Our plan is to spend a week in Paris then rent a car to wander around France for 2 weeks. We want to begin with the Loire Valley. What would be a good location for picking up a car and NOT having to drive through Paris? Or should we train to Orleans or Tours and get a car there? We will most likely return the car in Nice before flying on to London.
Posted by
Chicago
2876 posts
One possibility for you is Orly airport. It is south of the city - the direction you're headed - and you can pretty easily get onto the southbound "A" highways from there.
Posted by
Pensacola
9110 posts
Orly airport is easy to get out of, a bit hard coming back in if you're not used to it. No need to go a zillion miles out of town.
Here's the real deal: Driving in Paris is not hard at all. What's become really hard in the last ten years or so is finding a stinking parking place.
Actual driving is much better than a lot of American cities (LA, Boston, DC, NYC, etc). Years ago it used to be nerve racking because of all the horns. They have since been banned. Somehow the urban myth of horrible Paris driving conditions continues.
Paris is tiny. Assuming Notre Dame is dead center, the beltway is only four or five miles away, max. Pick a big road and follow your nose, just have an idea which way you're going to circle when you hit the peripherique. After that the highways are well marked with directions to cities and highway numbers.
Posted by
OP
Albuquerque, NM
11 posts
Thank you very much to all who have replied. We don't leave until September but are soooooooo ready to go!
Posted by
Seattle, WA
313 posts
We started our trip in Paris in '07, and on the last day took the RER out to Versailles. We picked up our car and the train station there, visited the palace, then took off for Normandy. It would be just as easy to go from there to the Loire valley.
It was our first time driving in Europe, so I was apprehensive about driving the first time, especially with high school French only. Versailles was quite easy to find our way out of and start our adventure.
I'm sure one of the other locations you mention would probably be fine also -- we just wanted somewhere SMALL the first time. :>)