We will be driving from Fontainbleau to Paris on the morning of June 20th, 2008 and need some advice for the best place to drop off our rental car. We don't want to drive into Paris itself. Can anyone recommend a location on the Metro on the outskirts? I have considered Melun and then hopping on the RER into Paris. We are also considering Orly airport and then taking a shuttle into Paris from there. Anyone have any other ideas for us? We will most likely be booking the car rental with Auto Europe or Europe Car as had bad experience with Alamo last time.

No drop off in Fontainbleu-Avon? if so there is a train from there to Paris

the drive to Orly should be easy but do they charge surcharge for airport drops?

Melun i think would be an easier drive. could stop by fab chateau near there - one of best in France just south of town - name i can't think of en route to drop off

corection Vaux-le-Vicomte is near Meaux not Melun - sorry

If you want to get even closer to Paris before you drop off your car, you could use the AutoEurope drop-off point at Porte d'Orleans which is just inside the Peripherique Ring Road. The Metro station there is at the end of line 4.

Thanks PalenQ and TimS. I will look into the Porte D'Orleans option. Though I am thinking that dragging our luggage around might not be worth the 37euros a shuttle from Orly would cost to our Paris hotel.

As to PalenQ's question regarding drop off fees, I was assured by a rep at AutoEurope there are no drop off fees. Hopefully that is correct.

and this is also an easy drive if you plan the right time of day - not during rush hours in a.m.

Paris was the last stop of our recent France trip... we dropped the car at CDG (which save a few $ by making it a round-trip rental... used Kemwel).

We then took a cab into Paris. Fare wasn't too bad.

How long will you have been driving before returning your rental car? I really cannot imagine that if you have been driving for at least a week that you could possibly uncomfortable driving into Paris. It is super easy to drop off a car in any of the main train stations -- in your case, that would be Gare Montparnasse, barely a kilometer from the edge of Paris on one straight no-turns boulevard direct from Porte d'Orléans.

However, it's totally fine if you want to drop off your car in Orly for example. It would be a great lesson since it is much more complicated than driving into the city, and you would have the extra bonus of being stuck with your luggage and having to pay quite a bit to get into Paris. Happy travels.

Author: PalenQ
Date: 05/19/2008, 12:32 pm

corection Vaux-le-Vicomte is near Meaux not Melun - sorry.

>>>>>>>>>>>>&g t;>>>>

Really? When did they move it? That must have taken some effort!


>>>>>>>>>>>>&g t;>>>>>>>>>>>> >>

I'd disagree with kerouac that arriving and dropping off a car at Orly is any kind of ordeal. It is incredibly well marked and easy as quiche.

But I do agree that it is NO big deal to drop off at a train station within Paris either. We've done it at Montparnasse, and while it may have required a little more skill and paying careful attention than Orly, it was sure cheaper and easier to get to the hotel from there.

Where is Meaux located anyway?

About 57 kilometers north-northeast of Melun -- or about the same distance Northeast of Paris that Melun is southeast of Paris.

Thank you, Patrick, I do remember the train ride to Melun, and the taxi ride late at night to Vaux le Vicomte. Never heard of Meaux.