Driving in Paris - How Difficult?
 

We will be leaving Paris for the Vosges area to pick up a boat for a self-drive canal cruise. We would like to rent a car from a garage near the Louve and drive to Blois-las-Blois. This means driving out of Paris on a Saturday morning at about 10 am. I would appreciate feedback regarding our plan.

Oops! Sorry, that should have been Bains-les-Bains!

Part of the answer might be on wether you have driven in a big city before.

I rented a car from just across the street from the Louvre, on my way to the Loire valley. I know I was a bit intimidated by the Place de la COncorde, with multiple lanes merging and emerging from a wide square with no visible traffic lanes. I also remember that it go a little sticky at times because I'd end up taking a one way that led me away from my route and I'd need to regroup. I found it sometimes difficult to stop to check my map because there was not always places to park on the side and traffic was thick. But...that was a while ago and I think I'd be better now.

Get a good map of Paris, not a car rental one, but something like a Michelin Blue Guide. And note that highways signs will often lead you to the next city, not always your end destination.

Hi 2d,

It's 4 hr by car, 3 by train (35E pp).

Can you rent a car for only 1 day? For less than the 3-day rate?

Are you planning on stopping along the way?

((I))

My husband has done a lot of driving in big cities (e.g., San Francisco, LA, BOSTON!) & we will have a navigator using Mapquest. We will actually have the car from Saturday to Monday and want to day trip Sunday from Bains-les-Bains. Since we need to provision the boat, having the car is a big plus.

Thanks for your feedback. We were considering taking a taxi out to the Paris 'burbs and picking up a car, but that seemed an extra expense plus some hassle and time involved.

It's much easier IME on Saturday than on a weekday due to much less traffic

but know the route

i would think from Louvre take the semi-expressway along the Seine east till you see signs around Joinville-le-Pont for Autoroute de l'Est - get the A-? number and just follow the signs

www.mappy.com is one site many recommend for driving instructions

but i would not worry too much about driving in Paris on a Sat

or if are hop the RER to Euro Disney station and rent car there - is on way out of town on the autoroute you want
Marne-la-Vallee/EuroDisney RER a station - should have car rentals there

You have Sat am in your favour. We dropped a rental car off at a location very close to the Gare de Lyon (and did not have the exact location (don't ask! My beloved partner thought it was on the rental agreement - well it was but underneath the watermark so we couldn't read it but I digress). The lack of exact address necessitated over an hour's worth of driving around said area, crossing the river many times to try and get to where we thought was the right place. The driving was a little hairy at times (not to mention language in car becuase of partner's aforementioned lack of attention to detail) but it really wasn't too bad. The key thing seemed to be not to be too tentative. Signal, look and go - the drivers will make room for you.

If you can handle the rotaries of Boston you can do Paris. But like Boston, the signs can be hard to find/read. Remember, as with Boston, if you look at the eyes of the other driver, he has the right-of-way. It's a macho thing.

We rented a car from the Europcar agency at the 8 Ave Foch address (just a block or so off of the Arc de Triomphe. It was a very easy straight shot from there out to the ring road expressway that loops around Paris. It was extremely easy on a weekday late morning.

Paris is virtually always painless to drive in. Traffic is sensibly disciplined and predictable. If traffic's congested, it'll be moving slowly enough to make decisions. If it's not congested, what's the problem?

There's a loopy tourist mystique about how tough it is. It's usually trotted out by wimps who want an excuse not to drive, and think this is one of those universal truths no-one will ever challenge.

If you hear anyone coming out with this nonsense, just think twice if they ever tell you something's got lost in the post.

And if it's a snap for someone driving on the 'wrong' side of the road, presumably with a steering wheel on the wrong side of the road, then it must be a piece of cake.

Thank you all so much for the feedback. You have really put our mind at ease.

Driving in Paris isn't hard, but navigating can be - especially if you plot out your route without due regard for one-way streets and possible diversions.

Smarmy comments from people who have done it a hundred times aside - it isn't impossible, but can get more complicated than a first-timer ever imagined.

If you don't have a GPS that automatically recomputes the route to your destination, I'm with the "ride the train out of town and rent there" faction.

Paris is probably the easiest major European city to drive in. Big wide boulevards and relatively courteous drivers dispel the myth. Amsterdam or Athens will wring you out but not Paris.

Just don't try to park in Paris.

Since you are picking up the car on your way out of town I forsee happy motoring, especially on a Saturday mid-morning.

Get good Michelin maps and chart your course to this place the night before.

Paris is no problem at all if you're used to big city traffic. Just give the map/directions a good looking over so you know where you're going.

John

Getting out of Paris is generally extremely easy, since any directional sign that says "Porte" on it or any blue autoroute sign will lead you out of the city. And since the périphérique ring road makes a perfect circle of the city limits, even if you come out on the wrong side, it isn't a problem.