We memorized our parking level, proceeded up the stairs, out the door, and this is where we came out…
Where were we?
Parking is potentially problematic everywhere in the world, or so we’ve discovered. In Avignon France it’s tricky (what does that even mean?). In Old City Luxembourg it’s scarce, Paris France it’s expensive. Our hotel in Orange, France turned out to be the easiest for parking.
Retrofitted parking in centuries old cities is more than a challenge, it’s monumental. What street parking there is, is generally reserved or at least consumed by locals. Parking is almost always underground due to aesthetics and practicality. That in turn requires some innovative entrances and exits, both vehicle and pedistrian.
Old City Luxembourg
This city is over 1,000 years old so it’s no wonder parking is scarce. It didn’t help that we stayed in Old City, making parking incredibly competive. It wasn’t so bad when we came in near the end of the day, but when we returned to do our Luxembourg City Promenade Tour, we encountered an interesting phenomena. Downtown is one of the busiest parking garages in the city. It’s so much of a problem, that the city striped a dedicated entrance lane on the street to accommodate those waiting for a space to open up. Also striped is a second lane for monthly parking (whose spaces are reserved), so they don’t have to wait in the queue line to get in.
Once in the lane, those in the line have to wait for somone leave the lot. The counter on the overhead sign provides an indicator as to how many cars will have to leave the garage so you can park.
The takeaway here? Get into that specific parking garage before 8:30am or after 2pm, when it’s no longer full and you don’t have to wait.
The pedestrian entrance is about a half block away, and not so easy to find.
Paris
Paris has plenty of parking. But not on the street. And not necessarily a short walk away. Google Maps is pretty good at outlining where it’s available, but your concierge can also guide you to the best location(s).
The pedestrian entrance/exit for the parking is admittedly weird. You open the door, climb a set of stairs that dumps you out between the hedgerow, lawn, and the sidewalk. At night there’s very little lighting, so when I went back at 5:30am to get the car, it was awkward at best. Rainy and very dark, the entrance/exit was virtually hidden.
We left our car for 2 days. It cost us over $100 for both days. In hindsight, we probably would have taken the car back to Charles de Gaulle Airport where we rented it. That would have been 2 less days for rental and insurance, as well as the parking. We’re pretty sure Uber from the airport, then back again would’ve been cheaper. Probably significantly cheaper. Oh well, better for us to learn so you can benefit!
Avignon
We had to go to Avignon for exchange and decided to make it a day trip to see the architecture there. Parking was insane there. Not that it’s hard to find parking. The city offers some 14 different parking locations, some above ground, most below.
After driving in a circle twice trying to find the one we’d picked out ahead of time, we landed on Parking Indigo Avignon Oratoire.
Similar to Paris, we ended up on an alley that looked like it would be difficult to find our way back. The pictures you saw at the beginning were of the alley we came out into. The alley took us into a small courtyard which spilled onto the street. Then I took a picture on the street as to the general location. My pictures didn’t help, at all, at least for finding our original parking entrance.
Street view photo just beyond our entrance onto the street.
This is the picture I should have taken (from Google Streets).
Note the different colored sidewalk between the two “5” bollard signs. The courtyard is through the archway, and the alley is just beyond that. Photo by Google Maps.
We did find the parking lot, however it was different entrance from a different street. Fortunately I had remembered the general location of the lot and we asked a local who sent us to another entrance. We almost made it back to the same entrance and didn’t know it until writing this article. We were sooo close as you’ll see in the series of pictures below. The first picture in the series shows the wall that was on the other end of the alley that we first came out into. The Google Map pictures with explanations show exactly how close we were and the alley in the city.
Orange
When it makes sense, and when its available, we use valet parking. Perfect example – Hotel Arene in Orange France. The hotel is in the center of the town, where the streets are small, there’s not much traffic and there’s absolutely no parking in a 5 block radius. However, we were able to secure valet parking because it was off season, we were one of the last occupants (they shut the hotel down for two months the night we left), and no one else was using it. We were not as fortunate in Dijon, France as the nearest parking was a half mile away and it wasn’t available.
With the valet option, you just drive up to the hotel, and give them the keys inside. Every morning when we woke up, the car is sitting outside the hotel entrance, ready to go! Expensive? Not at all! For this service it only cost $13 per day. The alternative was a 5 block walk and “feeding the meter” for 5 days in a surface lot on the edge of the old city center.
Our car right outside the hotel entrance.
The Parking Takeaway
When needing to park, consider all the details about where you’ll be parking. In particular the following:
- How close you are to your intended destination?
- How long you’ll be there?
- How often you’ll be utilizing the parking?
- What time of day will you need the parking?
- What else is happening (sometimes there are special events) that may affect you’re ability to park?
In the end, the more you know the better off you’ll be!