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kperry2018 Dec 13th, 2018 11:08 AM

Car rental in France
 
I am picking up a one-way car rental in Calais, France. Driving the coast and ending up near Paris. Any recommendations on city to drop car off that is close to a train station to head into Paris. I don't know how to start researching.
Thanks!!

janisj Dec 13th, 2018 11:18 AM

I'd drop the car at CDG and take the RER or a taxi into Paris.

thibaut Dec 13th, 2018 11:21 AM

Any 'big' city would do. Or drive INTOParis and drop it along the periph.Like Porte Maillot. Easily accessed.

StCirq Dec 13th, 2018 11:59 AM

What exactly do you mean by "driving the coast and ending up near Paris?" Could be any one of a hundred possibilities. But just drop it off in Paris or, as mentioned, someplace like Porte Maillot.

Christina Dec 13th, 2018 12:00 PM

I agree with Porte Maillot if you are coming from the west-ish. I would never go to CDG to do that unless I saved a lot on the car rental by doing that AND didn't mind taking the RER. I wouldn't pay 50 euro or whatever for a taxi from there. That wuold be if you are coming from the north.

Otherwise, Gare du Nord wouldn't be that bad coming from the north. If you really don't want to go into Paris, I'd suggest Meaux which is in zone 5 for the Ticket zones (meaning you could use a Navigo pass), and is pretty small and easy. In fact, they have a fantastic WWI museum that just opened recently, take your time to view that somehow, I'd suggest (unless you don't like military history). If you want more of a real train, then go to Compiegne as it is also right off the A1 and easy to navigate and a short train ride to Paris. I know the majors are in Meaux (Hertz, Avis, Europcar) and I'm sure must be in Compiegne also. There are very frequent TERs from Compiegne to Paris that take about an hour and go to Gare du Nord. you won't find the schedule from Meaux on the regular SNCF website as it's just a suburban local train, as I said, you can use a zone 5 ticket. It's Transilien line P, takes about 40 minutes.

Compiegne has some sites worth seeing, also, of course.

kerouac Dec 13th, 2018 12:01 PM

Drop off the car in Paris. No big deal to drive into the city, particularly once you have been on the road for a few days. If the idea still scares you, shouldn't even be driving at all. My favourite drop-off point is Gare du Nord, but that's just because I live only a few hundred meters away.

kja Dec 13th, 2018 03:21 PM


Originally Posted by kperry2018 (Post 16839791)
I don't know how to start researching.

One option: Guidebooks like those by Rough Guide and Lonely Planet generally identify which car rental agencies have offices in the destinations they cover.

Sarastro Dec 14th, 2018 04:35 AM

If you are using A13/A14, drop off at or near Port Maillot. There are a lot of agencies in the area and they are very easy to find.

If you are using A13 only (and saving the 8€ A14 toll), drop off anywhere near Porte dŽAutueil. Gare Montparnasse is not really that far and would not be a difficult drop off.


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