I am considering doing this, one of the hotels I'm thinking of has parking for $20 a day, which is cheaper than the $137 one-way fee I would have to pay for dropping the car off in Paris. (I'm picking it up in Germany) I just wonder how safe it is going to be for our three day stay? It's in Marais district, close to the Seine river. I won't be driving it around Paris, though, just parking until we leave.
Would like to hear from others who have actually done this.
Kathleen,
Last June I drove from Germany to Paris and left the car in a parking garage for 4 days. Actually it was 3 days in one garage, then moved the car closer to our hotel to make life easier for when we left. I worried a bit, especially as the space in the first garage was very tight, but everything went ok, didn't even find any scratches. Driving in Paris itself is a challenge, lots of one way streets, and sometimes the lanes aren't clearly visible on the larger streets. Make sure you have a good street map. Also I had printed out the route into the city from viamichelin.com which helped alot.
Christina, how did you find the parking garage? Not so sure I want to leave my car in a parking lot, but if it's in a garage, it may be safer.
Funny you should ask. After driving 7 hours to get there, I drove another 45 min around in the 5th arr. just trying to find a parking garage. It was frustrating, with my 15 yr old daughter as co-pilot following the street map, trying to not stray too far from where we wanted to be, looking for the P signs that seemed to be hidden, and keeping an eye on the traffic. I even stopped to ask for directions from a policeman who didn't speak a word of english, and even though we managed to communicate didn't seem to know of a garage and suggested parking on the street. Persistence paid off, found one about 4 blocks from our hotel. The next day noticed there was one 1 block from hotel, but had to be approached from a tiny one way street that I would have never seen just driving around. I wished I had printed out a map from michelin that showed the parking because I did remember seeing that on the website. This was the first time in many years of European travel I had trouble finding a parking garage. Also noticed quite a few garages throughout the city during the next few days. So, I would reccommend checking out the aerial views on the web, locate that garage before going, I think you can even get the view to show the direction of trafic on the various streets. I know the parking was more expensive, but the security was worth it. Sometimes you can get a reduced rate voucher from your hotel.
I've booked my hotel and requested a parking spot. Hopefully I won't have to wander around the city looking for somewhere to park, but will download a detailed city map, just in case. Thanks!
