Car rental in France

How many of you are there? To be honest, I would rent the car in Colmar, use it for your Alsace touring, return it in Strasbourg, and take the TGV back to Paris. I think the drive is 4 or 5 hours from Strasbourg to Paris, plus the headache of the Peripherique traffic and finding your way into the city to the return spot. by contrast, the TGv takes 2 hours and 20 minutes, and drops you right in the city center. Much easier.

We're renting on the French side of the Basel airport to travel the wine road up through Colmar and returning in Strasbourg. Just curious why you don't do the same; ie, why wait until Colmar to rent?

If there are only two of you then probably Kim is right and you should take the train to Paris. If there are more then driving could save you money if that is a priority. The train will be faster, though, and you could squeeze in a morning in Strasbourg if you return the car there. If there are many of you OR you would want a car immediately upon arrival in Colmar then probably Jeffrey is right and you should rent in Basel (on the French side). Otherwise you could save a day's rental by seeing Colmar on your first day there and renting the next day.

Adam points out the potential difficulty with my advice the cost. My dad, for the visit of my parents here last May, though, paid the train tickets no problem, irregardless of price, because it was worth it to him to not have to experience the drive back into Paris (and I'm a good driver who knows Paris) . . For him the simplicity of the arrival into town was well worth the cost. All of it depends on how many of you there are and how far ahead you could purchase your tickets. Everyone has given you good advice here! It just depends how it applies to your situation and priorities. It's beautiful out there, we loved it! If you'd like, do a search on the board for Kientzheim, the village where we stayed. I highly recommend the hotel and village if you're still looking.