Best approach to visiting Paris, D-day Beaches, Mont St. Michel, Beaune,& the Riveria in 2 weeks

If you're OK with driving, which isn't difficult in France (but best avoided in central Paris), why not rent a car for the non-Paris parts of your trip? Pick it up at Porte Maillot or La Defense or even Rouen and take it through Normandy, south of Paris to Burgundy, and on to the Riviera. Drive back to Paris or take a fast train for your last days there. You shouldn't have a drop-off charge within France, so you don't have to bring the car back to the same place. Use the Via Michelin route finder to locate autoroutes well to the north or south of Paris. Last fall we drove from Beaune to Caen in a long day on the A6 and the A19. Be aware that August is when the roads and resort areas fill up with vacationing Frenchmen.

I'm a little confused about your "one night, three nights" plans. You'll need more than one night in Bayeux and Beaune (or other bases) to see much of Normandy and Burgundy. Your overall timeline seems to allow enough time to visit the regions you want. Try to base in just one place for each region, and use the car to get around each day. Mont-St-Michel fans recommend spending one night there, though, to outlast the day-tripping crowds.

Accept that the French rail system is Paris-centric, the whole system is spokes radiating from the one hub. Nothing you can do about it.

Now look at a map of the major road systems (or plot your major points on any routing software) and you'll see much the same thing concerning your areas of interest. You can make the northern loop, then pass through/near Paris enroute to Burgundy and the south.

To try any lateral bypass, you'd use up a lot of your precious little time. It's a good fifteen hours of hard driving from Caen to Nice -- you might want to shorten your spread for jus two weeks. A night in the places you mention will give you nothing left after spending the time to get there.

One night in Normandie doesn't give you time to visit the D-Day beaches; it gives you only a short overnight stop. You'll need another day to see Mont St. Michel. Driving to Beaune is about six hours from Bayeux, and Beaune to Nice is another six if you go directly and fast. I suggest you drive directly to Mont St. Michel from Paris and spend the night. The next day drive to Normandie and spend two nights so you have a full day to visit the beaches. Then you can drive to Beaune for a night on your way to Nice. If you want to do the wine and bicycle touring, you could add another night there but the actual sights to see in Beaune take about two hours.

Finally, I wouldn't backtrack to stay in Paris a second time, but would catch the early morning flight out of Nice that will connect you with your flight back to the States. You should see if you can add the Nice-Paris leg onto your ticket for a reasonable price using the same confirmation number. We just added a leg onto our ticket for this June and found it easy to do and not expensive. (If you do it, be sure the airline books you to the correct airport.) If you want more time in Paris, you could add a day or two at the beginning of your trip.

Train lines are centralized into Paris, so you would have to go through Paris from Normandie to Burgundy. With a car, you drive south of Paris, but still need to pass close by, near Versaille.

edit: I see Ed and I were on this at the same time.

Thanks for all the information/suggestions. It seems that perhaps a combination of all three; plane, train and automobile might be the best approach. Then there is the question of booking train tickets in advance, or just for the longer trips that require reservations. Should I buy them over the internet before departure or once we arrive in France? Rail pass or no rail pass? I appreciate your time and assistance.

The earlier, the cheaper. I bought our tickets as soon as we knew our itinerary and as soon as they became available. But be aware that early tickets lock you into a schedule.

I believe you are trying to get too much into a short period of time and will regret it once you see how much there is to see there. Look for quality rather than quantity. Paris will easily require a week, and with a family I'd suggest you look into renting an apartment. AirBNB is a good resource. Having been to Paris years ago, last fall we did Normandy and Provence in two weeks as follows: Arrived in Paris and took the train to Bayeux where we stayed three nights in a B&B and rented a car there. In that time we saw some of the D-Day beaches and the town of Bayeux (must see the cathedral and the Bayeux Tapestry). We did not go to Mt. St. Michel (1 1/2 hours away), but instead drove to Honfleur (one night) and later to Rouen (one night). A side trip from there was to Giverny to visit Monet's home, Garden and Lily Pond. From Rouen we took the TGV to Avignon, which bypassed Paris, and rented a car to drive to St. Remy de Provence where we rented a farmhouse for 6 nights. From there we were able to make day trips the surrounding towns and sites mentioned in Rick's guide books and DVDs including the Pont du Gard, Palace of the Popes and the hill towns of the Luberon. We also made it to the unexpectedly beautiful Mediterranean town of Cassis as well. If you fly into and out of Paris you can get the TGV from Avignon directly to the Charles de Gaulle airport, again bypassing Paris. While you cannot do what we did and Paris as well, I would suggest that you consider spending your time in Paris and Normandy, as well as Mont St. Michel, and leave everything south of Paris for another trip....trust me, you will want to come back. That way you can do Beaune, Provence and the French Riviera in a much slower and more enjoyable pace. If Beaune is really important to you now, look for a train out of Paris and make it a long day trip (3 1/2 hours each way). Happy travels.

If you are flying trans-Atlantic, see if you can adjust your air ticket to fly you through Paris to Nice. Then you could work your way back to Paris for the return trip. Personally I would be exhausted by such a tight schedule; you can find more than enough ways to spend your time around central France and leave the Riviera until next trip. But it's your choice and a multi-city ticket, which rarely costs much more, would be more efficient.

I agree with Jim and Southam, you're trying to cover too much in too short of time... I would drop the Riviera this trip and allow more time to actually experience and enjoy the other places.

Thanks for all the comments and help! I've got a lot to think about.

I agree with Jim & Southam; you're trying to do way too much. Spending the night at Mt St Michel is magical. You can train from Paris to Versailles, pick up a car and drive to MSM, car back to Normandy (Bayeux is a good base). Depending on how interested you are in WW II history, you could spend the rest of your time in Normandy. Honfleur is lovely, too. Turn in the car in Bayeux or Caen and train back to Paris.

Yes, too much for just 2 weeks. But you can have a terrific trip in 2 weeks if you are honest about your priorities and the constraints of reality.

You and yours need to set your own priorities, but if it helps here are some logistical observations.

I think a bare minimum of 2 nights in Bayeux to allow a day for the beaches. Another night in MSM if that is truly a priority. A car is helpful to get to MSM.

Burgundy is great but really you need a car (or all rent bicycles). Yes, you could do a one-nighter in Beaune, but you'd be spending more time to get there than it is worth.

Think about what attracts you to the Riviera, because it's your biggest logistical outlier, 6 hours from Pairs by train (longer by car) . Is it beaches? Brittaney has better ones and is close to Normandy. Is it the lure of the south? Consider Provence, 3 hours closer to Paris and the north. Note all of these places will be mobbed in August, so make reservations soon.

If you do prioritize the Riviera, fly home from Nice and save a day.

Thank you everyone for your comments/suggestions.