Does anyone have any suggestions for the most interesting place to stay the night before catching a flight out of CDG? We will be driving from the Loire valley. Would like to be 1 - 1.5 hours from the airport.

What time is your flight? You need to be at the airport at least 3 hours before, and that may limit your choices for lodgings.

I can think of loads of places but first tell me whether or not you'll have a car and what time your flight is.

If you are coming from the Loire Valley, 1 to 1½ hours from CDG is the south side of Paris and if you are travelling on a weekday, it´s not really that far south at all.

Depending upon when your flight is scheduled and keeping in mind that checking in 3 hours in advance for a transatlantic flight is not too early, I might suggest you either stay in Paris or at the airport.

Look at Senlis or Chantilly. Well under an hour to CDG. www.viamichelin.com says 22 minutes but I would double that.

We will have a car (to return) and our flight to London is at 1:50 (13.50)
Thanks for any ideas!

Compeignie (sp?) is a sweet regional town with a sweet chateau as well as out in the forest the place where Hitler made the French capitulate in a railway car that had been previously used by the French to make Germans surrender in previous war, I believe.

Pierrefonds. There's a nice B&B there on a quiet road. The town itself is pretty and the chateau is something special. We didn't go in, but I've seen threads by kerouac2 and frenchmystique that make me really sorry we didn't visit it. I think the drive to CDG was about an hour, though the B&B hostess said half an hour.

If you are willing to get up early in the morning, you could stay south of Paris (Sens is 1.5 hours from the airport according to Google map) or stay closer by staying in the Brie area (Meaux, Coulommiers).

You want to be north to northeast of Paris to avoid having to drive around the city to get to the airport.

Chantilly is OK but the big attraction there is the château. The town itself is pleasant but I think there are more charming places:

http://www.chantilly-tourisme.com/

Senlis is a pretty little medieval town and is the closest to the airport:

http://www.senlis-tourisme.fr/accueil-senlis.php

Compiègne is a largish town but it has a lovely and lively old town section with half-timbered houses and windy cobbled streets and lots of restos to choose from:

http://www.compiegne-tourisme.fr/

Pierrefonds is a charming little village which is most noted for its spectacular château:

http://www.pierrefonds.monuments-nationaux.fr/
http://pierrefonds-tourisme.net/ot/Bienvenue.html

One of my favorite little towns northeast of Paris that no one has ever heard of and no one has ever visited (except me) is Crépy-en-Valois, a charming little medieval town:

http://www.valois-tourisme.fr/

Slightly northwest of Paris but with direct highway access to CDG is Auvers-sur-Oise, where van Gogh spent his last days and where many other Impressionist painters worked:

http://www.auvers-sur-oise.com/heading/heading899.html

At the maximum distance from CDG is the medieval hilltop town of Laon which is beautiful and has a spectacular cathedral but without traffic it is a 1-1/2 hour drive to CDG so you'll have to think about that:

http://www.tourisme-paysdelaon.com/

East of Paris is the pretty little town of Crécy-la-Chapelle, known as the Venice of the Brie region due to the canals that cut through the village. It's a former medieval town that was popular with artists in the late 19th/early 20th centuries. Distance-wise it's not too far from CDG but it's a tangle of roads to traverse to get to CDG:

http://www.cc-payscrecois.fr/Crecy-la-Chapelle,203.html

This report will show you pictures of Senlis:

http://anyportinastorm.proboards.com...&page=1#112289

This report will show you pictures of Crépy-en-Valois, Pierrefonds and Compiègne:

http://tinyurl.com/6snrf3q

This report will show you pictures of Crécy-la-Chapelle:

http://tinyurl.com/dx8kr39

This report will show you pictures of Laon:

http://tinyurl.com/298tppr

There are a couple of other tiny villages near Crépy-en-Valois and Pierrefonds that I could mention but only if what's on the list I gave you doesn't interest you.

The town of Coulommiers that Michael mentioned is covered in my report about Crécy-la-Chapelle. If you happen to be interested in Sens it's covered at the end of this report:

http://tinyurl.com/2eslxnb

If you like Van Gogh, stay in Auvers. See VG's grave and where he died, grave, Dr Gauthet's house, different areas in town where VG created many paintings. Have lunch in the park with the sculture of VG. It's a nice town and is an easy drive to CDG. Enkoy!

Would it be better to return car day before (somewhere) and then take TGV to CDG day-of from there?

Reduces things you need to do the day of flight.

There is no problem in dropping off a car in CDG, while staying on the TGV line limits the choice of stays.