Car rental in Paris
 

Hi everyone,

I'm traveling to London and Paris end of this month for a wedding and have been advised by friends, its best to rent a car to head to our wedding 90 minutes outside of Paris. There is a tighter schedule on the wedding day with a 1pm ceremony in the city of Paris and 5pm reception which is 90 minutes outside of Paris (relatively easy direct travel). Car rental appears to be the best option.

Few questions:
1) I'm from NYC and have driven there my entire life, do you think I can handle driving in Paris given my experience here?
2) Where would you recommend renting a car? I need automatic transmission.

Thanks in advance,
Natalie

I am a native NY'er and when a rent a car in a European city, I like to rent near the periphery of the city, so I do not have navigate a city I do not know. So take a look at rental agencies in the direction of the town where you need to be.

I drive a stick any way but you will pay a premium for an automatic.

Perhaps a rental will work best for you but where in the city is the ceremony and where exactly is the reception?

How are others getting there?
As asked, where is it. A train might be the solution and a taxi from the station to the reception.

If you drive actually in NYC, then sure, I think you can handle driving in Paris. That doesn't mean it will be quick, there are always traffic problems and possible unforeseen closure of some streets, etc.

NO one can advise best place for you to rent if they don't know where you will be staying or where the ceremony is, if you intend to leave from there, and where you will be going outside Paris. Paris isn't that small that these things don't matter.

Agencies at the major train stations should have an A/T, I would think.

Driving in town, when making a turn you need to know at least one block ahead as the signs are on the buildings. Rent close to the Peripherique. Heading north that's Gare du Nord, two right turns out of the garage and the first left. South, Europcar on the Avenue d'Italie, a straight shot.

Read about how we drive in France.
For examples
no turn on red
stick to the red lane whenever possible
never overtake a car from the right, always from the left

Pay attention to rush hour : the périphérique will be busy at all times, but overbusy (jammed, thus) between 8 and 10 and from 6 to 8 at least.

Take a small car, easier to drive in the city.

Ah, respect the speedlimits, there are a lot of cameras, and no French don't target tourists but tourists get on average a lot more fines than locals.

Bookmarking--thanks

Hi everyone,

Thank you for your help. I appreciate it greatly.

The religious ceremony at the Armenian Apostolic Church "Saint Jean Baptiste / Surp Hovhannes Megerditch" (15, rue Jean Goujon, 75008 PARIS) will start at 12:45 pm.

5pm at the Chateau de Vallery (formerly known as the Chateau des Condés - www.chateaudevallery.com 89150 Vallery - France

<i> Car rental in Paris
Posted by: natc143 on May 12, 16 at 10:32am</i>

Can you hitch a ride from the church to the reception? Then have someone drop you off at the Sens trains station for return to Paris.

In this particular case (its a long story) but I can't hitch a ride because of luggage and items I'm bringing that are quite bulky.

In that case, here is an illustrated introduction to driving in Europe, http://www.enjoy-europe.com/hte/chap18/auto-1.htm. As noted by other Fodorites above, Paris driving presents a number of challenges.

Thank you spaarne!

Plot your route with www.viamichelin.com.

You would be about 2 h from Vallery.
I'd suggest renting a car from Porte Maillot - from there it is super easy to get on the Périphérique and drive towards Valléry.

To be there at 5 pm, you will NOT be in the traffic jams, so the other option, which would be to rent from Paris south east (say Vincennes) would not be easier.

I don't recommend to rent a car in Paris intramuros (if there are).

http://www.autoeurope.fr/car.cfm

Even outside Paris, there are differences as pointed up above.
In NYC, you have red light cameras. In France you have speed cameras all along the "relatively easy direct travel" A5/6. They enforce the speed more rigorously.
Speed limits are not always explicitly stated. You need to know the unposted implied speed limits.
The BAC is lower at 0.05%.
Not passing on the right would be a harder habit to break. In NY, you can pass a car on the right on multi-lane highways. When a poster above mentioned "never overtake a car from the right", this is because it is illegal to pass on the right in Europe even on a multi-lane highway unless the traffic condition forces you to pass on the right, e.g. congestion.
Unless you have a real chip and pin credit card, you cannot operate an unattended gas pump to fill up your car.
If you need an automatic, CDG would be the best choice.
Learn how traffic roundabouts work if you are not familiar.
Are you driving from the Church in the 8th to the Chateau? Good luck :-)

SO, the OP has a lot of bulky "stuff" and needs to rent his own car.
He needs to rent the car in the morning, load the "stuff", drive to the church, park, attend the ceremony, get the car and drive out of Paris to the reception.
Someone want to advise him on that scenario?

As for passing on the right, European drivers know to STAY RIGHT except when passing. You do not drive in the left lane. Would that Americans could be so smart.

With such tight timing and an unforgiving schedule, any delay anywhere, from flight delays to lines at the rental agency, will defeat your purpose. I would strongly consider arriving a day early, so any unexpected problem will still leave you enough time to get to the church. I also wonder if arriving earlier would make staying near the reception locale and traveling unencumbered to and from Paris would be a useful idea.

Thank you for your advice. I have found a ride to the chateau which will alleviate some stress. Many thanks to all!

It is now the end of the month. Can we know what happened?