Driving outside Paris

Me and my husband will be in Paris from Oct 24 to Oct 31. Since we have 7 days, we thought we could spend 5 days in Paris (including going to Versailles) and drive outside paris for 2 days.

1) We wanted suggestions on where we can go for 2 days ?

2) We wanted to know where to rent a car from ? We want to avoid driving in the city.

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If I were you, I would get a car when you land at CDG...drive to Normandy and stay there for two days(hit Honfleur, Tourville, the DD Beaches, Mt. St. Michel, etc.), then drive back to CDG, get a taxi or the RER into the city and spend the rest of your time there.

I%26#39;ve driven out of CDG and up to Normandy and it has not been a difficult drive. YOu do have to come into the city a little, but not much.

It%26#39;s a 2 hour drive, give or take.

Les

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We rented our car from Avis at Neuilly Sur Seine.

You can get there via metro (very near La Defense), and there is minimal driving to get out to the A14. It%26#39;s practically a straight shot down the road as long as you turn the right direction.

We were on the FWY in minutes...

We recommend Nomandy beaches and or Giverny, Rouen. All easy drives from Paris.

BTW - the A14 is a toll road. There is a toll booth just outside of Paris

here%26#39;s a website that you can use to figure out the toll for your trip

http://www.autoroutes.fr/index.php?lng=2

-cris

p.s. we put a few other little tips on our website

…dslextreme.com/users/…parisdriving.htm

but most of them you will figure out on your own anyway. Have fun! The driving was one of my favorite parts! (check the pics from our Giverny trip :) )

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um- er- make that the A13. It%26#39;s the A13 that you would take out of Paris in the direction of Normandy...

at any rate, I also found the address of the rental car agency we used:

AVIS

tel 0820 61 16 12

99 Ave CH De Gaulle

Meuilly Sur Seine 92200

-cris

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ugh my blasted fingers, time for bed.

it%26#39;s Neuilly not Meuilly!! ack.

AVIS

tel 0820 61 16 12

99 Ave Charles De Gaulle

Neuilly Sur Seine 92200

-cris

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Thanks Guys. That was very helpful. We did some reading on France...Loire valley sounded interesting. Which would you recommend ? Normandy or Loire valley ?

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Depends on what you%26#39;re interested in. Loire valley has the many, many chateaux and tons of history of French royalty. You wouldn%26#39;t want to do too many chateaux in two days, though.

Normandy has the DDay beaches (the beach in general), Honfleur, Giverny, Mt. St. Michel...but all of these are not right next to each other.

If it were me, I would probably drive up to Honfleur, stay the night there, then drive to the DDay beaches the following morning, and spend that night in Mt. St. Michel....

Les

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Les68 -

I wish I would have asked you this question before I went on my trip. I thought everything in Normandy would be closer and we made the mistake of staying 2 nights in Mt. St. Michel, which was lovely, but it was painful to drive to the beaches (2 1/2 hr. drive each way) for our second day there. We could have spent at least 2 1/2 hours extra in the Beach area (instead of driving). Although our favorite area was definitely Mt. St. Michel. When I take my sons one day I will definitely stay at Honfleur or that area one day and Mt. St. Michel the other.

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Chossing between the Loire Valley and Normandy is tough - they are totally different.

We took the train from Paris to Tours and rented a car in Tours. We spent 2 days in the Loire and then drove to Mt. St. Michel for 1 night and then Normandy for 2 nights. We returned the car in Caen and took another train back to Paris. We were there for 10 days though - with you only having 7 you would have to pick one or the other.

Depends on what you like...castles or WWII.

I think the Loire area is more compact for a short trip. You could take the train to Tours to avoid city driving. Then drive to Amboise or Chenonceaux as a base for exploring the chateau. We stayed at Hostel du Roy in Chenonceaux and could walk to the chateau.

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The Loire Valley, Normany, Brittany, Burgundy---take a map of France, and draw a 300 km ring (you could go farther afield than this in a straight line but 300 km is a comfortable distance) %26#39;round Paris and anywhere within that area is possible with time to meander a bit.