Finding a place to park your car can be a nightmare. Moreover, when you find a free space, you should always ask yourself whether it is an authorized place or not to avoid impoundment. After reading
Finding a place to park your car can be a nightmare. Moreover, when you find a free space, you should always ask yourself whether it is an authorized place or not to avoid impoundment. After reading this article, finding a parking spot will no longer be difficult for you.
Rent a parking space
Renting a parking space via mobile apps like Yespark or Zenpark is the ideal solution if you live in the city. Indeed, these applications offer you a monthly subscription to park regularly in public parking lots, in a residence, in companies, in hotels, etc. The price of the subscription depends on each municipality.
Opting for sidewalks
The sidewalks are generally free at night, on Sundays, and on public holidays. In addition, these parking lots are free during these periods.
Look for blue zones
This parking zone is marked with a blue pavement marking and a sign with the letter P, and a parking disc on a blue background. In general, you can park for a maximum of 2 hours during the day. However, you will need a regulation parking disc which you can get from a town hall or from a dedicated shop. Once you have arrived, place it on your windshield and indicate the time of arrival using the arrow on the disc.
Use a paid parking lot.
The presence of a parking meter identifies pay parking lots. To take advantage of them, paying the parking fee in advance is imperative. To do so, download the PayByPhone or Whoosh application and create an account. After each payment, you will receive a virtual parking ticket. Simply scan your license plate to check if the payment has been made for the chosen time. Alternatively, you can park in an underground parking lot using a classic ticket or electronic toll badges.
Locate nearby parking lots beforehand
Your smartphone can help you find a nearby parking lot. Onepark, Zenpark, and OPnGo are the most used to find more than 500 parking lots in France. You can also use the GPS service of your car through Google Maps or Mappy. If you do not have any of these means, visit the government website “data.gouv.fr”.
Reserving a parking lot
It is essential to reserve a parking lot to have peace of mind and not to waste time. To do so, advance payment is required via applications such as Onepark, Zenpark, or Parking Facile by defining the date and time planned. It should be noted that each application uses different methods to access the parking lot in question.
Requesting a carpooling service
If you are planning to go to a public event, the ventousage service is the ideal solution. It consists of legally reserving a part of public space as a parking lot. Get in touch with an agency specializing in this field to take advantage of this service.
Know the potential locations
Some parking lots are known for their size, which can have several spaces, which means that they are often free. Knowing some of these places will help you if you have decided to rent a car for your vacation in France. Here is a non-exhaustive list grouped by city.
In Paris:
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- Effia’s Catalogue and Océane parking lots next to the Montparnasse train station ;
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- Effia and Blue Valet parking lots next to the Gare du Nord train station;
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- Saemes Méditerranée parking lot at the Gare de Lyon;
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- The parking lots at Paris-Orly and Paris-Charles de Gaulle airports.
In Lyon:
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- The Bonnefoi parking lot
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- The Parc Gare Part-Dieu parking lot
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- The Lyon Perrache Effia exchange center parking lot next to the Perrache train station.
In Strasbourg:
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- The Petite-France Historic Center parking lot
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- The Strasbourg-Entzheim airport parking lot.
In Marseille:
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- The Q-Park Vieux-Port parking lot
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- Marseille-Provence airport parking lot.
In Nantes:
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- Nantes-Atlantique airport parking lot.
In Bordeaux
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- Bordeaux-Mérignac airport parking lot.
In Toulouse:
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- Toulouse-Blagnac airport parking lot.
If you can’t find them, hire a VTC driver to avoid getting lost. Sound off in the comments section below, and tell us what you want to read next and if you want to read more about finding a parking spot in France while traveling.