We will be driving into Paris and staying four days in April before driving on to Normandy and points north. We know that parking in Paris can be difficult(we are staying in the 7th arr.).<BR><BR>Our choices for parking are:<BR>1. Park in the street near the hotel.<BR>2. Park in a public garage near the hotel.<BR>3. Park in a suburb and take the metro to<BR> our hotel.<BR><BR>Any recommendations? Is finding street parking for three or four days downtown possible? How expensive are the parking garages? Are there any areas to the north/west of central Paris that might be reasonably safe and convenient to abandon our car for a couple of days?<BR><BR>I did a search on this topic and it has come up before, but the answers were fairly vague apart from suggesting parkinginparis.com. I tried it and it was helpful for finding garages but did not see any specific price information.<BR><BR>Thank you.

I cannot imagine trying to find a parking place in Paris. Why not return the car and then rent a different one for the next leg of the trip?

Hi Sue<BR><BR>Not a reassuring answer, but thanks. We would have to pay quite a bit extra for different drop-off points (we are starting from Holland), and we would have to pay much more for two short-term rentals as opposed to one long-term rental. It would also just be more convenient to park the car for a couple of days. I checked with Avis about parking at one of their lots but they politely said &quot;no way, Jose&quot;.

I'd contact the hotel and ask them to recommend a nearby parking garage where you can leave it (and not take it out) while in Paris. They should also be able to give you the cost.

I stayed in the 7th (May) a block from rue Cler and the streets were always fully parked. If you can find a parking garage near your hotel I would think that's your best bet. I'm guessing April will not be heavily loaded with tourists. I would think your hotel could offer recommendations.

I see the problem and I understand it. I'd never even consider trying to park on the street and worrying about permits, time limits, street cleanings, etc. By all means park it in a garage. That's not usually cheap, but still better than the cost of turning in the car and getting another one. Not sure where in the 7th, but there is a very large underground garage at St. Sulpice, in the 6th pretty near parts of the 7th. Or do you already know of a spot?<BR>

Don't know how much help this will be but .... I would look into parking in a suburb and taking the metro or RER in. We did something similiar in Rome last year when faced with the same problem of not wanting to get rid of the car in the middle of a trip but not wanting to drive into and park in the city. We found a free lot by the train in a town about an hour away (Orvieto). It worked out great. I also do that when I travel to New York - drive to a train station about an hour out of town where parking is easy and cheap and leave the car there for a few days. I'm not sure how you'd go about finding which town or train station outside of Paris would work but the general idea is sound. Maybe look on a map and found a town on the train line and then try to find out about train station parking. Another idea might be to leave it in a long term parking lot at Orly airport. Transportation into the city from there is very easy and inexpensive and most airports have places to park for a few days. Good luck.

I saw lots of people parked on the sidewalk - so don't rule that out as an option.

Nancy and Patrick and Busted<BR><BR><BR>Thank you. The idea of parking on the street seems to be a pipedream so I will forget about that one.<BR><BR>The idea of the large garage at St. Sulpice is a good one-- I will look into it. <BR><BR>I checked with the hotel (Duquesne). No parking there; they suggested public parking garages and said that there was one within walking distance. So if St. Sulpice doesn't work out we will probably just drive to the hotel and take it from there.<BR><BR>Any suburb parkers out there? Is it just another tempting but bad idea? <BR><BR>Otherwise thanks again and I guess this thread can die a quiet death along with my dream of cheap and easy parking in Paris. Sigh.

Sue and Sam<BR><BR>Thanks Sue for the suburbs/RER idea. And Sam, I briefly considered the sidewalk parking-- a lot of people do it and seem to get away with it. Very convenient, too.

The sidewalk parking works particularly well where it is slightly wider at the corners. Even better is if it has a little handicap ramp (hard to find) or a broken down curb (easier).

Tried parking on the street near our hotel once, once....<BR><BR>What a nightmare, we had to circle and circle and circle looking for a spot. When we finally found a spot, it was paid parking like most of the city. It was ok during the night but the next day I would have to have returned every 2 hours or so. I believe the self pay would not let me pay for more than 2 hours in advance.<BR><BR>We had to have the car to continue on our journey after a couple days, so we finally moved to a hotel at the airport and took the train in each day.<BR><BR><BR>Locate a garage or something before you arrive and save a big hassle.

Parking garages in Paris charge about 17-22 euro per day. I would think it more convenient to park near your hotel rather than in place St Sulpice, as then you'll have to get from there to your hotel somehow (and back) with luggage, won't you? Also, rates will probably be a bit cheaper around your hotel than St-Sulpice place. There is a large public garage very near that hotel at place Joffre, at the end of Champ de Mars, that may be the one the hotel is referring to.

I would forget the parking and rent another car. It couldn't be that much more.<BR><BR>One trip that we took to France, we rented three different cars.

I wouldn't recommend parking on the sidewalk unless you think you'll enjoy having your car impounded, and then trekking across Paris and paying 100 euros to get it back (it's happened to me). As long as you park in an official paid parking spot (not always easy to find, expect to circle the neighbourhood for a good while), the most you will get is a ticket (often for less money than the cost of parking for the day). If you park on a spot marked with an X and the words &quot;livraison&quot;, you're in a delivery spot, and the car could be towed. You're only allowed to park on these spots on Sundays.<BR>As others have said, for complete peace of mind, your best bet is to opt for a parking garage.

Two solutions: <BR><BR>1) Either you consider that paying about 100 euros for four days' parking in the center of Paris is worth it (and, considering the overall cost of your trip it ain't that much)<BR>2) Or you want to save that amount of money and look for an RER station &quot;coupled&quot; with a parking lot. You might be able to locate one on the RATP web site. I wouldn't be 100 % sure about the safety of your car left alone in some suburb for a whole four days though. <BR><BR>So, to cut a long story short, the underground parking solution seems the best one to me. Peace of mind is priceless, after all you're on vacation !

The garage wins hands down. Our Macedonian friends who drove to paris from Skopje used the one near Ecole Militaire. In 2000 it was 17 euro per day. Parking on the streets in Paris is a contact sport -- and you would have to give me a LOT of money to even attempt it

Will you be in Paris on a weekend? In Nov. 2001 we were in Paris from about 5pm Friday until about 3pm Sunday and were able to park on the street with no problem. We drove to our hotel first, to drop off our luggage, and planned to ask if there was a reasonably priced garage nearby and, if not, to drive to the train station or airport to park and come back in by metro. But the hotel desk clerk said that street parking on the weekend is free and that we should have no trouble finding a spot. She was right -- we found a space in the next block. Couldn't have been easier. I would call your hotel ahead of time and ask for their advice.

Try parking at the airports. Here is a link with info on the Paris airports.<BR>www.adp.fr/webadp/a_cont01_an.nsf/$$Affich?ReadForm&amp;cle=X100130

Hi D. Phinney,<BR> We will be in Paris this March and were informed that a garage near our hotel cost 8 euros a day. Our hotel, Lux Picpus ,is located about 2 blocks from the Place de la Nation and about a 1/2 block from Metro Picpus. Granted I have not been there yet, but this info comes from the hotel staff itself. Good luck. Tim