paris train/car

Yes, you can rent a car at CDG and drop it at Gare de Lyon. If Ed from Pensacola reads this thread, he will give you detailed advice on driving to Gare de Lyon. Why do you want to drop the car by 07:00? If you depart at 08:28, you'll arrive in Dijon at 10:05. If you depart at 10:26, you'll arrive at 12:05. If you depart at 11:24, you'll arrive at 13:07. The standard 2nd class fare for TGVs from Paris to Dijon is €50.50. If you book well in advance (up to three months allowed) at www.tgv-europe.com, you can get a Prem's fare as low as €17.00. To keep the site in English and to avoid being bumped to the Rail Europe site, choose Great Britain as your country of residence. Print your own ticket. Take a TGV from Dijon to Gare de Lyon. Take the RER D to Gare du Nord and transfer to the RER B to CDG. The fare is €8.70. Be aware that the RER B line divides northeast of Paris so be sure to get on a train that is going to CDG. It will take one hour to get from Gare de Lyon to CDG. Allow another 30 minutes to buy a ticket and wait for the next train.

Thanks for the answer/help on that.
No special reasons on the time for departing. I noted those leave times you mentioned. Actually I have become Australian for ticket schedules and purchase. Just figured the earlier the less traffic in getting to Paris-nord.

Okay, Larry, you're going to feel like a conquering hero coming into Paris. You might as well stick flags on your car and lead the parade. Coming in from the north, do NOT stick with the A13/E05 all the the way. Switch to the A14 right after passing the Poissy exit and press on. You'll cross the river three times and then go under the peripherique - -straight ahead is the Arc, circle around it and continue down the Champs (wave at the crowds cheering you on). When you get to Concorde (the obelisk), ease a block to the right and hug the river. You'll pass the two islands - - start counting bridges. At the second one, look to your left - - the big clock tower is G. Lyon. The problem is you can't turn - - go one more bridge and reverse directions, but wind up on the lower access road, not the main drag. Go back and make your turn. Then take your first right. Within a couple of hundred feet, there's a big parking garage on your right. I'm assuming that's where the car place is (from googling Europcar and the fact that all the other companies are in there). An entrance to the station is across the street. Most of the car places see to be always open, if not, they'll have a drop box. Saturday traffic won't be that bad - - figure three hours, plus whatever it takes you to turn in the car and find the train. Have about twenty-five or thirty euros for the toll boths coming down from Caen. Note: Some mapping software or gps junk might try to take you all the way around the peripherique and approach G Lyon from the southeast. Don't do it. Barrel straight down through the center of town - - it's shorter and will have less traffic.

Second thoughts: I don't know how long the train ride is, but something like an hour and a half to two hours is likely. You can drive from the western Paris bypass to Dijon in an easy three hours. The car would already be paid for (maybe you're into the second day anyway?), the tolls will be another twenty bucks, and the gas about fourty. If this is one of those self-drive boats, you need to stock it with grub. The stores by the marinas are out of sight in price with a poor selection. You'll need a car to get to the Monprix/Champion/Carrefour/etc. If it's a crewed boat, the point is mostly moot.

Ed, thanks for your help on the drive instructions to PAris Nord and the auto off. I had thought about keeping the car and returning it the Dijon station as you suggested and that option is still on the table. Do you know if car rental is a little more reasonable if you are a "walk up" as opposed to renting on line. Hertz, Avis and Europe car don't seem to be real reasonable for a two day rent. Bike and barge is a crewd thing. I still have a little time on this to come down firm on a decision. Even thinking of taking RER and Metro to Mantes- de Julie and rent the car there (Europcar has a kiosk at the station) drive out do our thing at the beaches and return the car there, RER metro to Paris -Nord and then to Dijon

Where in the dickens did Nord come from?!?!?! My directions were to Gare de Lyon. If you want Nord, I can do that too. Short-term rental prices are out of sight. I rent for a month at a time and nibble it down to twenty-five or thirty bucks a day.

Booking a car rental online in advance will be cheaper than doing it when you get to France.

Okay, I've fiinshed scratching my head on this Mantes business. I can think of no metro/rer station by that name. There's a small town with a similar name, but spelled 'Jolie' about fifteen miles northwest of Paris (I know nothing about it except the freeway sign). It's way to far out to have an rer station. It'd have to be a regular train station. But, the trains out that way are served by G. St Lazare, not G. Nord. Thus, you'd have take the RER to Nord, metro to Lazare, and then hop the train. Coing back you'd have to metro from Lazare to Lyon. I can't imagine how long this would take, or how long you'd be banging your head against the wall in frustration. Tim knows details, I'm probably all wrong. What you're up against is the high daily price of a short-term rental. There's also a premium for an 'airport access fee' or some such thing. I just snooped around on kayak.com. You can rent a car at the airport for two days at $106 per in July. A similar car in town for the same dates only stiffs you $63 per day. New plan: RER to Nord, rent car, return there, metro to Lyon. Driving directions in an out to follow if you want them. BUT LET TIM VOTE FIRST. I'm in over my head on the train business.

Ed: You're right it is Lyon; not Nord. Not sure where that came from Yes... the time to get there (MLJ) and back is prohibitive roughly 2hrs give or take.
Mantes la Jolie is a Sncf stop on the way to Rouen. Again thanks for the help on this. Larry

Larry, Since you'll only have a partial day in Normandy, my vote would be to rent a car at CDG and head for Caen or Bayeux ASAP. You would use up a lot of time going into Paris and either picking up a car at Gare du Nord or taking a SNCF train from Gare Saint-Lazare to Mantes-la-Jolie.

Tim: Thanks you and Ed have been helpful. I kind of already thought that heading there was probably the best. Any suggestions from Ed on the best fastest rout to Caen? Also if as Ed suggested, I decide to drive to Dijon train station where I meet the barge folks, best route there? I will probably drive some back toward Paris/ Dijon an hour before staying the night, tentively I have looked at hotel in Bourg-Achard which is 100K back towar Rouen. MApQuest and others have you head in toward PAris and catch the A13 ad don't we all know they and the GPS's sometimes do not have the best route per ED's suggestion on the drop off at Lyon. Thanks gentlemen. Larry

To Caen: A1 south out of the aiport (toward Paris), switch to the A86 at about Saint Denis (the sign might say 'Peripherique I'lle de France', but that's okay, it's the outer ring road, not the Paris peripherique), look for the A14 after five or six miles (sign will say toward Rouen), then follow your nose. It's freeway the whole way - - you'll sit on eighty the whole way to stay up with traffice. Probably three or four toll booths totaling about twenty-five bucks (have cash). To Dijon: You'll be on the E05 while you're still west of Rouen. Stick with it until you're almost to Dijon (a bit will be on the Paris perpherique, just watch the route number signs on the south side and you'll be okay). Get off the E05 abeam Dijon and head east the last fifteen or twenty miles on the A (something). If you're just looking for a place to crash, look at the ETAP hotels. Sparse, but clean, no ambiance. There's two or three close to the freeway near Rouen. Sixty bucks a night or so. If the desk isn't manned when you show up, you can't get in UNLESS you stick in the SAME cc with which you made the reservation in the machine in the foyer. It'll spit out a code which will work the interior door, your room, and the gate to the parking lot. Use a different cc and it'll give you all of the above and a room as well if it's available, but you'll still be charged for the initial one as well - - no recourse.