Where to rent a car to go from Paris to Normandy

I'd say to rent from CDG airport. The airport car rental offices tend to have a wide range of cars available and to be open long hours. Navigating from the airport you can get onto the major highways right away, without the stress of driving on crowded city streets.

Take the train to Caen and pick up rental car there?

Years ago, I did what Joe suggests as well. Picking up the car in Caen was easy, and driving in Normandy proper was a delight.

Driving in Normandy was VERY easy, lovely and fun. I feel its a great plan to take a train out of Paris and then rent a car. That's what my husband and I have done for our trips to France. There are a number of cities you could train to and then pick up a car depending on your interests. You could take a train to Chartres if you wanted to see the cathedral. That, however, would be a long car ride to Normandy. If you want to see Monet's Garden, you could train to Vernon and then rent. Other options could be Rouen, LaHarve, Bayeux or Caen. Beyond the D-Day sights, we enjoyed Arromanches (which does have an artificial harbor from D-Day), Etretat, and Honfleur. It is such a beautiful and memorable area. I wish you a wonderful trip.

You can avoid paying train station or airport pickup surcharges by renting a car at an in town office and driving from Paris. Renting from within the city also gives you a better chance of finding a car with automatic transmission if you need one.

I would suggest renting from one of two locations to make driving as easy as possible:

1. A rental office near Porte d´Auteuil, the point from which A13 to Normandy begins. It´s very easy to join A13 from anywhere near this location.

2. A rental office near Porte Maillot. Joining N13 and continuing along A14 to Normandy means you´ll drive along the same heading for miles, no navigation required. It couldn´t be easier. There is an 8€ toll on A14 which is why many Parisians prefer taking A13, but the result is that there is virtually never any traffic on the A14 route option.

You would not necessarily want to rent from CDG as it´s a long way from Paris, in the opposite direct of Normandy. You´ll incur added costs and lose time en route in just going there.

Many visitors are afraid of driving in Paris, particularly those who have never driven near Paris. There is absolutely nothing to be afraid of, particularly if you are well organized in advance and know exactly what is needed.

No matter what option you choose, be ever mindful of your speed as there are speed cameras, some hidden, some marked, all over France. I always travel at 5 km/h under the posted speed, just to avoid problems.

Agree with Tocard. One other place on the west side of Paris: La Défense. And, you should choose your hotel with your exit location in mind, whether a car rental or train station. (Admittedly, La Défense is a pretty soulless place to stay.)

We picked up our car on Ave Foch, at the Europcar rental. It was on the 'other' side of the Arc de triomphe, but getting to the ring road didn't entail going near the Arc. And it was easily reachable from the metro station. And getting to the ring road was pretty straightforward. Caveat - we rented on a Sun morning, so traffic was pretty light.

You all have given some great options to think about. Many thanks to all.

I did the same thing last June. I took the TGV to Rouen and drove to Honfleur and other parts of Normandy. You pick up the car at the train station - small and easy to deal with. I always rent from autoeurope and have been happy every time.

Are you going to Normandy or specifically D-day beaches?

I went to explore the coast so I trained into Rouen, looked around for a morning, then picked up a car and drove to Etretat (which have interesting German WWII defenses on the cliffs overlooking the water) to start exploring.

If you are only interested in D-day beaches, Caen is probably your best bet. Some trains go direct to Caen from Paris (without a train change). If possible, I'd take one of those to save some time and getting on and off.

Tocard's sanguine description of driving inside Paris is not reasonable. I accidentally drove through Place de L'Etoille, and it was one of the nightmares of my life. It's true that I wasn't born in California, say, but I drive in New York City three days or so a week, today. There is absolutely nothing to be gained by renting in Paris. A barren controlled-access highway is a barren, controlled-access highway - whatever lovely country it is in. You're not going to have time to stop along the way, anyway. Every stop is 20 minutes or more, each way, off the highway, BTW.

Edit: And my Hertz or was it Avis return, nearby, was five or six levels down, by tiny spiral ramp, into a space where I could not open the doors fully, and the car was not "seen" by the agent when I returned it. Like many times in NYC, just as I was leaving the car rental return (on foot), a dumpster truck blocked the one-travel-lane street for at least fifteen minutes while he exchanged an empty dumpster for the full one. This was somewhere between Avenue Hoche and Champs Elysees. Imagine if I'd been a few minutes later arriving.

