London to Normandy

Getting from England to Normandy is not easy. There are ferries, taking many hours or overnight, and the English would probably use these if driving with their own cars. I have done so many times in the past.
If you rent a car you are usually NOT allowed to take it to France, the companies think it is too much risk for you to drive their car on the other side of the road, even though Millions do it every year. You would also have to return the car to England.

That leaves you two options:
1) Use a ferry as a foot passenger. That requires trains + bus or taxi to docks + ferry + bus or taxi, then pick up a rented car (in Caen or Bayeux.
2) Train all the way. Eurostar London - Paris, métro, train to Bayeux (or Caen) and pick up car.

For the ferries, there are 3 routes to choose from:

• Portsmouth to St Malo
• Portsmouth to Caen
• Portsmouth to Cherbourg

All operated by "Brittany Ferries". Info here: https://www.brittany-ferries.co.uk/ferry-routes/ferries-france/portsmouth-france

These locations pair poorly. Will you ever visit the Continent again? Is it too late to buy an open-jaw air ticket home from Paris? Will you have a car in NORMANDY? Do you care about anything else in Normandy? How many days must you save for London?

Unfortunately, it is not as rare as you might expect for ferries to be canceled. It has happened to me two times out of five ferries, and my trips were between May and July, not a period when one would expect extreme weather. I understand that I have been unlucky, but I would still be very reluctant to depend on a ferry to travel between southern England and Normandy during a short trip like this. One of my ferries was canceled for three days in a row.

You could take the Eurostar train from London to Gare du Nord in Paris, and then take another train from Gare St Lazare to Bayeux. You will need to transfer from Gare du Nord to Gare St. Lazare. It's easiest just to take a cab from Gare du Nord to Gare St. Lazare. It's not a long ride, but I would allow a couple of hours between trains. We have done this on the the day we landed in London. If you can handle your bags, it's an easy walk from the Bayeux train station to most of the hotels.

If you are at all interested in D-Day, I would recommend using one of the many tour guides based in Bayeux to see the beaches. In September 2019, we took a couple of small-group tours with Overlord and highly recommend them.

https://www.overlordtour.com/

When are you planning on making this trip? I would do one or the other. The best way is take a train from Paris to Bayeux. Now whether you want to travel from London to Bayeux is up to you, but I you are looking at an +8 hour travel day one direction, especially by train. The Normandy Beaches are isolated to an extent, two lane roads to get there, especially at the end. I would definitely have a guide and driver because there is a lot of history besides just the landing beaches.

Yes, unfortunately despite their geographic proximity, traveling between southeast England and Normandy is never quite as time-efficient as you might think. If you'd just like to visit the landing beaches I don't think you need to rent a car*, and I think at minimum you'd have to budget 3 days in total, of which 2 days would largely just be traveling. It's up to you whether you think it'd be worth it.

For example:

Day 1: travel London to Bayeux via train

The actual train time on Eurostar from London to Paris is about 2h20m, but remember you should arrive at St Pancras at least 1 hour before your trip for immigration formalities, and that France is 1 hour ahead of the UK. You'll have to make a change of station in Paris -- I'd allot at least 1 hour to be safe -- from Gare du Nord, (arrival station for Eurostar) to Gare St-Lazare (departure station for trains to Normandy). Paris to Bayeux is about another 2h20m. So all in all you can see it'll take you most of the day.

Personally, I don't have experience of the ferries, which in theory could save you time (since some run overnight), but I've heard it can be quite choppy and there's the cancellation issue mentioned above; plus you have to keep in mind that you have to get to/from the ferry terminals at both ends.

Day 2: take a guided tour of the landing beaches

I'm not normally much of a guided-tour man, but I did one of these and I think it was really well done and I'd absolutely do it again. This also solves your transport problem as all the tours (1/2 day and full day) pick up in Bayeux, so you won't need to rent a car.

Day 3: reverse Day 1 and return to London.

• Note: a car is definitely helpful for visiting Normandy if you have more time and want to visit smaller villages, make your own itinerary, get off the beaten track, etc. But with your limited timeframe I think you should do a straightforward guided tour of the beaches.

@Tim @Andrew
Nowhere does the OP say they are returning to the UK. I just assumed they are exiting from France.

"you should arrive at St Pancras at least 1 hour before your trip for immigration formalities"

I would make it two hours to get in line; then scan ticket, then security scan for luggage etc and then passport control. There are other Eurostar trains in the que too for Brussels, Amsterdam etc. Last June it was very slow to clear everything.

Chris F, I made an alternative assumption, supported equally well by the OP, and in my opinion, more likely, based on the later-exposed facts of similar inquiries made on this board. I made no statement about your assumption.

Thank you so very much for the time and effort each of you has devoted to helping to solve this dilemma!! Because we’ll be flying in and out of London, it’s clear that two full days are required to travel to and from Bayeux. I’m beginning to see that visiting London and Normandy Beaches in an 8-day time frame is not advisable. Unfortunately, we will have to save Bayeux for another trip. Thank you for making this decision easier!

Smart decision. Keep in mind for the future that there are additional interesting things to see in Normandy besides the invasion sites. Even when they're just starting from Paris, I hate to see folks spend the time traveling to and from Normandy for just one day (or, worse, a few hours).

Nowhere does the OP say they are returning to the UK. I just assumed
they are exiting from France.

And nowhere did they say they were staying in France, as you assumed -- we both made assumptions here!

Thank you again for your help! I appreciate your knowledge, wit and patience!!