Driving through central Paris. Madness?

[bennyboydurham]

Gents, final day of our Euro trip tomorrow and currently in Brittany. I've nagged Mrs B into letting me drop in on the air museum at Le Bourget to have a nose around Concorde on the way back to Calais. I'm thinking it would be good to stop off for a bite for lunch and some touristy pics on the way there. This would entail a detour through the middle of Paris. We have a TomTom so I could just direct it to a parking garage in the centre. My worry is, are we likely to spend hours and hours trying to do it? Is parking impossible? Will we end up very angry and frustrated/divorced with the stress? Should I just stick with the peripherique and forget a lunch by the Seine?

PS - not going through the tunnel until 10pm, so not in a huge rush.

[mike9009]

Done it a few times. If you are going tomorow (non work day) it should be fine. I have been in the centre during the rush hour and that can be scary - especially in the British registered car. I think I turned into some sort of target for French driver frustration. However at quieter times I found it relatively easy and that was before I had invested in a sat nav.

I have taken my vx220 and old mk1 Toyota MR2 round Paris and really enjoyed it....

Have fun..

Mike

[Fleckers]

well worth it if not raining

go for it

[Ken Sington]

Do it like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlPfilnRDuI&fea...

[Hugo a Gogo]

it's good laugh, do it, go round the Arc de Triomphe

[davepoth]

Ken Sington said:

Do it like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlPfilnRDuI&fea...

Without watching this, why did it take 20 minutes to post?

[rt106]

My first experience of driving on the continent was a trip into the centre of Paris in a Transit LWB. An interesting experience but no problem for a confident driver. Do it.

[sday12]

These guys?

[MC Bodge]

Do it.

Remember that bumpers are a Parisian's reversing cameras.

I used to see an original Fiat 500 fitted with boat bumpers front and rear.

[zakelwe]

Hugo a Gogo said:

it's good laugh, do it, go round the Arc de Triomphe

Yes, that most be the most insane roundabout in the world ever. People talk about lane discipline. At the Arc de Triomphe there are no lanes. There is no discipline.

It all boils down to sticking the snout of your car in and hoping the other drivers have slightly less joie de vivre, or should that be joie de mort, than you do.

Some people say a lap of the IOM circuit at 100mph is impressive. I say 10 laps of the Arc de Triumphe without a dent is more so.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lay8aZlsbB0&fea...

[Stu R]

Take a car you couldn't give a monkey's about, and enjoy trying to 'out-mental' the locals. Once you come to terms with the likelihood you'll be dead sooner than later, it's really quite fun, and excellent preparation should you ever end up in Rome, Delhi or China.

[worley]

Tomorrow is not a good day as plenty of people will leave for the long weekend. If you insist, avoid the periferique at all costs and go through the centre along the quais.

[MC Bodge]

My Dad and his mates took their fully laden (with scousers), battle-scarred series 1 Land Rover around the Arc de Triomphe in about 1971 on their way to find the Land Rover dealer. Apparently they didn't have any trouble.

Paris is a little mad, compared to the relative calm of the UK, but driving in the dark between swerving, honking taxis, buses, horses, suicidal pedestrians and donkeys through unsignalled intersections in South America was arguably worse.

[Hugo a Gogo]

What I enjoyed most was the way a road, ostensibly with two lanes (no lane markings though), became a 5 or 6 car 'starting grid' at the traffic lights - thr first/bravest/daftest got in front when it went green

[JakesterUK]

Had to navigate into the centre at night back in 2004 whilst on a driving event where sat nav wasn't allowed. It was a fantastic nightmare!

Loved every second of the getting ourselves well and truly lost.

[Carrot]

That vid is absolutely insane!!

[ZOLLAR]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

If I'm honest I've never come across a policy that does exclude it, aren't aware of any major insurers that do exclude it either.
Think it's a myth but happy to be corrected

[GuinnessMK]

We drove through central Paris a couple of years back. Overall it's no worse than any other major city, poor signage, the locals know where they are going.

We stayed in an apartment next to Galeries Lafayette so parked up in their carpark to avoid the worst of the touch parking that goes on.

We relied quite heavily on the sat nav though.

[thinfourth2]

There is a distinct chance that you might pick-up a parking ding and no city is worth that risk

[ZOLLAR]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

That seems more like it, although I doubt all would be 50/50, the only exclusion I know of on a public road is of course the 'ring.