Is this a difficult drive for first-time drivers in Europe? How long will it take? Also, we are staying near Saint Germain, where would be the best location to rent the car?

Thanks!

>> Is this a difficult drive for first-time drivers in Europe? <<

Not really, it's mostly motorway. Just remember that passing on the right and squatting the left lane are no-no's.

Montparnasse would be a very good start point in your case.

A snap depending on traffic - weekends much better getting out of Paris

St Germaine i'd follow signs on wide boulevard from Austerlitz to Place d'Italie and hop on the autoroute following signs for Tours.

www.mappy.com for better info and time estimate but i'd say three hours to Blois or Tours.

hi,

not sure about rental location - most car rental websites allow you to enter an address and tell you the closest location.

as for the drive out of paris to loire, its no problem at all for first timers (we did it ourselves for the first time in september with no issues). the only part that is a bit hairy is on the ring-road around paris.

the drive itself can be done (depending on your ultimate destination) in roughly two hours. we left paris at about 9am and got to Tours by early afternoon (with a stop in chambord on the way for about 1.5 hours). we also took the back roads - i'm sure you could do it faster on the autoroute.

have fun

When we drove from Paris to Amboise, we picked up the car at Place d'Italie.

Not counting the hour it took us to find the rental car (across the street, through the Florist Shop, left through the mall, past the cosmetics, down the stairs, back up the stairs, thoroughly lost, back to the rental car agency, given the same route again, finally ask a homeless person, pay him some money and he finds the car), the drive was just more than two hours and very easy.

Thanks for all of your helpful replies. Now I just need to find a rental that wont break the bank. Seems like automatic cars are hard to come by.

Thanks!

we had a hideous drive out of Montparnasse last June - it seemed that many streets were closed and it was a bit of a nightmare. Probably just that day, but still. Once out of the city driving was perfectly fine on the motorways and secondary roads.
If headed to the Loire, I might be minded to take a train to Orleans or Tours and pickup there.

maitaitom, has a good point, pick the car in Place de l
Italie and you are almost out of Paris to the Loire Valley. It is always good to pick cars in an easy place.
like if you were going North, for instance, la Avenue du Grande Armee is a good place, Hertz is nearby.

Try Autoeurope, the toll free number if you have access to one. Hertz or Eurocar, near the Place d'Italie.

On mappy, use Port d'Italie as the starting point.

http://www39.mappy.com/