In September we are traveling from Paris to Amboise by train, renting a car for a few days and then going by train from Amboise to London. Questions:
1. Is there a convenient place to rent a car in Amboise? We will be leaving on an early train from Amboise and will need to drop the car off the day before.
2. It has been suggested that we take the train from Amboise to Lille to catch the Eurostar to London in order to avoid Paris. If I am reading train schedules correctly, it looks like to get to Lille we would have to stop in Paris and change trains anyway so I’m not sure why going to Lille would be better. Does anyone have any experience with this?
Thanks in advance for any thoughts and suggestions.
Posted by
Ontario, Canada
4922 posts
We rented cars in St Pierre des Corps (Tours). There are direct TV trains from Paris (Gare Montparnasse). There are several agencies to choose from. We used Sixt. If you return the day before, there are frequent trains back to Amboise (10-15 min).
On the SNCF site I don't see any really early trains to London. But there is one leaving at 10:01 that goes to St. Pierre des Corps, where you change trains for the train to Lille. In Lille you would change again for the Eurostar. It arrives in London at 4:05 (1hour time change).
Posted by
Green Bay
20254 posts
There are several car rental outfits at St Pierre des Corps TGV station not far from Amboise, and the place to get a TGV to Paris or Lille. There are several TGV's that change at Massy, south of Paris, or Marne La Vallee-Chessy (Disneyland), on the way to Lille (Europe). Also, some are direct to Lille (Flandres) where you would then have to change to Lille (Europe) to get the Eurostar to London.
So coming from Paris, just take the TGV to St Pierre des Corps and rent there and return there.