What town would be closest to Sarlat to drop off a rental car and take a direct train into Paris?
 

Could someone please tell me which town closest to Sarlat can I drop off my rental car (AutoEurope) and take a direct train into Paris? I'm having trouble using the snfc site. Also, how far in advance do you book your rental car with Autoeurope? I'm going in Sept and need an automatic. Do they require full payment when you make the reservation?
Thanks for your help.

Based on suggestions from Fodorites, when we stayed in Sarlat and then headed for Paris, we dropped our AutoEurope rental (Europcar) just outside the Brive train station. We took the 9:35 a.m. train to Paris, which was scheduled to arrive at 13:35.

I usually book my AutoEurope rentals a couple of months in advance, though I request a manual transmission, not automatic.

Yes, you pay in full when you make the reservation. I've never had a problem with AutoEurope, and they've always been easy to work with, easy to reach while on vacation in Europe, and easy to change things (I've changed dropoff times and locations).

In fact AutoEurope is the only car rental agency actually in Sarlat. So another option would be to leave your car there, take the coach which connects the Sarlat rail station to Souillac, where you pick up the direct train that goes through Brive to Paris.

Depends which schedule suits you best - Brive does give you more flexibility as the SNCF has dropped Souillac off some of the schedules.

You should be able to go to www.voyages.sncf.com and enter Sarlat (or Brive) as 'Depart' and Paris as 'Destination' Then click for 'Horaire' - schedule.

Carlux I think you meant to write that EuropCar is the only rental agency in Sarlat.....

DAC you need to call and see if they will give you an automatic in Brive. When I visited last year they claimed to have available automatics only in Bordeaux. Perhaps if you arrange this now for your fall trip you will have luck arranging one in Brive. In any case you can return the car in Brive and take the train from there, as discussed above. I have done that as well and it could not be easier.

Again thank you to everyone for your help.
ekskrunshy, I will be picking up the automatic car at CDG at the start of our trip so that should not be a problem.

quite right, I did mean that EuropCar is the only rental agency in Sarlat. I'm currently in Cape Town and I guess the European side of my brain isn't working.

though Brive or Souillac may be the nearest stations with direct trains to Paris

it's i think not the fastest route and if you drive along the Dordogne (or take the train there from Sarlat) to Libourne north of Bordeaux you can hop the TGV which run more extensive schedules and are faster would perhaps be the quickest way

Or even Bordeaux if you need find a station that accepts your dropoff car.

The Bordeaux drop-off is a pain in the neck. It is at the parking area of the train station, which happens to be on the other side of the tracks from the train station itself. It would be best to get <b>exact</b> directions from the rental agency because of one way streets and just finding the tunnel which goes from one side of the tracks to the other.