VERDICT: WE GAVE 3 OUT OF 5 TICKETS AND HERE’S WHY!
This guide forms part of our complete France Travel Guide, featuring scenic road trips, iconic destinations, practical travel advice and honest first-hand travel experiences from across France.
This article is also part of our đźš— 7-Day France Road Trip series, exploring OrlĂ©ans, Lyon, Avignon and Nice. Beginning at Paris CDG and then to the Loire Valley, our 1,000 kilometre adventure takes us through historic towns, iconic cities and one of France’s most famous beach fronts. Read the complete itinerary here.
SIXT Rental Cars – CDG, Paris Airport
Sixt Group is an international vehicle rental, car sharing, business. It has rapidly become our #1 choice in car rentals,despite a few challenges this time around.
Our story: Driving Across France (Paris to Nice)
We spoke too soon… we have had so many bad experiences with car rental companies over our years of travelling… everything from being blamed months later for damage we didn’t do, to being charged four times on our credit card for the same rental…
We thought we’d discovered the holy grail… Sixt Car Rental was new to us & our first time was a dream. We had a pleasant staff member, an upgrade we didn’t ask for, help in the parking garage, greeting in person when we returned the vehicle & an in-person inspection with us so we felt good about leaving it behind. So many rental companies will not come out with you to inspect the vehicle and seem to think it’s no big deal to just place something on insurance if they feel an incident has happened. We don’t want to go through the nightmare of being blamed for damage we didn’t do again… it took months to sort out & luckily we had photos & videos to back us up.
Anywayyyy, this time we arrived at CDG, found the rental booth, and started the process. The staff member tried to say very quickly, that we knew there would be a charge for snow tires, right? We said no we did not. He said it is the law in Nice that you have snow tires. We said, why wasn’t this mentioned when we booked online to begin with? He didn’t know. It came to an extra 280 Euros! What can you do when you’re standing there and needing to leave, not knowing if this is true or not… he had a paper that showed some kind of map, talking about the area the snow tires were required, so we just paid it. We later checked into this and was told “In Nice, France, winter tires are NOT legally required in the city itself, but they or snow chains are mandatory from November 1 to March 31 IF DRIVING INTO NEARBY MOUNTAINOUS AREAS” which we were NOT and told him so. That price was ridiculous, regardless and we plan on fighting this. There was no one to go over the vehicle damage with us, and there were some significant marks, so we did our due diligence with photos and videos, the best we could.
Then it was time to leave the parkade. At no time were we given any direction on how to get out. We drove to the marked exit, only to be stopped by an electronic arm in our way. We couldn’t see how to get around it and traffic started backing up behind us… luckily the gentleman behind us got out & spoke with the voice on the call box in perfect French to find out we needed a ticket that had been back by the doors we’d come out from the airport… how were we to guess that? It did explain all the honking of horns and backup we’d seen while we were trying to film & photograph the car… clearly others were stuck at the exit too.
We were told we would be able to return the rental in Nice, after we’d been to Orleans, Lyon, and Avignon first. This sounded great as the return spot said it was on the same road as our Nice hotel. BUT it was so complicated to find! There were one way streets & road blockages on every street. Then when we did find the parkade we were to go in, we hadn’t been told we’d need some kind of pass to get in the gate. It just so happens there was someone in a booth nearby that let us in.
When we went to turn in the keys, we did have great service with the attendant. He was efficient & asked about where we were from & if he could give us some suggestions on things to do as there was events like the Carnaval de Nice, etc. We said we were glad to get any info as we’re travel writers looking for what to tell our followers about Nice. He immediately looked up our website & talked with us about things to do. It took the frustration we’d just experienced down quite a bit.
Continue Exploring Northern France
- Paris to Nice: 7-Day Road Trip
- Full Video Series: 7-Day Road Trip, Paris to Nice
- Where we stayed in Europe
- The Battle that Changed France
- 10 Amazing Things to do in Orléans
- 24 Hrs in Lyon: Basilica and Roman Ruins
- How to Use a Toll Road in Europe
Nearby Attractions
- Le Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre
- Free Rooftop Views of Paris
- How to Use a Toll Road in Europe
- La Favorite Saint Paul, Paris
- Explore Montmartre, Paris
- Guided Tour: The Louvre Museum
- Paris 3 Course Dinner Cruise Along the River Seine
- 3 Reasons to Visit Overlord Museum, Normandy
- Notre Dame, Cathedral
- D-Day Landings: Juno Beach
- Post d’Avignon – the Broken Bridge
- Bayeux, France
- Chateau de Sully-Sur-Loire
Planning Your Trip?
Before you go, don’t forget to book the essentials:
- 🏨 Hotels & unique stays
- đźš— Rental cars
- 🎟️ Top-rated tours & attractions
- 📶 eSIMs for easy connectivity
- 🛡️ Travel insurance
- 🎒 Packing Lists
- 🎒 Travel gear from The Venturio
With every trip, we offer feedback to travel companies along with honest views for you, the reader. We rate adventures on a scale of one to five tickets, judged on quality, service, memorability, and price. A perfect ‘Ticket Rating’ of a five-ticket score means the experience was flawless and we’d eagerly return. Your desire to go back is the ultimate measure of a trip’s worth. Exclusive to My Return Ticket.
