fbc34

In October I'm spending a week at the Coeur de France language school in Sancerre. (Thanks Laidback, Grandmere and others for all the useful information about this place.) I'll spend a night in Paris at each end of the week.

From what I've read and can tell from several maps, I'm inclined to pick up the rent car at Orly and drive to Sancerre. My other options are to get the car in central Paris (which seems a bit scary, even for a Saturday morning) or take a train out of town and get a car there (where?). Looks like I can easily pick up the D7 at Orly and head south. Since I've never driven out from Paris (even the outskirts) or been to Orly airport, thought it best to check here to see if this is workable. (I have driven alot in France -- probably a cumulative total of a couple of months, so that's not a concern.)

Thanks for any advice you can send my way.

Sarastro

There are those who harbor sufficient anxiety so as to suggest that you pay for train tickets to some remote, out of Paris train station and anti-up a 40€ train station auto rental pickup surcharge, all this needless expense just to avoid Paris. From ORY, you’ll still pay the surcharge plus the expense to reach the airport. I find all of this silly as a Saturday morning departure from central Paris is really not difficult.

1. Arrange for a car rental in Paris from a rental office within easy reach of your hotel. You might have success contacting Autoeurope:
www.autoeurope.com

2. Plan an exit strategy to the Périphérique (the circular road around Paris' arrondissements). Of course it’s too late to do this personally but you can tank Napoleon for having Haussmann construct long, wide avenues for your drive which makes this task much less daunting than it may at first seem.

Tools you may want to help in planning:
www.viamichelin.com
www.mappy.com

a book such as this one:
http://tinyurl.com/cyt82o

3. Orbit on this road until reaching Porte d'Italie which is the entry point for A6, the road to Burgundy. From A6 take A77.

Driving out of Paris is easy. This is not the same as driving around Paris, something I do not recommend and something few tourists really need to do. On a Saturday morning, traffic will be minimal.

Once you have done this, you'll feel a great deal more at ease with Paris and with exploring the whole country in general.

fbc34

Thanks so much! Just the inspiration I needed!

kerouac

<i>Driving out of Paris is easy.</i>

Those are the key words.

However, I would also add that "driving back to Paris is easy" as well -- because once anyone has been on the road for a few days in France, confidence rises considerably. (Well, maybe there is a 10% dropout rate!)

fbc34

I'll be leaving from a hotel just on the north side of Luxembourg Garden, returning to one on rue St Jacques near the Seine. There's an Avis at St Sulpice, the Hertz at Louvre Carousel, and several choices at Place d'Italie and near Gare Montparnasse. Any specific experience (good or bad) at any of those locations? Any location seem the best to you for getting onto the A6 heading south? (I will have a GPS with me.)

Thanks so much. I'm going to be a fearless Parisian pro after this!


Thanks.

kerouac

Heading south, Montparnasse is generally best.

fbc34

Thanks. Montparnasse it will be.

Any suggestions for a good place to stop for lunch between Paris and Sancerre?

kerouac

You know, this might sound completely outrageous to a lot of people, but if you are on the autoroute, a lot of the rest stops have some pretty good stuff (at least most of the foreign visitors seem to think so).

One thing regarding which I have heard absolutely universal praise are the coin-operated coffee machines at the service stations (I know that this does not qualify as 'lunch'.). I hear the Germans, English, Dutch, Swedes, etc. all saying "why isn't the coffee this good out of other machines?" My sister-in-law from California, on her last visit to France, would immediately agree to any suggestion to stop at a service station just so she could run to the coffee machine.

Anyway, all of this is mentioned in case you are in a hurry and staying on the fastest road for a good part of the way. Once you are off the autoroute, it is a completely different world.

fbc34

I have enjoyed rest stop coffee myself!

StCirq

We make a POINT to stop at aires when on the autoroutes in France because we love the machine coffee and some of the sandwiches are incredibly tasty.

Vientianeboy

Good advice from Sarastro. Driving in Paris is not that difficult. Now lets wait for the Monastatoses of this site to criticise.

kerouac

You mean the ones who say to take a train to about 10km from the destination and drive from there?

fbc34

Think I'll take the autoroute going back to Paris, but go the slower way on the way down. Have tons more time, since I don't need to be in Sancerre until 4 pm. Will stop for lunch whenever, but think I'll aim to be in Gien by 2:00 or so. Both the hunting museum and Gien factory there look interesting. Anyone been to Gien?

rs899

I had a heck of a time dropping my rental in central Paris (near Nation). The number of one-way streets that won't let you go where you want to go is very discouraging, but if you have a good navigator (I didn't) it may not be so bad. Leaving Paris, I would think, wouldn't require as much precision because even if you get somewhat lost you will still eventually run into the Périphérique.

Rick