Bruges to Bayeux

Rent the car; there are strikes happening unresolved on the French rail leg currently that you would take from Paris to Bayeux, People booked train tickets in advance of the strike and have to find other means to get where they want to go.

https://en.oui.sncf/en/train/strike

We are finding it very expensive to rent in Bruges and return in France. We only need the car for 3 days. Any recommendations there?

nope. most people here always recommend not dropping off a car in another country because of the drop off in another country fee; you will have to drive back to Belgium to avoid that or take chance with the strike not happening on the day you want .

This is an extreme solution, but Bruges is not ridiculously far from France. Perhaps you could get to De Panne and get just into France and rent a car. (Although there is a shore tram line starting in Osteende, regular trains don't run along the coast.) It doesn't make a lot of sense to spend most of a day driving half the width of France to get to you next selected destination. Would you consider revising your itinerary, and leaving Brittany and Normandy for another trip?

I haven't done the research, but strikes aside, it seems clear that you would have to change train stations (taxi or Metro with luggage) in Paris to continue to Bayeux. This is not a pretty picture.

or you can take the train Bruges to Brussels to and catch a bus either Eurolines or Flixbus 4 hour ride to Paris CDG and rent the car there

Our plan is to drive from wherever we rent the car, visit normandy and then go into Paris. I don't think Normandy is negotiable.

About the strikes, it are Belgian trains that run into Lille – Flanders not French, so you can take one from Bruges with a change in Kortrijk, needing some 1h 45min. Near the railway station in Lille are several rental agencies. You don’t say when you go, but if the strikes still are going on at the time you plan to travel you can contact the Belgian railways NMBS/SNCB if the strikes still affect travelling. http://www.belgianrail.be/en/Default.aspx (Phone number/contact form underneath the webpage).

Thank you. We are traveling the first week of July.

We did this by taking train to Lille, France and renting a car there. Car rentals at train station.