I had a number of issues with the car drop off here; not all of them were directly Avis' issue, but here we go.
There is an Esso gas station literally a block down the street. However, that place doesn't apparently accept non-EU credit cards from what I could determine (and is 100% automated). So be aware and locate a few gas stations nearby to fill up, or submit to getting reamed on the return-fill-up fees.
The signs for the return are good, at the entrance. You enter the parking garage and keep following signs, downward. At about the 3rd level down, they start neglecting the signage. Taking a wrong turn and having to reverse course at that stage is not fun (though I managed it).
The signs eventually lead you down to either the 4th or 5th level down in the garage. You pull up and the Avis guy approaches the car with a handheld input device and proceeds to checking out the car. He does not provide you with a receipt (I asked but he just said 'No'). He wasn't impolite, but neither was he particularly helpful. I was also worried that I'd have to explain the part about returning the car nearly empty of fuel, but this didn't seem to phase him (heck, in retrospect he's probably used to it; it would probably be more of a shocker if you had filled it up, actually). They do send you an email receipt, though that wasn't clear at the time.
You then get to exit the facility. There is one sign pointing to the exit, and you quickly find that it is a stairway, with no elevator. My family *almost* all came down here for the drop off, but my daughter suggested that I let everyone else out in an area which we thought was probably close to our hotel (along with the luggage) instead. That was one of the best decisions of the trip. They had minor difficulties finding the hotel, but it was nothing compared to what we would have encountered getting our bags up to daylight from the Avis drop off. In August, you face a combination of a French sauna and a stair-master to climb back out of the drop-off. I did have a heavy backpack, but no suitcase, thankfully. I had definitely broken a considerable sweat by the time I emerged onto a sidewalk about a block south of the Gare de Lyon station.
The only saving grace here for me was that this was all still preferable to having to return the vehicle back to the airport. However, you should at least be aware of what you're facing in the drop off here and plan accordingly. Good luck! read more