Wondering if it is best to rent a car at the airport or outside of the city. We are going for 10 days in beginning of October and will arrive and depart from CDG airport. Is it hard to drive from and to the airport? Arriving early and leaving late, so no rush hour traffic.
Any advice on rental car companies?
Thanks, Siv
Driving to and from the airport shouldn't be too hard. You'll probably have to pay little more to pick up there, but it's much better than picking up in Paris itself (You aren't planning on driving in Paris, are you?)
I've always used Autoeurope.com. They've been very reliable and generally offer the best rates. You can go online and test itineraries for their rates but I would call them on the toll-free number because the humans seem to be able to offer better deals than the computers.
There has been a lot of discussion here about whether or not to buy the CDW insurance. Call your own agent and your credit card company to be sure you know what you already have covered.
Driving in France (apart from Paris) is easy.
Doug's advice is good. I have also had good results renting from Avis at CDG. The airport is about 20 miles northeast of the city center with access by their "freeway" system, you can avoid driving in the city itself--you don't want to drive in Paris if you can possibly avoid it. I would add that there are challenges to navigating the freeway system to get away from the airport and back to it. People have had good luck using GPS. It would also help to have a passenger act as backup navigator and map reader to assist in navigating the freeways, at least until you get out of the metro area (even if you have a GPS).
Thanks for advice! No, we (husband and I) want to avoid driving in Paris and all bigger cities. That's why I worry abt renting at the airport. - I think I read somewhere that one could take a train out of the airport and rent a car in a smaller town. That too, seems complicated. We do have a GPS. We are driving to
South of France and then back again pretty much following Rick Steve's plan.
Siv: sounds like you have a plan. Your GPS has a Europe map in it, right?
We did this once--took the RER from Paris to CDG to get a car for a drive through Normandy. It was reasonably straightforward, but in retrospect we might have done better to travel to our first destination (Rouen) and rent a car there.
If your rental charges an airport fee for CDG pickup, that might be another argument in favor of taking the train to your first stop, if that is convenient.
Adam: I've done it both ways and I think you made the right call picking up your car at CDG (re your prior post). Picking up a rental car in Rouen, for example, means you have to navigate the city street traffic in that large and confusing (traffic-wise) city, not fun.
