Where to travel by car for a week after Paris

France is easy driving for the most part. I'm 74 and drove through the tight little towns of Brittany in August 2021 (and the middle of London during rush hour in 2022). But for a first time out of Paris I'd recommend the Loire Valley. A tour of the chateaux would be lovely.

An alternative might be to take the train (under 6 hours) to Avignon, explore the city, and then rent a car and tour the southern region including Carcassonne, Nice, Aix, Monte Carlo, etc. The early November weather will be better in the south, of course. We're summer travelers due to family obligations so maybe someone else can comment on this idea.

France is a great place to drive. My suggestion would be to take a train to the region and then pick up a car. In Normandy, perhaps Caen or Bayeaux. Alsace Lorraine, Nancy, Strasbourg or Colmar, Brittany, Rennes or Nantes, Southern Coast, Avignon or Marseille, or even Toulouse.

Weather that time of year could be fabulous or cold/damp. If you go to an area of bigger cities you have more flexibility to deal with weather. Cities that come to mind, Lyon, Bordeaux.

If you can drive in the DC area you can drive in France!
We did a 2 week road trip a few years ago- Normandy, Loire, Dordogne and Provence and had such a great time we are planning another road trip in France this October. We'll visit the Alsace and Burgundy regions.
Driving in France was easy and very enjoyable. We have also driven in Italy, Germany, UK, Ireland. France was by far the easiest/less stressful or we wouldn't be ready to repeat the experience.

We picked up our car at Orly and getting out from there was probably the most difficult- but we managed without incident. We dropped the car in Arles then continued on to Nice by train
If you are concerned about driving around Paris then take a train to somewhere and pick up your car there.
Given that your trip is November I'd head south. You could take TGV to Avignon- pick up car there.

Where will you fly home from?

Christine said it best, if you can drive around DC you can drive in France. (I've done both.) See the "Travel Tips" link above for good info about driving in Europe, and any France guidebook about driving specifically in France. I'd suggest Normandy for convenience (train to Caen, rent there, base in Bayeux, return car to CDG or other departure airport). But weather will be better in the south, so maybe a TGV to Lyon or Marseilles and drive from there. You can return by TGV direct to CDG if that works for you.

A GPS would help a lot, supplemented by a map. Set it for kilometers so what it tells you will match up with the signs. Most of the tight little towns, whose streets were built for people and horses, have bypass roads if you don't want to stop there. The autoroutes are much easier than most US freeways, but tolls can be expensive. Stay out of the left lane unless you need to pass someone. The rental company will make sure you know whether to fill with gas (essence) or diesel (gazol, cheaper). Be alert for cars entering intersections from the right -- "right turn on red" can be somewhat more aggressive than we're used to.

Hi from Wisconsin,
Jules M has it right. Go somewhere that makes sense for what you are going to see. Tour that city then pick up your rental car, driving it until one of two things are decided. Drop it at the last place you are touring and train to Paris and the flight home. Or return the car to the Paris airport (CDG).

We like to return the car to CDG the night before our flight. Stay at the airport overnight and be ready for the flight with nothing standing in our way.

wayner inwi

Thank you all for your very helpful responses. You have given me the sense that I could pull this off! And your suggestions on the regions are terrific! All is now under active and eager consideration. Again, thanks for taking the time to help me.

Dick and ChristineH have it right. My sister and I are in our 70’s and just spent three weeks driving from CDG through the Loire Valley spending two weeks exploring the charming villages of the Perigord/Dordogne and then driving back to CDG.

I would only add - don’t waste money on renting a GPS - we never used ours. Our phones connecting up to Waze on car screen worked great, especially getting out of the airport. Really important to also have detailed maps of the areas you will be visiting as back up. You can only see so far ahead on the car screen. Your co-pilot can follow along on the paper map. Waze only got it wrong once when it guided us to a tractor path that must have looked like a road from satellite, we just turned around and re-calibrated. We kept Waze on the preference to not travel on freeways until we wanted to.

On paper maps the white roads are fun but maybe should be avoided on your first trip, can sometimes be Un paved. Yellow are the next step up, always paved, no tolls. Red are the super highways, red with a yellow line down the center are super super highways always with a hefty toll. On these red roads you will get from point A to B much faster but will miss discovering the small villages and farms along the way.

Tip for the payage (toll booths)- sometimes they do not accept an American credit card and sometimes do. My MasterCard worked sometimes, sometimes did not. My sister’s debit card usually worked, her Visa sometimes not, my AMX never worked. Keep paper euros and coins with you for this reason. I would always have $100-$200 in cash. If you travel several hours on a super highway your toll could be $30.

The Michelin app is great for not only calculating distances but tolls as well.

Christine H - my sister and I had such a great time too, we are returning to France again next Spring. This time heading for Goult in the Vaucluse. Can’t wait.

JohnP - as someone may have mentioned - rent a smaller car like the size of a Ford Focus or Renault Clio. Our Hertz agent at CDG talked us into a larger Peugeot 3008 with GPS at a $500 higher rate vs what we had reserved. We never used the GPS and although we could negotiate the small villages just fine there were tight moments.

Also- always look at your parking place to see if you need to pay. Sometimes the paint on the street is weathered or faint. You look for a blue pay box nearby and put your paper proof on your dash.

JohnP here. jhilts, thank you so much for the detail in your very helpful reply. This is excellent info for us!