Driving from St. Remy to Paris via Beaune - Mistake??
 

Hi, We have plans to drive from St. Remy to Paris (Orly for drop off) at the beginning of October, with an overnight stop in Beaune. I've read quite a few threads about traffic jams, etc., on this route.

Are we making a mistake? Should we just take a train from Avignon directly to Paris where we're spending 2 weeks? Or am I just feeling last minute jitters....

I'd like to see Beaune, but not if it is a real pain. (I did spend 5 days in the region a few years ago, but we didn't get to Beaune.)

If you are taking the autoroute you should not come across any real traffic jams, but traffic will be heavy, especially with trucks coming form the Iberian peninsula and going to Germany and other points north. But if you ae worried about the driving, why not take the train to Beaune and then the train to Paris?

Thanks, Michael. I'm not worried about the driving, I just don't want to spend time in traffic jams.

I thought of taking the train, but I hate the idea of lugging our suitcases on and off trains, to the hotel, etc. I pack as light as possible (22" and tote), but it still isn't easy -- not as strong as I used to be! :)

It seems to me that you will need to do some handling of your luggage either way if you are leaving your car at Orly and then going on to central Paris. As Michael has said, autoroute traffic will be heavy but there should not be actual traffic jams. Maybe you could consider driving to Beaune - where the Hotel de Dieu is a must see in my opinion. You could then drop off your car and stay the night at Dijon before taking the TGV to Paris the next day - less than 2 hours to Gare de Lyon.

Greg, thanks for the reply. We plan to take a taxi from Orly to our apartment, which is in the 17th. I thinking I should re-think this whole thing and maybe take the train from Beaune.... Our apartment is in the 17th, so I think we will be cabbing it regardless of how we arrive in Paris...

Any more thoughts or suggestions are appreciated.

Traffic jams in October? No. There are not any holidays until November 1st.

Once you have driven in the rest of France, it should not alarm you at all to drive into Paris. If it does, you should never have been on the road in the first place.

HI C,

I agree with G. Drop the car in Avignon and take the train to Paris.

((I))

Thanks, all. I've driven to Orly before for rental car drop off, so I guess I'll stick with my original plan.

I was actually suggesting that you drive to Beaune/Dijon, rather than taking the train from Avignon - because you had said that you wanted to see the town. Irrespective of the traffic I suggested the TGV from Dijon as it involves only a couple of hours and the view from the autoroute is nothing special. I don't think that a taxi from gare de Lyon to the 17th would be any worse than from Orly. In any case - have a great trip.