Picking up a car at Massy
 

Three adults arriving at CDG on Sat. May 19 at 7:40 am, going directly to Burgundy. Flying Continental so I think we arrive at 2A. We are thinking about taking the RER to Massy, just south of Paris and picking up a car there. Will likely be through AutoEurope so probably from the Europcar office on rue (Ave?) Carnot. Reasoning: less crowded at Massy than at CDG, shorter wait for our car; RER is less expensive than the TGV to Massy (about 11€ as opposed to 21€ per person) and we don't have to worry about making a particular train; and it looks like we can get on the A6 headed south in about 5 minutes from the Europcar office, rather than trying to navigate around or through Paris. We will be headed to our rental house just W of Beaune, but hope to make a stop in Auxerre for a quick visit and lunch.

Has anyone ever picked up a car at this office? It looks like it might be about a half-mile walk from the RER station, which we could do, I think, with a small rolling suitcase and perhaps a small bag stacked on top. Do you foresee any problems with our plan?

If this sounds familiar, yes, I did post about it earlier but didn't get much feedback about this option. TIA

OK, so I guess no one has had any experience with picking up a car at Massy. Care to just offer an opinion as to whether it seems a reasonable option or not?

Doesn't sound like you're going to save any or much time and you get more luggage hauling. You save a little on the rental cost (extra fee from CDG), but you pay the train ticket. I don't think traffic around Paris will be that bad on a Saturday morning.

I would just rent from CDG.

There are 3 ring roads around Paris, the outermost being the A104 just south of CDG (there is also the A86
closer in, and the périphérique which rings the Paris city limits). Just pick up the car at CDG and follow the signs marked "Lyon" on the freeway leaving CDG, direction Paris. Going to Massy (with baggage!) by RER would probably turn into a nightmare.

Or why not take a direct TGV from Roissy to Burgundy?

Thanks, rkkwan and kerouac. So you think picking up the car at CDG would not involve a long wait (on a Sat. morning)? That and the drive around Paris are my major concerns.

I would take the train from CDG to Dijon if there was one at a reasonable time, kerouac. But the SNCF site only shows one per day at 7:30 pm. That would also mean some backtracking if we want to see Auxerre.

Anyone else?

The Massy plan seems unreasonably complex. Picking up a car at CDG on a Saturday morning and driving out of town is pretty much a breeze.

I'm not sure what you mean by "involve a long wait." You just go to the car rental outfit, get the car as you would anywhere else, and head out on the périférique toward Lyon. There won't be much traffic at all on a Saturday morning.

I think the "long wait" is about waiting in line at the counter to get the paper work done and key.

I did have to wait a bit at Europcar's desk on a Sunday at CDG1 back in September. There's only one person working, the car is upstairs via the horrendous elevators at CDG1, and of course, I have to come back down to have the guy mark out all the scratches, etc... So, it did take a while.

But at other locations, it can be the same or worse. Some locations the car is at a remote parking garage/lot. And you still have to come back to counter to mark out the scratches.

That's right, rkkwan. I was concerned about having to stand in line for an hour or more at CDG to get our car. I had read here at some point (perhaps it was your post) about there not being many agents available on the weekend at CDG. Just thought it might be quicker at Massy. And easier to get on the A6 from there.

If it makes a difference, the RER B from CDG goes straight through Paris to Massy-Palaiseau. Takes about an hour. So the only extra "luggage hauling" would be in getting out at Massy and getting to the car rental office.

But apparently you all still think it would simpler/easier/quicker to just pick up the car at CDG and drive around Paris to the A6?

We once took the TGV from Massy, after flying into Orly. The station is both small and very quiet and not really very convenient. Since you're going to Burgundy, why not just take the TGV to Dijon and get a car there?

A few reasons, Underhill. 1) There is no convenient train from CDG. 2)Cost & hassle of getting to Gare de Lyon + cost of tickets to Dijon and we wouldn't save any on the car rental. 3)If I bought Prem's tickets which would be the least expensive, we'd have to be there on time or lose them. What if our plane was delayed? Or, if we allowed time for that, we might be standing around for a couple of hours. I'd rather not have to worry about timing. 4)We wanted to stop in Auxerre on the way.

Forgot to say thanks to you, St. Cirq. I do appreciate your input.

Another thought: you could take the Air France bus from CDG to Orly and get your car there, putting you on the other side of Paris and ready to head to Burgundy on the autoroute.

Saturday morning traffic around Paris is not a problem. Being a very early riser, I have noticed that most Parisians do not make it out of doors until at least 10 a.m. on weekend mornings. Even driving through the center of Paris is a breeze on Saturday before the stores open. Starting around 11 a.m., it can indeed become a nightmare.

Thanks, again, Underhill. I did consider going to Orly by AF bus. It's a bit more expensive (16 euros) but gets us there in about 50 minutes. Drawbacks: I couldn't figure out where the car rental places would be in relation to where the bus would drop us off. (Anyone know?) And, although I know Orly is much smaller than CDG, maybe some of the same crowds problems? And less sure that they would put us with Europcar there. At Massy, even though it's a bit of a hike from the RER station, I thought it would be a quick pick-up.

And kerouac, thanks for the info about Paris traffic on a Sat am. I wasn't so much worried about the volume of traffic as just finding our way. Viamichelin says it's about 50 minutes to Melun using the A104 route so that doesn't seem too bad, but there seem to be several route changes involved. It's been my experience that if you miss your exit, it can take quite a while to get back on track.

My friends say they will be OK to drive after the flight over, but that means I'll probably be the navigator. Just looking to make it as easy as possible.

The key is this:

I don't like to go through a lot of trouble for potentially save a few minutes. And that's what you're doing. I'll take my chances at CDG.

You're talking about hauling luggage from 2A to the train station, go down to the RER train, buy ticket (which has long lines sometimes), haul luggage onto train - which can get crowded through Paris so you need to look out for your luggage, haul it off the train, drag it to rental counter, find car - which the lot may or may not be adjacent to the office.

If we all tell you for sure that traffic would be horrible around Paris, that's one thing. But it's a Saturday morning, and we all tell you it shouldn't be bad.

OK, you've convinced me that this (picking up car at CDG & driving south) will be easier than I imagined. We'll see what my friends say after I've shared this with them. They are probably far less worried about it than I! lol Thanks, everyone. The "just follow the signs for Lyon" was a big help. I'll let you know how it goes.

The A5 which branches out of the A4 is considered a better road to take than the more heavily traveled A6. I didn't look myself, but if you ask www.viamichelin.com, that's probably the itinerary that they will recommend from Roissy-en-France (CDG) to Dijon.

Ah, I was wrong -- they still say to take the A6. But I prefer the A5.

Thanks for the advice, kerouac. I thought we would take the A5 as far as Sens, then the A19 to the A6 and on to Auxerre. Or if we aren't in a hurry, we might take the N6 from Sens to Auxerre. Then back on the A6 toward Dijon but we would exit at Pouilly-en-Auxois toward Arnay-le-Duc and "our" little village of Thury, about 25 km. west of Beaune. Since we are actually heading for a spot south and west of Dijon, it looks like the A5 would be really out of the way after Sens.