Driving in and out of Paris in a rental car

We did return our rental car to agency office right near La Defense in heart of Paris a few years ago. It was pretty crazy and I am no country bumpkin by any means. I would try and find a drop off office as far on the outskirts of Paris as possible and one that is close to train/metro and just come in that way. It really was quite stressful but not as stressful as driving into the heart of Florence, Italy, but that is another story.

If you want to drive in Normandy then take the train out of Paris and pick your car up in the Normandy area. Don't drive in Paris.

Not worried at all. Nord is the easiest way out and in. You're channeled between the Nord and Est tracks as far as the peripherique - - one turn onto it and one turn off and you're gone on four-lanes with plenty of space. By the time you get from Nord to St Lazare (30 min), dork around for a bit waiting for the train (30 min), ride it to Caen (100 min) you've burned two hours and fourty minutes. You can drive it in two and a half, and not have to hump your luggage a bunch of times. Plus you've already got your hands on a car when you get there. If you're going to Bayeux the numbers are better. If you're going to Rouen, I've dropped people at the station in Paris and been waiting for them in front of he cathedral when they got there.

The vast majority of people here will tell you not to drive in Paris, and a few brave souls who like driving in Paris will tell you it's easy. The general consensus is that driving in Paris at all should be avoided for most people unless you are experienced with difficult urban driving, and even people who are often still prefer not to. If there's an easy way to get from Gare du Nord to a suburban location near a good car rental agency, that would make the most sense to me. Ed's right in that it takes a while to from station to station in Paris and riding the Metro isn't a lot of fun with luggage, but I still don't think someone who is nervous about driving in Paris should do so.

We took the train to Bayeux, taxi to hotel, rented a car in Bayeux. Some prefer to go to Caen and rent there. It worked very well for us in Bayeux - we rented from Hertz - walking distance from our hotel.

What about picking up at CDG? That was an easy enough drive for me to Normany. Just returned the car there and then headed into Paris for a few days without the car.

Chris, Ed is one of the few people on this board that feel driving in Paris is easy. We've picked up and dropped off at Gare du Nord, and it was anything but easy! My first warning is to be aware that the drop off is a few blocks away from where you pick up - so be sure to get good directions for drop off when you pick up. We learned our lesson, and the next time we rented outside of Paris and took the train into and out of Paris. There is another current thread along these same lines in the "transportation" section of the helpline. You might want to read that thread.

Thank you to everyone who replied. I hope Ed is right, because the primary reason for this decision is to avoid multiple train transfers between Bruges and Bayeux with luggage. I'm up for an adventure, and I seem to be in for one however I go about it. I will definitely get good directions for the return location, thank you. I'm sure I'll get a good story out of the deal that I can pass on.

My Parisian born and raised husband prefers leaving the car outside of town when we go up to Paris. Mainly, we run into traffic jams going in. Think of all those roads converging together and then throw in some road work and you've got a mess. Additionally, you should avoid driving out on a Friday or back in on a Sunday, particularly during holiday weekends and summer vacations. On the other hand, driving around inside Paris doesn't bother either of us.