Paris Car Return
 

Our car return is scheduled for the Invalides area (under the Air France building, I'm told). Has anyone done this? It doesn't look too diffficult to negotiate mapwise and we are used to city driving, but not Paris. It will be at about 1 pm on a weekday. Any comments/suggestions? Thanks

The area around les Invalides is usually not terribly difficult to drive through. From what direction will you be arriving?

We will be coming from Auxerre.

Print out directions from viaMichelin or Mappy so that you do not have to worry about one-way streets.

You'll want to check the exact address and plan on a route. Generally from Auxcerre you'll travel on A6 transitioning to A6b just before reaching the périphérique near Porte de Gentilly. Travel west (ouest) on the périphérique (torwards Porte d'Orleans).

From the périphérique you'll have several options. One might be to exit at Porte d'Orléans taking ave du Maine to Montparnasse (which is easy to follow visually) and then Boulevards des Invalides keeping the dome of les Invalides in view.

Once you have the exact address rental return address, check one or more of the following:

www.viamichelin.com
www.mappy.com
www.google.com (for a visual presentation of the return location)

A little preparation is all that is required if this is your first time driving to this address. Don't attempt this without knowing exactly where you want to go in advance. The way to get into trouble is to think you'll be able to just drive around until you happen upon the rental return office. Also be familiar with the entrance to the rental parking. Googgle offers excellent street view pictures of where you need to go.

An alternative would be to drop the car off at Orly which is located on A6 outside of the périphérique. You'll need to subsequently take either the RER (Orlyval) into Paris or the AF Bus which by the way goes to Les Invalides.

Thank you for the tips. We managed to do this in Rome last year without a problem and are more familiar with Paris, so I am not too worried...