Car in Paris
 

With our children finally out of school, my wife and I now have the time to make many of the trips we used to dream about. As she has never been to Europe, I wanted to make a great circle trip starting out of Luxembourg to France, Switzerland, Germany, Netherlands and back. The orginal intent was to get exposure so the next trip could be planned to return and spend more time in areas of interest. She would love to spend several days in Paris but this leaves me wondering about what to do with the car? Do the various hotels in the city offer parking or would it be better to stay in the country and commute in? With the fine Metro system, I really don't intend on driving in the city any more than I absolutely have to. Thanks.....

You really don't want to have a car in Paris, not that the traffic is unmanageable but parking is expensive and you can get around better by Metro and bus.
If your plan is a circuit, why not start finish in Paris? Fly in, spend 3-4 days checking the 'must sees' then pick up your car and drive out to visit rural France and your other destinations. Go out through Burgundy, Jura, Alsace and come back through the north. Then spend another 2-3 days in Paris to check out some of the less well known sights, do some shopping etc before flying out.
Otherwise, just do 2 car deals - one from arrival to paris, the other from paris to end
Good luck
Greg

It drives me crazy when people don't really answer your question and tell you that you should rearrange your plans (which is difficult enough) so I will try to help you with your real question. We are staying outside of Paris for 2 nights then Paris for 3. We asked the owner of the hotel if it would be better for us to leave our car at a train station outside of Paris or park near the hotel. He said "do not let your car outside of paris" (I think he meant leave) there is parking near our hotel (not owned by akaI don't think he is making money from this but I may be wrong) for 90 FF/24 hours. Check with your hotel. They can let you know how much parking is around them and the availability. Hope this helps

It drives me crazy when people don't really answer your question and tell you that you should rearrange your plans (which is difficult enough) so I will try to help you with your real question. We are staying outside of Paris for 2 nights then Paris for 3. We asked the owner of the hotel if it would be better for us to leave our car at a train station outside of Paris or park near the hotel. He said "do not let your car outside of paris" (I think he meant leave) there is parking near our hotel (not owned by akaI don't think he is making money from this but I may be wrong) for 90 FF/24 hours. Check with your hotel. They can let you know how much parking is around them and the availability. Hope this helps

It is not the norm, but there certainly are hotels
within Paris that will provide parking for a fee.
A good guidebook should give you this info (e.g., I
think Frommer's does, not sure about Fodor's). I
go to Paris often so have several guidebooks and one
on just hotels (Cheap Sleeps in Paris by Sandra
Gustafson) which I believe also gives this info.
As one example, I think the modestly-priced Hotel
Deux Acacias is recommended in that book--it is in
a good location (17th arr.) and also has a parking
garage across the street you can use for a fee.
I think parking will usu. cost about US$10-15 extra
per day, but I would pay it if I were you for
convenience and because that will still be cheaper
than staying farther out and paying several metro
fares to & from the city (not to mention your time).

If you can change your itinerary, I would suggest the following: start from Holland, pick up your car there, and drive through the Ardennes of Belgium to Luxembourg. Continue through Germany to Switzerland and drop off the car at CDG or ORY and enjoy Paris before the return trip home!