On a Sunday, we will rent a car to drive down to Loire Valley area. We wish to avoid hectic Paris traffic, so, where do you recommend to pickup a rental car to head southwest? and how do you get there? thanks for any help....

I'd rent a car at Gare Montparnasse (I believe AutoEurope works with several agencies there), drive straight down the Avenue du Maine to the periphique.<BR><BR>Nothing to it, especially on a Sunday.

Hi<BR>We always rent a car from Auto Europe, especially at the airport of any city. We rented in Paris several years ago and would discourage it due to the difficutlies in returning the car due to the traffic. If you have driven in NYC however it is still difficult though marginally less. Paris is difficult to navigate.<BR>alan

I am renting through Autoeurope this June and have been trying to decide where to drop off my car on returning to Paris on a Sunday. I don't really want to drive into the city even on a Sunday afternoon. One of the best things about Autoeurope is that they offer so many pick-up and drop-off points. However, not all are open on Sundays. Some offer drop-box returns even if the office is closed but you will need one that is open in order to pick up your car. I know that the Nanterre office is open (listed under Paris)but it looks fairly complicated to get from there to the autoroute that goes to the Loire Valley. You might try Massy, a little suburb slightly west of Orly. From there it would be easy to get to the A10-A11 that goes straight to Tours. There is a TGV station in Massy, but I'm not sure where you would get it in Paris. <BR><BR>You might also consider taking the train part or all of the way to Tours and picking up your car there. I know the Chartres offices are closed on Sunday but you might try Chateaudun, Vendome, Orleans, or Tours itself. Just go through all the steps but the last on www.autoeurope.com website. They will tell you which offices are open on Sunday. If you do decide to rent in the city the Montparnasse station is probably your best choice. Good luck!

We've picked up and dropped off cars at Orly airport, even when not flying in or out. It is easy access, well signposted, and also reasonable transportation into or out from central Paris -- about 20 euro for a taxi from there to the 6th, for example and it only took about 30 minutes. Even less expensive by bus.

elle is totally on target. Rent it from the Gare Montparnasse and you'll have a straight shot out of the city on a Sunday, when there won't be a lot of traffic. Easy as pie....

I hate driving in big cities in Europe, so we always take the train to the first town that we are going to after the capital or big city. When we did the west coast of France we took the train to Normandy and got the car there. We drop off the car at the last town before returning to the big city. <BR>Last time it was return car in Chartres.<BR>That way we avoid the big city traffic and don't get the car until well out of those hassles. <BR><BR>

I drove into the city to Gare Montparnasse on a Tuesday morning. It was a simple drive, no difficulty at all. We did not have to find parking, Hertz already has spaces available. Driving in Paris is not recommended but this is a relatively painless route.