sioban

We are flying into Paris on 17th September arrival time 16 30. We intend to hire a car and do a road trip to Biarritz. We would like to spend a night in Paris near Versailles where we could then hire a car after we visit the gardens and drive to Girveny either spend another night there and then set off on our road trip. Any suggestions? We don't have any time restrictions but we would like to stay in a reasonably priced hotel. We don't want to hire a car at the airport as it would be a nightmare to drive through Paris to Versailles. Any suggestions welcome.

nytraveler

Sorry - Versailles is not IN Paris. And there is no reason not to rent a car at the airport and drive around - not through - Paris - use the peripherique. Getting a car at the airport is much easier and you have a better selection - and as long as you will want it right away - you may as well get it.

And you need to define "reasonable" - since people have very different ideas of what this means.

Cathinjoetown

Are you flying into DeGaulle? You could take the RER B in, stay at a hotel near the St Michel stop and take the RER C from the same stop to Versailles Rive Gauche in the morning.

Or, you could stay anywhere along either line.

Given the time you get in, my preference would be to just head all the way to Versailles and stay there the night before you visit the gardens and pick up the car.

I can't help with hotels in Versailles as I haven't stayed out there in 25 years! In Paris you have so many choices. What is reasonable to you?

tarquin

We stayed at La Chaine d-Or in Andelys when we visited Giverny. A nice hotel and restaurant on the river.

www.hotel-lachainedor.com

StCirq

I disagree that driving from the airport would be a nightmare (and you wouldn't have to go "through" Paris, but that aside, are you planning to return to Paris after the road trip to Biarritz? Because if you are, I'd wait to visit Giverny until the end of the trip. To me, it would be strange to set out for Versailles, which is a bit SW of Paris, then head up to Giverny, which is NW of Paris, then turn around and head south again.

If you're not going to start driving at the airport, and don't want to stay in a hotel in Paris itself, then you'll need to get into Paris, then take the RER out to Versailles, spend the night, pick up a car there the next day, and head off.

sioban

Thank you for all your suggestions. We fly into CDG airport to start our mega road trip. My husband and I are actually driving to Marbella to meet a friend and have to be there for 1st October. We then drive back to Belfast in her car.
We booked the flight to Paris to get us started,I am interested in Art and my husband loves gardens and also likes to drive on the back roads! I am trying to organise the trip which is proving to be rather daunting! We intend to drive to Biarritz return the hire car in France ,cross the border pick up another hire car in Spain and visit Bilbao, Salamanca and Seville.
I am not too familiar with France and where to go other than Versailles and Giverny and thought picking up a hire car in CDG would be more expensive and stressful. That is why I thought we would get to Versailles on 17th after the flight check in to a nice hotel (£100) wake up refreshed visit the gardens,pick up the hire car and head for Giverney,or vica versa and then head off to....maybe Chartres.
Because we are away for so long and have the journey & accommodation to budget for on our return journey we are going to drive back along the east coast of Spain and France, we need to be sensible !!!
So all suggestions will be very welcome as I am trying to organise this myself ...at least the first couple of days.....and then like all wives I will pretend that my husband has come up with the ideas!!!

Robert2533

Picking up a rental at the airport can be expensive, about $50 USD to cover the airport tax, depending on the type of car. I wold take the RER to Versailles, as mentioned above.

Driving through Paris isn't actually a nightmare if you don't mind driving fast and keeping an eye out for motorcycles, but the traffic leaving the airport can be a real pain, especially if it's raining and truck traffic is heavy.

nytraveler

I haven;t seen anyplace a mention of why you would need to drive THROUGH rather than around Paris on the peripherique. Which is just like driving on any other highway.

annhig

siobhan - i started off by thinking that you were going the wrong way, but if you look at the map, [google maps has a good facility for putting in destinations and playing with them] you could drive from CDG to Versailles on your first day, then up to Giverney, [a bit of back-tracking, but not much] and then down to Chartres.

if you wanted to do this on public transport, from CDG you could get the RER B to St. Michel Notre Dame, and then change onto the RER C line heading in the direction of Versailles Rive Gauche.