Car Rental: Aix-en-Provence

Since the train from Aix-en-Provence to Menton costs 66 euros and dropping the car off has an extra of 100 euro, it costs only 34 euro to drop the car of in Menton. Otherwise, make pictures of the car before and after you drop it off, give the keys to the attendent or drop them in a postbox and take your train .

Can you drop the car back as late as possible the day before?

Aix central station to Menton central station by SNCF - TER = regional trains- is about 42,30 € per person and need about three hours. You can also go by car of course and drop it in Menton 9 Avenue Thiers, 06500 Menton
Téléphone :04 93 28 21 80 - by the motorway its about 260km and need also 3 hours all in all.

thanks for the responses....I did a bit more research and discovered that if we drop it off in Nice at the train station, it costs the same as dropping it in Aix-en-Provence. It looks like gas could cost us anywhere from $15-$20 give or take for that leg of the journey and should take about 2.5 hours with another $20 in tolls for a grand total of about $35-$40 plus $12 (okay 9.50 euros) to get to Menton from Nice. In theory, we could just spend the night in Nice but it's a huge city and while it is probably fabulous, I think for that leg of the trip, I just want a day at the beach...close to a simple hotel and some "quick" food...aka picnic food. My husband will have to read up and familiarize himself with driving and parking in France and we'll just go with it.

Also...(who knew?!!) it's unsafe to rent car seats. I thought they would have adhered to safety regulations and therefore should be fine but apparently not.....heads up for any parents...be careful about asking any questions regarding car seats or airline tickets for young children, you will likely get shamed by over-zealous mothers. So, it looks like I will have to buy and bring a dang car seat. We are looking at getting the cosco scenera and have heard that we can use an American car seat since we are only traveling through but then I heard that we have to get a European car seat because they are different. Does anyone have any information on this? If I can just bring this affordable car seat then that would be preferable (obviously) then attempting to find and purchase a possibly expensive European car seat for not even a full 4 days.

I love planning but I'm getting sick of this.....I'm ready to book the dang car and be done with the planning.

Also...(who knew?!!) it's unsafe to rent car seats. I thought they would have adhered to safety regulations and therefore should be fine but apparently not.

that's too much of a generalisation to me. I doubt any car rental would give you a child seat that doesn't comply to the current safety standards (since it would be hard to come by in the first place) - however obviously you'll never know beforehand what condition that seat will be in and very likely it won't be an upmarket brand you yourself might have picked for your kid.

but then I heard that we have to get a European car seat because they are different. Does anyone have any information on this?

this topic crops up now and then, here's a still fairly recent thread that covered the issue: https://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/forums/europe-western-europe/topics/baby-car-seats-france-and-germany
I seem to recall that you're going to attend a wedding of a close friend - maybe (just maybe) you could ask them whether there's anyone (other friends, family etc.) down there who could organise/lend a child seat for those couple of days, because it indeed looks foolish to drag around a seat for the remainder of your trip.

i definitely had my husband ask his friend if anyone had a car seat we could borrow and we got a big, fat no. It looks like a typical, new American car seat should fit as it seems like the ISOFIT/ISOFIX is the same thing as anchors and if that doesn't work out, I should be able to use the seat belt to secure it with some thing I need to buy cause the seat blets are different.

Thanks!! I think this is the last thing I need to reserve (the car)...

Some time ago you wrote you will be with friends in Salon for a wedding. Why not ask before you go if somebody has a seat for a one year old for you. European seats for children are made for all European cars and can used without any problem. Later, from Paris, you can send the seat back to his owner by the French Post or private services

Some time ago you wrote you will be with friends in Salon for a wedding. Why not ask before you go if somebody has a seat for a one year old for you. European seats for children are made for all European cars and can used without any problem. Later, from Paris, you can send the seat back to his owner by the French Post or private services

Yes, that would make sense to just borrow one. However, my husband asked his friend and he said that it is highly unlikely that anyone would have one we could borrow (I think he may just not really want to put in the effort asking his fiancé's relatives). To be honest, while we are going for this wedding....it's turning out to be a huge hassle! I don't regret planning this trip but they literally picked one of the most expensive times to travel and then had to pick a location that is pretty inaccessible by train requiring guests to rent a car (most are traveling to get there except for the brides relatives). Then, it seems like the groom's brother (also good friends with husband...known each other since they were 10) may just be doing stuff with family so we may not even be doing many activities with them at all. I kind of thought considering they have all been such good friends that they would try to help make things as easy for guests as possible, especially close friends but ah well!! Next time I go to Europe....I'm going to keep the planning sweet and simple. Thank goodness that the planning is essentially done. Now all I need to do is just check up on the train tickets from Ventimiglia-Florence when they are posted and look up activities to do, and figure out a packing list....what outfits do I want to wear, what do I want my baby to wear.....that is all fun stuff!!

what a pity, as a host I would have considered that an easy task to delegate to someone within the family or circle of (local) friends - but don't let that detail spoil your trip, weddings have their own dynamics and restraints, so I wouldn't necessarily consider this deliberate.

another question comes to mind: for the plane, did you book a seat for your baby? if yes and you don't have a baby seat already, I think it would be worth checking with the airline and suppliers which baby seats are permitted for travel inside the cabin (since not all are!). I assume your flight would be much more enjoyable if your baby can nap in a 'bucket seat' compared to an ordinary seat. the downside: afaik the only seats qualifying are to be found within the 0/0+ size group, which your kid has almost outgrown - yet maybe you can find a decent used seat.

don't forget that for isofix most seats will need an additional isofix-base (expensive, bulky) - personally, I'd deem belts alone safe enough.

and all this said, I wouldn't dismiss renting a seat locally - it's likely so much less hassle considering you'll be doing a lot of travel without car, and you really don't want more lugagge than necessary...