would you rather?

We are driving to Paris this weekend from Germany.

I%26#39;m in the process of picking a hotel, but we can%26#39;t decide what to do...

Would you rather:

stay in a more affordable hotel near the airport with free parking and use the metro to see the sights

--here we worry we%26#39;d waste a lot of time on the metro and wouldn%26#39;t enjoy our stay as much, although we won%26#39;t have to deal with traffic in the city and we may save a little money

OR

stay in a slightly more expensive hotel in the city and park the car in a garage for 20 euros per day

--here we will be in a nicer area with cafes and metro stops right outside the hotel (it%26#39;ll feel like Paris)

For what it%26#39;s worth we have a great GPS and live in Germany so we have driven to Prague, Munich, and Frankfurt.

Ok, what would you do and why?

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How much would it cost to just park your car for the week and leave it there? like at the airport, for example. Perhaps a hotel near the airport would let you park there for the week if you paid them a fee. Or perhaps there is a parking lot somewhere outside of Paris where you could park for the week.

The metro doesn%26#39;t take long to get around Paris but I think you would be missing some of the flavor of Paris if you stayed all the way out by the airport. I suggest staying in Paris. If the 20E isn%26#39;t a hardship to park at your hotel, you could do that. Otherwise, perhaps one of my other options would work.

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As a frame of relative cost....it will cost you approx. 17€ per day, per person to transfer round-trip between the RER stations within CDG and central Paris each day. CARNETs are available (packets of 10 reduced price Tickets)67,20€. What%26#39;s parking cost again?...and it will probably take at least 60 mins one-way from hotel,to CDG, via RER %26#39;B%26#39; ligne, to Paris.

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KDK is correct - you must add the cost of the RER tickets to and from the centre of Paris every day as well as the TIME you are going to waste twice a day getting to and from where you really want to be.

You won%26#39;t want to use your car during the week so you should investigate the options for parking it in the outer regions of Paris somewhere in a long term parking garage. Your car doesn%26#39;t need to be in the middle of Paris but you do!

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HarleyB - you put that so well.

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Not only would you be paying for the daily RER rides into town, but you%26#39;d have to be sure to make the last train out or else you%26#39;d risk being stuck in the city without a hotel, for the night.

As for the parking fees. 20E a day in the city center strikes me as affordable. Not sure it would be any cheaper. But if it was my car, I%26#39;d probably look into parking at the Val d%26#39;Europe shopping center for free and then taking the train in for the rest of my stay.

If you PM sunshine, she may know free parking solutions that are even safer, as she lives in that %26#39;hood.

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thank you all for putting it in perspective

we found a couple of hotels with a chance for parking, or else we%26#39;ll use a garage and pay the fee - it may even out in the end, if not it%26#39;ll be well worth it

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