Our family of 4 will be in Paris staying near the Louvre museum. We are leaving Paris to tour Dday sites and want to rent a car. We will return the car to CDG airport when we leave France. My question is where is a convenient location to pick up a rental car considering where we are staying in Paris and the direction of travel to Normandy? We have heard driving in France can be a challenge so we are looking for recommendations. Thanks.
Posted by
Florida (previously California)
4064 posts
Driving in Paris can be challenging but the driving in the Normandy area is lovely. You could take metro line 1 to La Defense and get a car there and avoid driving in the city. There is also a location for EuropCar on Avenue Foch. It's another good spot to get a car for your trip. You drive down Avenue Foch away from Etoile to the Périphérique and away you go. It really depends on how little city driving you want to do.
Posted by
1042 posts
Take the train to Caen, and rent a car from there. Or if you intend to also visit Mont St Michel, you can take the train to Rennes and pick up a car there, and then on to Bayeux. It's a nominal fee to return to a different location but within France. So you could plan to return it to CDG or drop off in Caen or Rouen and take the train back to Paris.
Check AutoEurope for rentals. Or we used Enterprise this past April for the same trip you are planning. Driving in Normandy is easy, and roads are nicely paved.
Posted by
Bend, Oregon
2586 posts
Consider renting at Orly airport and returning to CDG. You can get a fixed price taxi to the airport. Orly is very close to the freeway and doesn’t involve any city driving at all. Expect some traffic, but no crazy city driving.
Posted by
Middletown, RI
1276 posts
I'll second the recommendation to take a train to Caen (from Gare Saint-Lazare) or Rennes (from Gare Montparnasse) and picking up a car there. That is usually what I do. However, if you want to see other sights en route to Normandy, renting in Paris (without really driving much in Paris) is possible. A couple of years ago I rented at the Hertz Location in Porte Maillot (27 Rue St Ferdinand Porte Maillot). You can take a bus there from the city center, or the Metro Line #1 from the Louvre, or walk from the Arc de Triomphe, and it is very close to the periphery roads. So you won't really be driving in the city itself other than 1–2 blocks. Its is then smooth sailing to Normandy.
Posted by
Torrance, CA
68 posts
Driving in France was super easy. From uncrowded freeways to empty back country roads, nothing was particularly difficult. We drove from Paris to the Loire Valley to Brittany to Normandy and back to Paris. The only time I'd say driving was at all challenging was when we arrived in Paris and found ourselves in the giant roundabout around the Arc de Triomphe. That was fun. We booked a little Peugeot or something, but they didn't have any, so they upgraded us to an Audi A5. And then when we returned it they told us they had no record of our having rented it! They suggested that maybe we'd driven it 1000 km? It was really more like 3000, but we accepted their suggestion.
Posted by
Torrance, CA
68 posts
By the way, we picked up and dropped off our car at the Gare du Nord. Super easy and the metro is right there. As are buses, cabs, etc.
Posted by
Darmouth, MA, USA
385 posts
Paris traffic can be miserably heavy, just like New York or perhaps Denver. We took the train from Paris and picked up a car at Mantes-la-Jolie. The agency Europcar was literally across the street, no problem finding. We drove to Giverny. Rouen and then the coast to Bayeux. We returned to car to Caan. I will put a plug in for Europcar. We had a problem with the clutch. We were not aware that the carpet was catching the clutch occasionally and causing the car to stall. Regardless, they had a mechanic to us within the hour in Honfleur. It was rather embarrassing for my car expert husband.
Posted by
OP
Denver, CO
4 posts
Thanks for the recommendations. We rented from the La Defense location close to the Arc de Triumph and it was a great recommendation. Very easy to get out of the city and on to Normandy. It took about 1 hour from arriving at the rental agency and going over things to get our car. I would suggest budgeting in that time as I wasn't aware it would take that long.
Posted by
France Southwest
2516 posts
Don't forget that the A13 & A14 autoroutes from Paris to Normandy are now in "free-flow" toll, there is no toll booth, the toll is done by recognition of the car's registration plate .
You must pay within a period of 72 hours by going to the Sanef website.
https://www.sanef.com/index-en.html
If you do not pay, the rental company will receive the fine and charge you at full price plus administrative fees.
The fine for non-payment within 72 hours is €90 and 375€ for non-payment within 2 months.