My fiance wants to go to this zoo when we are in Paris. I went to their website however and it seems that you need a vehicle to drive through their African Reserve. Has anyone ever been here and have some thoughts to share about it?

Also, does anyone have any experience with renting a car for one day in Paris? We are staying in Montemarte and I am unsure where the best place to pick up a car would be.

Any insight anyone could provide would be appreciated.

Thanks.
Jaz

I've rented from Hertz at their downtown location. My advice, based on what I read here, is to rent from CDG. Take RER out (or rent on arrival), then drive to your destination without having to worry about navigating Paris streets.

Look at

www.viamichelin.com

for directions (77km from CDG to Thoiry)

You could also throw in Chartres...

Mike

In fact you may want to pick up your car in Chartres for easier driving.

I drove thru the 'zoo' years ago with my young kid and he loved it and i did too - unique experience with ferocious beasts right near your car.

A word of caution - some monkeys climbed all over our car, a non-rental, and though they did not could have scratched it - take out the CDW optional insurance!

You may well be able to go car-less if so i'm sure there is good public transportation there from some near train station.

They have some minibus or bus service for people without cars, particularly on the weekend. It is a very interesting experience (I would say to beware of the ostriches trying to rip off the windshield wipers). There is an immense zoo to walk around as well, after the road experience -- or instead of it, if you have absolutely no transportation.

Thanks for the info, I will definetly look into renting either from Chartres or the airport..

PalenQ: I am glad to hear you enjoyed it! I wasn't really sure if anyone had gone there before but it looks pretty interesting!

Jaz

kerouac: thanks for letting me know about the mini bus, I looked on the website but I didn't see anything about that. I will definetly check into it more as I would rather not rent a car since I am sure that the train or otherwise goes to the location.

Thanks again!

I was checking around and saw that Cityrama "used to" do minibus tours to Thoiry. Now they only do so if someone books a group or is willing to pay for a private tour. I think that you would indeed be better off renting a car to go to Thoiry.

Thoiry is only 54 km from Paris, and the viamichelin.com driving time is 45 minutes, of which 38 km is on the freeway. It's really quite simple. Hertz has rates for 8-hour rentals, if that helps.