Hello! We are a family of 4 (no child), and will be picking up a car to drive to Mont. St. Michel for a night and then drive through Loire Valley for a few days and stop by Versailles, and then back to Paris Est for an overnight train (to Switzerland). I have a few questions. 1) Where should we pick up the car in Paris on Sunday early afternoon to head to Mont St. Michel? We will be staying at Hotel Bonaparte in St. Germain area. 2) Is it easy to park around Verseille while we tour the castle? 3) Where should we drop off the car, back in Paris? or even Versaille?

(I considered taking TGV to Rennes or something and picking up, but the additional cost of TGV seemed too much since there are four of us.)

Thank you!!

I have twice picked up/dropped off cars at Invalides. It's pretty easy to navigate around there. I find that getting out of Paris is easier than getting back in off of the Peripherique. But it's a real rush driving in Paris and something to brag about once you get home!

I have heard from others what Mab said about Invalides. For a return you might consider Orly and a cab back to town. For 4 of you the cab would be quite reasonable and the return to Orly is very easy. BUT be sure to get detailed directions to get to Orly. You will want to get the very detailed Michelin maps of Normandy and the Loire.

We all have our own preferences, but I am one who will simply not drive in Paris. I can and do drive in Rome, but Paris is just a bit much for me. So my choice would be to take a bus/taxi to CDG airport and rent a car there. From there, getting out is a breeze compared to driving in Paris.....Good luck.

With 4 people, I'd stick with Place des Invalides. I've done this on more than a couple of occasions. Once with 6 other adults when I rented a Renault Espace van good for 8 people, manual stick-shift and all, drove back with my wife navigating to pick up my party of 6 and luggages at our hotel in St. Germain des Pres, drove out to the peripherique and out to the highways towards Alsace.

Alternatively, all 4 of you can just take a train to Invalides and pick up the car and leave from there. Get the rental car persons to provide directions (they're used to this) and a good paris city map.

Good luck and enjoy.

We picked up a car at CDG and returned it at Versailles. I did not like driving in Paris or on the Peripherique, so when I drive in France again, I will pick up the car in a town outside of Paris and avoid it all. We had to pay for parking in an underground garage for the time we had the car in Versailles. There did not appear to be too many easy parking places at Versailles. I would check with the car rental agency to see if you will have "drop off fees" if you drop the car off in a different city, and then plan your pick up and drop off places according to their answer.

Driving out of Paris is easier than driving in. The rental agency can usually give you the best way out, but because of one way streets, you might not be able to use the same way back in. Driving out on Sunday afternoon should be no problem. Dropping the car off in Versaille sounds like a good idea.

Thank you so much, everyone! I really appreciate it. Now I can plan it better (the trip is for my father's 60th birthday!) Okay, we will rent it from Invalides, as many of you suggested, and hopefully my Manhattan-driving-savvy brother can manage the Paris roads. And I do realize now that dropping it off in Versailles is the easiest option -- thanks, Micheal -- both to avoid getting back into Paris and also to avoid paying for another day ($100 additional day). However, I don't know what to do with luggages while we are touring the castle. I just posted a separate posting about if there are lockers in the Versaille train station, and found out that there is none. It seems expensive to pay both $100 additional day rental fee and parking fee, only to store luggages. Do car rental agencies keep luggages for a few hours sometimes? Are there some storage service in Versaille? I am thinking and thinking of a way around this little dilemma, but I just can't figure out, unless of course I just rent another day. Thanks all again!!

If possible, see the chateau and then drop off the car. That will take care of the luggage problem.

Parking at Versailles: there is plenty of parking in front of the chateau, I've parked there many times with no problem.

You could pick up the car in La Defense, Invalides or Porte Maillot (my Europcar res is there): of course it depends on where the rental company that you are using has offices.

Are you set on the order of your trip? If not, try this tinerary :
Use the Periph. to get to A10, which will take you to the Loire Valley. Next drive up to Mont St Michel, then take the A13 back to Paris: which will lead you to Versailles. Since there aren't locker facilities, the best sounds like keeping the car there. Then you could drop the car in Versailles, but since you've been driving in France for a while by then, I'm sure you could make it back to one of the pick up places above.

Hello Travelite,

What you suggest makes much more sense. I only wish I'd thought of it before. I didn't know Versailles was north of Paris... I called the hotels this morning to switch things around, but it was not possible. Oh well, I have no choice bu to stick to my current order of Paris to Mont. St. Michel to Loire Valley to Versailles. But now, it really seems like I planned it somehow reverse... Thanks anyway!

Versailles isn't north of Paris, it is SW of Paris. Mont St Michel isn't north of Paris, either, perhaps that's the confusion. It's almost directly west of it.