I need advice.

Here is the plan. We have an 1:30 PM flight from CDG to London. We will be in the Loire Valley the night before.

If we stay in Tours or Orleans and get up around 8 am and I think we will have MORE then enought time (especially from Orleans). What do you think? Based on other citites, I would think that arriving in Paris after 10 would be best so that maybe most people will be at work.

We will NOT be driving thru Paris, I am taking the look on the west side around Paris. (I would rather go the long way then deal with the inner streets of Paris!)

Thanks!

On paper/screen, it looks eminently achievable. That said, I'd never attempt it.

I'll bite. Why not?

I can leave the car in Tours and train it for not much additional money so I am open to suggestions.

We did it, but that was before the days of lengthy airport security screening. Plus, we did it on a Sunday. So I guess I'm not really helping here.

I think it's doable if you get up and get on the road by 8. But if you're staying in Tours anyway, dump the car there and take the train to avoid unpredictable traffic difficulties. This is Paris, after all.

I agree with the advice to turn in the car in Tours if you can.

There is a TGV train that takes you right to the airport from the St. Pierre train station right outside Tours. There is a shuttle between the two stations.

Having said that, I always spend my last night in France at the Ibis Hotel at the CDG airport to avoid worries about missing a flight, etc.

Why not? Well....

1. At CDG these days if you don't arrive 3 hours before departure time, it's possible you'll miss your plane.

2. You might have a flat tire - bummer!

3. Might be an accident on the périphérique (took me almost three hours last September to get from CDG to the Gare Montparnasse because there were TWO accidents - you'll be going in the opposite direction, but still..). And in my experience, Parisians go to work later and stay later than we do, so being on the périphérique at 10 a.m. doesn't mean everyone will be at work. Sure, it's better than at 8 a.m., but it can still be bad.

4. Have you dropped off a rental car at CDG lately? It's not exactly intuitive.

At the beginning of a journey, I'm pretty open to unusual things happening. At the end of the trip, I just want the logistics to work.

Of course, there could be a train strike, too

This is not the end of the trip, more like the middle.

I will look into dumping the car, but I long ago learned not to worry about things I can't control (flat tires, accidents) I travel a lot and I just can't worry about things I can't control. Returning the car to CDG does bother me a little, but I have actually done it before. (And I don't find it intuative at most US airports!)

Also, I keep reading this mess about CDG, but I flew out of there not that long ago and was thru security etc. in under an hour and that included a 25 minute fight with the AF agent working the Delta flight about my seat assignement. (They had moved me to a middle seat in the back! NOPE!)

I also read these "horror" stories about US airports. I do believe the horror stories, but I also know that a lot of times they are just that, not the actual day to day life.


Thanks for your help. I will let you know what happens either way.

Was there a particular reason you decided to fly out of CDG instead of Orly, which would have been much more convenient? Just curious.

CarolA,
Can you stand yet one more opinion?

If I were in your situation, I would take the TGV from St Pierre des Corps. It's so easy and stress free. We did this in reverse last summer. From CDG we hopped on the TGV, got off at St. Pierre, walked across the track to the waiting shuttle train to Tours and picked up our Avis rental car. A snap.

As a couple of people mentioned, the TGV train from Tour right to CDG sounds great. We had a car a few years ago coming through the Loire Valley (from England, Normandy etc), and drove to Orly airport to turn it in (it's on the Loire side of Paris)...it was very simple, in fact just left the car and keys as no one was in the office. Then we took the bus into to Paris, stayed a couple of nights, then left from CDG . The hotel at the airport at CDG the previous night as someone else suggested sounds great also....I would be concerned about staying the night before in the Loire Valley.

Well, I looked into the TVG last night. And while it looks like it would decrease the time, the price increase is dramatic. Granted I could not book on the French Rail site. (It claims it can't book because I have three transfers which is NOT true!) RailEurope want $66 for each of us. I just don't think that I am willing to pay $180 (there are three of us) plus an incraese in car costs. I guess we will take our chances.

Is the $66 I am getting quoted what I would have to pay if I could get the French site to work?

It will be less--maybe as much as $10 or more.

The reason I chose CDG as opposed to Orly is that I could not find a "discount" flight out of Orly. We have tickets from CDG to Heathrow for 25 euros each.

I am considering trying to convince the team to drive up to the airport area on Sunday night. A lot just depends on how we do.

The full fare for an adult in second class on the SNCF site is 53.50€. But if you are family members traveling together, you probably qualify for the 25% discount. There may even be PREMs fares from Tours, though they aren't showing right now and I'm not sure I've ever seen them.

When are you going to be in France? If the problem with possible terrorism on the train lines is ongoing, you might want to get up to CDG the night before in case of delays on the day you leave for London. You could drop the car at Orly and take the Air France bus to CDG.

We are going the end of May.

Right now, I am taking my chances and driving to CDG. I did some research and assuming nothing horrid happens then I think I will be OK. I am an experineced traveler and figure that if worse comes to worse, I hand over my Diners Club and just pay for a later plane. Full fare on BMI was fairly cheap!

However, if the trains or on strike or on terriorist alert I figure there is NOT going to be a good way to go since that just forces more cars onto the roads. We will just have to wait and see.

I am also going the LONG way. Think outside the périphérique.

Thanks!

I had a question on this too. If there is a strike, does one just "lose" their ticket, if they go try to rent a car to get from point A to point B? And does everyone else try to rent a car too so they are all gone? Are there buses?

Having dealt with strikes before I can say that usually you can get your ticket money back, but it will take a while.

Yes, people RACE to the car rentals and once they are gone, they are gone. People also race to the bus system.

My suggestion is to pay attention. There are websites that post strike info that I am sure someone can post.