Hello everyone. I am planning a trip to France and will rent a car for about 8 days. I am flying into Geneva (GVA), where I will rent the car at the airport. (I will return the rental in La Rochelle, France.)

Some car rental websites that I search list a "French side" for GVA and some do not specify a side (France or Switzerland). Do I need to make sure that I rent a car from an agency located on the French side so that I do not have to worry about crossing the French/Swiss border?

Thank you very much!

Kevin

Nothing to do with borders which you will most likely breeze thru whatever license plate you have but returning a car rented in Switzerland that far away in France could cost you a extra fee that could the very expensive. And International Drivers License required in France - get from your local AAA - you will not be asked for it at the border but f stopped by police, etc.

Rent in Switzerland and return that far away in France may means steep extra charges for doing that. And get an International Driving Permet -mandatory in France. See you local AAA. The Loire Valley should be about on the direct line Geneva to La Rochelle.

Returning a car rented in Switzerland and returning it so far away in France could mean a daunting extra charge for doing so. And an International Driving Permit is also required for Americans so get one at AAA. type of license plate means little crossing Schengen area borders - you may not even stop at the border.

Since you're leaving the car in France, rent from the French side of the airport.

Thank you everyone! I apologize for being so late in returning to my question.

Unfortunately some of the booking sites do not specify which side of the airport I will be renting from. My first place to visit will be Oyonnax/Nantua. It might even be possible for me to get friends to get me at the airport and take to their city, so that I would 1) be sure to rent in France, and 2) save a few days on the rental by only renting when I move on to the next leg of the trip...

Kevin

If you reserve a car and have specified that you are returning it in La Rochelle, you will automatically get a car from the French side. I confess that I have no personal familiarity with Cointrin airport, but it is not impossible that the same agency desks do rentals for both sides of the airport. It's not as though they could get confused. There is no real reason for physical separations of the sides since Switzerland is a full member of the Schengen zone even though it is not part of the EU. (Just for the record, this is also true of Norway and Iceland, not to mention the microstates.)

My recollection is that Basel has a distinct French side of the airport when it comes to ground services such as rentals. I would assume that the same goes for Geneva.

Public transport beteween Geneva and Nantua isn't famous: there is one departure a little before 6am and the next one at noon.

Neckervd, I'm afraid that you mistranslated "fameux." You meant simply "isn't good."

fameux in that context would be translated as great.

Actually it was the idea of "pas fameux" that caused the misunderstanding.

pas fameux as not great; the point is that famous is not used that way colloquially in English..

As we continue off topic, the point for all of our faux-ami French friends is that "fameux" does not mean "famous."

It depends on the context:

• Littéraire. Qui a une grande réputation, qui est très connu*: Auberge fameuse. Le fameux héros de Cervantès.
• Dont on a abondamment parlé auparavant*: Alors, tes fameux projets*?
• Se dit d'un mets, d'une boisson exquis, excellents*: Un vin fameux.
• Familier. Indique un degré très élevé*; grand*: Il a attrapé un fameux coup de soleil.

Célèbre is preferred now when speaking of fame.

neckervd was not wrong, Google translate was.

Thanks everyone for the help & the French lessons! I sent an email to my friends to see if someone could meet me at GVA. That woulld allow me to rent a car in Oyonnax two days later and save me between $400 - $500 I think... Looking forward to a nice relaxed road trip...