redizip808

I will be travelling to France end of September for 11 days, I fly into CCG and will catch a train to Chatres and spend the night. We will be renting a car the following morning and drive towards Mt St Michel, tour Normandy and spend 2 nights in Honfleur before ending our trip in Paris. We would like to return the car before we head into Paris , however we would like tosto for a half a day in Giverny. We are trying to avoid driving in Paris.
Appreciate any suggestions on best place to return th car and when during this tip and still get to Giverny and Paris.

kerouac

Once you have driven in the rest of France, where drivers are often more merciless than Parisian drivers, you will see that basically it is super easy to drive in France anyway as long as you know how to follow the signs (and not the insane suggestions of the GPS). So if you are going to Paris, just return the car at one of the main Paris train stations, which are super easy to find and much more convenient for getting to your destination in Paris.

A lot of people make the mistake of thinking that they will save time and effort by returning a car at CDG or Orly or some provincial city from which they will take a train into town, but all they are doing is increasing their expenses enormously not to mention the aggravation of having to carry their luggage when it could be in the trunk of the car.

Christina

hmm, you may not have the best choice of cars in Chartres, but you never know. If you can book one like you want, fine. YOu won't be able to get an automatic in that location, maybe that's okay with you. Only Hertz and Avis are in that town, Europcar a bit outside it (Luisant).

I suppose you could leave it in Vernon, which is the train station for Giverny. That could even save you a day's rental versus returning later in the day in Paris. Only Avis and Europcar have locations there, though, Hertz does not. Of the big names, I mean, which I presume you'll use. I use www.autoeurope.com and just get the best deal.

You could then just take the train back to Paris. If you don't want to do that and drive to Paris, I suppose somewhere around La Defense on the outskirts in the direction could work. There is a metro/RER stop there, or Porte Maillot is right on the edge of Paris. YOu'd have to figure out if they had car rental locations, though.

Christina

I forgot that you'd have baggage, etc., with you as kerouac mentions. Maybe not so good if you leave it at Vernon, you'd have to see if they have lockers there, but I suspect not in that small a town.

joannyc

While it is fairly easy to drive in Paris, you could visit Giverny with your luggage in the trunk and then drop the car in Vernon before taking the train to Paris.