Car rental for Normandy

Take the Thalys train out of Amsterdam and get off at Lille and you can rent your car there. We actually did that last year from great advice received from the forum. We stopped in Etretat on the way to Bayeux but let me tell you that having GPS in the car was priceless! We actually returned our car at Orly because we were spending a few days in Paris at that point. I can’t speak to returning a car at CDG so hope you’ll get some answers there.

We picked up in Caen, toured Normandy beaches and Loire area for a week, stopped at Chartres on the way to CDG where we dropped the car and spent the night before a morning flight home. Car return at CDG was well-signed except for the final U-turn in the rental area itself (took us two loops around the airport -- and a helpful attendant who stopped traffic for us -- to get to Enterprise.) Allow yourself plenty of time for dropoff!

We did about the same. Picking up a car in Lille, touring the beaches and then working our way south seeing various castles and dropping the car in LaRochelle. The drop fee was 50 euro. Flew out of LaRochelle to London for our return flight.

I agree with the other posters. Take the train to Lille and rent a car there. It's much easier than going all the way to Paris, changing train stations, and then renting a car in Caen or Bayeux. For drop off, make sure you give yourself LOTS OF TIME to get to the rental lot at the airport. Last time we were at CDG, there was a huge traffic jam just to get into the Terminal 2 area--it took 30 minutes from exiting the autoroute to get to Terminal 2E. And yes, it is very confusing to find which lot is the correct one--use Google Street view to make absolutely sure you know where the right drop-off location is.

Thanks to all for your input. The drop off at CDG sounds little intimidating. Is there any place in Normandy area or on way to Paris from Bayeux where we could drop the car off and get direct train to CDG. We will stay overnight there for early morning flight.

You'd be dropping off the afternoon or evening before your flight. There won't be traffic jams that time of day. The jams are in the morning. Just drop your bags at the hotel and then drop the car, nice and easy. Circling once or twice is easier than dropping elsewhere and schlepping into Paris by train and out to the airport. Even I have been able to do it and I'm a poor driver. Don't feel intimidated.

Thanks. We will do that. Thanks for the encouragement. Really appreciate all of the assistance from all of you.

If you are flying United, car return at terminal #1 is well-signed. It has always taken me longer to make the final portion of the drive to CDG than I expected.

We struggled a bit finding the Hertz return at CDG a few years ago. However, if we had spent a few minutes in advance looking at the website and maps, and studied the signage and info there, we could easily have done better. Be prepared, you'll be fine. http://easycdg.com/airport-guide/car-rental/