I a planning a trip to Normandy with my son's to visit the D day beaches and the spend a few days in Brittany
Trying to decide if I should rent a car at CDG and drive to Bayeux. or train to Caen and rent there. (We will be coming to Paris from Ghent and will return to Paris to fly home).
how rough would be to drive from CDG. (I live in Northern Virginia so I have high tolerance for traffic.). Thanks!
Because you will not have jet lag, driving makes some sense. Absent some major delays, it should take less time than taking the train because you should be able to be on your way much sooner than you would be if you go by train. You will not have to go into Paris to get to Bayeux if you drive from CDG. Are you planning to spend time in Paris between Normandy and flying home. If so, I suggest returning the car in Caen.
We did this trip two years ago and took a train from Paris to Rouen, stopping at Giverny to see Monet's house on the way. We spent a few days in Paris on either end of the trip so its not like we were getting a car at the airport. Rouen was a lovely small city. We spent a few nights there and then rented the car from Rouen to drive to Bayeux, which we used as our house base to explore the beaches. We continued on to Mt. St. Michel and then on to Brittany. We finally ditched the car in Vannes and took the train back to Paris.
I grew up driving in NYC so I too have a high tolerance for city driving but because we wanted to see Rouen it just made sense to do it this way and save ourselves the hassle.of driving in a city that we hadn't driven in before. Bayeux was a dream! Could easily live there. The Bayeux tapestry was a major bucket list item for me, which added to its appeal.
Your question is not clear, but I assume you will be in Paris already, then you want to rent a car. If this is the case, do not go to CDG to rent a car. That would waste both time and money. A13 to Normandy departs Paris from Porte d'Auteuil on the exact opposite side of Paris from CDG. Rent from Gare Montparnasse, or any of the agencies between la Défense and Porte Maillot. It is very simply to reach the périphérique and orbit to A13, or take A14 from Porte Maillot/la Défense. This will save you an hour going to CDG and and an hour plus driving to reach the autoroute to Normandy.
If you are coming from Ghent and do not stay in Paris before heading to Bayeux, you could consider renting a car in Lille.
Sure, the drive is longer, but you avoid Paris altogether and you can stop in Amiens along the way.
You could even take a connecting train from Lille to Amiens and rent a car there, to shorten the drive a little.
You could do the reverse of what we did this past spring; assuming after Ghent your taking the train to Paris was just to pick up a car…
We took the train from Paris to Rennes in Brittany. Picked up a rental car and went to Mont St Michel, then Bayeux, and Rouen. Then drove to Lille; dropped off the car in Lille at the train station and took the train to Ghent. Nominal fee to pick up/drop off a rental to a different location within France.
For many reasons, we’ve used CDG as a jumping off point to head west to our regulars stays in Normandie or east to Germany or Belgium. So, my inclination is begin and end at CDG.
That all being said everyone will stand on the rightness of their advice. I’ve been a creature of habit for ten plus years and it has worked.
It really depends on how you are getting to Paris from Ghent, and when. If you are flying, then renting a car at CDG should be simple. The drive isn't bad, and the worst of it will be right around Paris itself—the periphery roads can get quite busy at rush hour. If you are taking a train, you will likely arrive at Gare du Nord. From there I would make my way over to Gare Saint-Lazare, from which you will board a train to either Bayeux or Caen (that's the only station they leave from). The trip between the two stations is around 20 minutes by Metro, or less by taxi. Caen has many more rental car options than Bayeux, and they are right at the Station. Plus it is only a short drive from there to Bayeux (≈half-hour). In Bayeux, I am only aware of one rental car office, and it is at a gas station a taxi ride away from the train station. I have picked up cars at all three (CDG, Caen, and Bayeux), as well as downtown Paris, Cherbourg and Rennes when taking trips to Normandy.
Thank you everyone. This was super helpful and gave me some things to chew on!
We did this a few months ago. The hardest part was finding our way out of the airport. I recommend looking at satellite maps ahead of time. And a couple of the streets in Bayeux were stressfully narrow but with patience and diligence, everything worked out fine.
