Driving and parking in Orleans
 

My son is interested in driving to Orleans from CDG airport on the day we arrive in France. This is his first experience with driving in France so this concerns me. Aside from the jet lag issue I was wondering if it is difficult to park in Orleans? After Orleans we will drive to Amboise to our hotel. Thanks for your advice.

We did this last year, not from CDG but from the center of Paris. Easy drive on a Sunday morning. We parked next to the cathedral in an underground car park. Very easy - don't know how it will be on a weekday, since you have to go around Paris first.

Sundays a snap other days a complete hassle - having lived and driven in Orleans a lot -why are you going to Orleans - except understimated great cathedral unexceptional and boring.

Weekdays again very hectic.

Again I'd skip Orleans for all the hassle.

IMO it would be easier and smarter to take the train from CDG to Tours and pick up the rental car there for the drive to Amboise.

Thanks for the information. Honestly I would skip Orleans but my son is anxious to go. I told my son that we can only go there on a Sunday.

StCirq - as I recall the reason we are picking up the car at CDG instead of Tours was because of the train schedule. Also I feel more confident of getting an automatic car at CDG.

Why in H would your son want to go to Orleans? No castles - town was blitzed by American and British bombs in WW2 and now modern - huge traffic snarls - a ghost town on Sundays - I guess he must be into cathedrals and OK it is an under-appreciated gargantuan church -one of the largest in France.

PalenQ - yes he wants to see the cathedral

I hope it is open later in the day -was often locked becasue of street people and hooligans going in. Assume on Sunday it may be open...perhaps.

I checked earlier today and there are quite a number of trains daily (on weekdays at least) from CDG to Tours. But fine if you want to go to Orléans. You may be right about the automatic.

I like Orleans but I find it dangerous to havea first experience of driving in France jetlagged.

Traffic in France is hugely different from US.
US is more relaxed, with cars driving at all speeds on all lanes (horror !) obeying - mostly - the speedlimits and stopping at the Stop signs.

France is populated by people who think their cars is the expression of their machism and will kill you if you stay 22,4 meters too long on the left lane...

I strongly recommend taking the train. You'll find an automatic car (or if you don't well he'll learn to drive with a stick).

I remember landing in Boston and driving 200 miles to reach my destination and thinking that I would never arrive alive. The day after it was a totally other story.

I checked earlier today and there are quite a number of trains daily (on weekdays at least) from CDG to Tours>

St-Pierre-des-Corps is the station you want for car rentals - Tours mainline station with major car rentals around it - easy to drive out of as outside of the congested Tours city area. Yes quite a number of trains to SPC - with shuttle trains to Tours in-town station.

Even though we don't suffer from jetlag, I would not drive from CDG to Orleans and on to Amboise after an overseas flight. That's tempting fate.

Traffic around Paris is frantic, and traffic around Orleans not much better.

So I'd take the train to Tours, pick up the car there (that you have reserved in advance to be sure you'll get an automatic, then drive to Amboise and visit Orleans another day. You can visit Blois Chateau on your way to or from Orleans, which is quite spectacular, and perhaps one of the other chateaux in the area. We parked in Orleans--in an underground parking structure--without any problem.

Thanks all for your advice. We are definitely waiting to visit Orleans until the Sunday we are in the area. I will think about where to pick up car

If in Amboise or some city on Orleans-Tours train line visit Orleans on a weekday when it has a pulse- nice pedestrian shopping streets.

If doing the cathedral it is just a short walk down to the Loire and it is very pretty here - the Rue Bourgogne near the cathedral is a popular restaurant street even open on Sundays with a lot of ethnic eateries - good place for couscous!