 7 am?
or
2) Do we just turn in the car in Colmar on Saturday the 21 and train to Reims and then train to CDG on Monday the 23 (fly home day)?

Thanks!

Posted by Nancy

Costa Mesa, CA, USA

06/24/18 12:56 AM

503 posts

Personally, I wouldn't risk taking the train to CDG the day you fly out - especially in light of the train strikes. As for the traffic, well, traffic is unpredictable, plus you don't know how long it will take you to "drop off" the car - when we dropped ours in Paris it took well over an hour. Given that you need to be at CDG a minimum of two hours before your flight and the trip from Reims to CDG will take (at best ) 1 1/2 hours, that gives you about 1 hour or so leeway - to tight IMO but it just depends on how comfortable you are with potentially missing your flight.

Posted by janettravels44

Chicago

06/25/18 05:33 AM

8558 posts

You need to be at CDG 3 hours (that is in line at the airport not at the auto rental) before a flight to the US, Canada, Oz, South AFrica i.e. out of Europe; 2 hours for Europe. It is wise to be at the city of departure the night before a high stakes flight. I would probably drive very early and just deal with an extra hour or two at the airport. It once took us 3 hours to get a receipt showing previous damage on the car at CDG. WE had documentation that the car was heavily damaged when we picked it up in Rome (it was that or no car). They wanted to take the documentation; no way. It took 3 hours of being slow walked and told it was impossible before they finally got us copies of the evidence. We didn't have a flight; most people would have been bullied into giving up and catching their plane and I am sure charged then for the damage. Even to get a receipt that the car is undamaged and gassed up can take an hour or more. I'd drive in late the night before and stay at an airport hotel or take the train in late the night before.

Posted by joe32F

Edmonds, WA 🌨 ☂

06/25/18 07:06 AM

11881 posts

With the unsettled issue of train strikes, I would not trust that as a day of flight option.

If driving, I would be wheels turning by 5AM. To me its better to spend some boring time at the airport, than to be standing in a line trying to get new tickets because of a missed flight.

Finding a place to fuel up before turn in and the whole drop off process adds time to the journey. At this time google maps shows 4 construction zones on A4 between Reims and CDG

If you have the flexibility, getting to Paris the night before, is the best option

$0.02