@Brad, I had forgotten about the German defenses at Etretat, and its so beautiful and was the subject of Monet painting.

Neither Porte d’Auteuil nor Porte Maillol requires one to drive in Paris. You drive out of the rental garage and onto the peripherique and quickly onto one of the roads to Normandy.

As for airport rental, Orly is on the route toward Normandy, passing southwest out of town close to Versaille.

And I agree that driving in NY (Manhattan) is easier than Paris—but Paris isn’t impossible. I don’t know how I did it, but even I used to buzz around Étoile when I lived there. Probably, youthful over-confidence.

Tocard's sanguine description of driving inside Paris is not reasonable. I accidentally drove through Place de L'Etoille,

If your map reading skills lead you to believe that picking up a rental near either Porte d´Auteuil or Porte Maillot and continuing to Normandy would ultimately take you anywhere near Etoile, then you should definitely take the train.

We wanted to visit Giverny before moving on to Normandy so we took the RER from Paris to Giverny and picked up our car there.

We like to fetch our hired car across the street from the Caen railroad station where there are 3 or 4 rental agencies. One issue not mentioned is returning a car to Paris on a weekend. The traffic returning to the city can be horrible and maddeningly slow depending on your destination. We have used AutoEurope whether from Paris by train to Caen or taking the ferry from Portsmouth to Caen via a bus from Quistreham, the actual ferry port. With a car you can stay at B&B's anywhere in rural areas which is what we do and loved every minute. We used our B&B outside Villers-Bocage, southeast of Bayeux 10 miles, and drove the motorway to Mont St. Michel and the rural highways back, drifting along, stopping in villages to buy cheeses, meats, souvenirs, and the all important local wine and Calvados. WE like to drive around the bay at MSM to Cancale, around 20 minutes, for their famous seafood on the waterfront. As others have said, driving in Normandy is easy. We had our own GPS with Europe maps, saved many addresses into "favorites" and also had a Michelin road map. You'll have a great time.

CM,

I'd also suggest taking the train to/from Paris and renting the car in Caen.

One other point to mention is that it would be strongly advisable for each driver to have an International Driver's Permit as additional documents are required in France. This information from the Embassy of France in the U.S.

"You may drive with a valid U.S. driver’s license if it is accompanied by a notarized translation in French. It is strongly recommended that you carry an International Driving Permit. You must be 18 years of age or older to drive in France."

Just traveled in September. Took a non-stop train from Paris to Caen and picked up our Hertz rental there. Drove through Normandy region, then down to the Loire, then dropped off the car at CDG. I lived and drove in L.A. for 27 years...but would NEVER drive in central Paris! It really blew my mind how close cars got (2 inches type of thing), how scooters drove between moving cars, how buses and bikes would just take command of an unmarked "lane" in a split second. Driving the beltway around the outskirts of Paris was not bad...i just channeled my L.A. experience and relied on my co-pilot and her smart phone. We returned the car on a Sunday...traffic was bad enough, but I wouldn't have wanted to be dealing with transport trucks as well as all the cars, i.e. weekday traffic. We ended up taking a wrong exit and going through some neighborhoods to get to CDG...and I think it actually saved us a bunch of time, as the direct route was absolutely clogged with cars. So, factor that in for your return. We got to the Hertz counter in Caen 2 hours late to pick up-no problem. Another couple got there two hours early-no car and the counter person said they would have to wait until the reserved time to get theirs...

As far as driving outside of Paris, it was an absolutely fun experience...once I got used to those narrow roads flanked by stone walls that you find in smaller cities like Amboise. We stayed off the A routes and did some free-styling...and were rewarded with fabulous little villages and neglected treasures like the ruins in Domfront. By all means, drive 5kph under the posted speeds to avoid a ticket...and have a great time! Rural France is farm fields and little gems of tiny towns...the people are friendly and helpful...especially if you can speak a little French. We can't wait to go back!

The only thing I can say about driving 5km under the limit - my god, the French love to tailgate! Even driving the limit, we had many tailgaters and people overtaking us and passing. So just have nerves of steel and try not to let the tailgaters get to you - they'll go flying around you soon enough! (Obviously not an issue on the 2-3 lane highways). And I guess they know where the speed cameras are.

Caen. Train station is across the street from the car rental.
wayne iNWI