Hello!
We will be in Paris for a few days before needing a car. We are traveling out of town towards Ambroise the day we leave. We are a bit nervous about driving around Paris. Any recommendations on where to pick up the car to make it more straightforward?
Thank you!
"We are a bit nervous..." unfortunately you are exactly correct to be nervous. There are direct trains from Paris to Amboise (not Ambroise) that take about 2 hours. Why not jump on the direct train (or even a train with stops) and rent your car when you arrive.
I've been to Paris many times and driven there a couple of time. It's awful!
We rented with Europcar and picked up at the Ave Foch location. It was easy to walk to from the metro (Etoile, I believe), is just past the Arc de Triomphe and was pretty much a straight shot to the ring road WITHOUT having to go around the crazy Arc roundabout. Mind you, we did rent on a Sun morning, so traffic was light. And we did something crazy to the GPS and ended up back in Paris near the Eiffel Tower, but when we did initially start out, it was easy to get to the ring road. (Boulevard Périphérique).
If you need a car while in Amboise, you can also take the TGV from Montparnasse to St Pierre des Corps, and rent a car there at the station. Then you are just a few miles from Amboise. The TGV will cover the distance at about twice the legal speed limit that cars can go.
Great ideas everyone! Does it make any sense to go to one of the airports to pick up a car? Are they any easier to navigate out of? We are 5 people with luggage, packing as lightly as we can, but we have some things we have to bring that aren't normal on a vacation (like a teen with 5-6 textbooks!).
We also shared the same concerns as you. A few years ago, we did exactly as Sam has described. Back then we had an Avis car which I believe was arranged through Autoeurope. You might double check hours of rental agencies now located there, as smaller stations may not offer the more extended hours available in bigger places . It was very easy...a small station and no hassle with traffic. We found driving in the Loire region easy and quite pleasant. Safe travels. And kudos to the teen for keeping up with his studies!
Agree with other posters! We only rented IN Paris once - never made that mistake again! So much easier to pick and return outside of Paris!
I can see that you have a problem with five people and lots of luggage. Easiest solution is to take the TGV to St Pierre des Corps and rent your car at that station--there are lots of agencies there. If you have to rent in Paris, you could try the airports or a site on the fringe, such as La Defense. If you are brave, you might see if there is an rental location near your hotel. I'd check carefully on Google Street view and then use GPS or Google Maps for navigating out from the city center--and I wouldn't do it during rush hour.
I suggest looking for a car rental agency near your lodging. You can zoom in on google maps and then search for rental cars. The airport is not that convenient for a large group with luggage. We returned a car to CDG one time and took the (crowded) RER into Paris and then walked to the hotel, I don't think it would be easy with five people.
After picking up the car, take the shortest route to the ring road. Just don't cross through the center and with GPS it will be easy. Then the drive is all very nice highways.
Be sure your rental car has enough room for everyone and your luggage, cars are usually quite small and have manual transmission.
Enjoy the trip!
Orly or La Defense. Or the train to Amboise or St-Pierre if you want to pay five fares in addition to rental car charge for that day.
If you need an automatic, be advised that they may not be available in a smaller town...I'm pretty sure when we went with Europcar via AutoEurope, when we selected automatic, it gave us a list of where we could get an automatic...so just be sure that if you are going to pick up the car out of town at a smaller office, that they have the transmission you need. If you can do manual, then Bob's your uncle!
As mentioned earlier, there are long straight boulevards and a ring road in Paris that make driving much easier than in say London or Rome. If you rent near Arc de Triomphe, or Gare de Lyon, or anywhere tight to the Seine where the river boulevards can be accessed, you are a straight easy shot to the ring road and then off.
