Driving in France / Normandy

You should always have a good paper map with you, anywhere. Always. Everywhere. Unless, of course, you simply don't really care about being able to find your way reliably.

Whether you bring a gizmo with electronic maps - GPS, phone/tablet with Google maps, whatever - or not. Always have a good map with you, have it out and ready to view. Use it (and common sense) to cross-check and validate what your phone or GPS is telling you do to. Always. Have some idea where you are going and how you will get there. If you just blindly follow whatever your device bleats at you, you are just along for the ride.

I love my gizmos as much as anyone else. But any device can fail, can be lost or stolen, can run out of power, or lose something critical that renders it as useless as a stone. All of those things have happened to me at some point (and some of them surely will happen to you eventually). Happens to millions of people every day, and could easily happen to you when you need it most. OTOH, maps are cheap, light, and do not fail for any of the reasons that electronic devices do (unless you just lose it - but pickpockets won't go for your Michelin map).

Seems to me that only a fool would rely 100% on an electronic device for critical navigation tasks. I have learned and re-learned that lesson enough times. But it's your trip. Good luck.

The problem with Google Maps for long drives is you have to count on having data available. Are you already set up to have data on your cell phone from the moment you land? Here's what I do (YMMV).

Yes, I have paper maps, but I only use them before I head out for the day, or in case of emergency. Frankly, looking at paper maps while driving has its own set of dangers, although there being two of you, one can drive, the other navigate. I purchased France/Europe maps for my own Garmin vehicle GPS which I pre-load before my trip, and this covers 95% of my vehicle navigation. You may get a GPS navigation unit with your rental car, but either way, make sure it is up and running—including setting it to your preferred language—before you head out of the airport. You won't want to deal with that while you wade into Paris metro traffic.

Once I am in a town and walking about, I use Google Maps offline—which I have downloaded to my device before leaving. I also "favorite" the many places I might want to visit, including restaurants. This way I don't have to count on data while I'm walking around. For what it's worth, I have offline Google Maps loaded into my phone for the Sainte-Mère-Église area, Bayeux, and central Paris. You may want to add Rouen.

Back to the aforementioned paper maps, I find the IGN maps to be the best for the area. With the exception that they are hard to find in the U.S. Last time I bought some, I bought from IGN in Europe directly—which means translating their site (not available in English). Gogole IGN Maps and you may find some otrher online vendors. I find their 1:25,000 maps (blue series) very useful for the general regions I am in, including many smaller roads. I have a half-dozen of these that cover the area from Bayeux to Ste.-Mère-Église. But there is also a 1:50,000 map (Orange series—hard to find) that I have framed in my office of the Ste.-Mère area specifically. It covers the area from Utah Beach to West of Ste.-Mère, including most of the American Airborne operation areas during D-day. (PM me if you want to know which maps specifically I use.) I do also have a paper Michelin map of Normandie that covers the area just West of Paris, all the way to the upper Cotentin peninsula (available at Barnes and Noble). But I only use this for emergencies. It doesn't cover the roads around Paris, and it certainly doesn't show smaller roads anywhere, but I count on GPS and big signs to get me out of the Paris metro area. Enjoy your trip!

I agree with David about the value of paper maps. I have a road atlas for France with a lot of detail -- too heavy, frankly, to include in our luggage any more. See what Michelin has available that you can order online or get at a good bookstore at home. You might find good maps at CDG before you start off, or at one of the autoroute rest areas.

I also downloaded a Europe map for my portable GPS and bring it along. It helps a lot, including entertainment from the English pronunciation of French place names. With a second person in the car you shouldn't have much trouble getting where you're going. Highways are well marked.

BUT, unless you sleep well on planes (who does?), I'd caution you against driving that far, or any substantial distance, after an overnight flight. Safer for you and others if you go into the city for a day or two to recover from jet lag, or take a train to Normandy. Unfortunately, there's no direct train service between CDG and Normandy without going into Paris and changing stations there.

I have a very long story about picking a car up at Charles de Gaulle and driving to Normandy upon arrival from the United States. We can laugh about it now but I can tell you at the time there was nothing funny about it!!! As a traveler who has travelled to this region two different ways I would travel to Paris first upon arrival then take the train to the Normandy region and pick up your car in Caen. If you still choose to drive directly to Normandy upon arrival from the US, picking up your car at the airport, please, please, please have a good regional map and not a national map of France!!!! It is a beautiful area of France....enjoy!!

I always have a map with me when we travel. We spent 3 weeks in France last year, 2 weeks the year before and are going for the month of September this year. We pick up our car at the airport and drive everywhere. I found last year we used Waze app. It was perfect. I also have a garmen gps with maps of Europe. We will use Waze app again. I was shocked at how we’re it functioned. We did not have 1 problem in 3 weeks. It even warns you of speed trap areas.

My experience is that I stopped using paper maps - or even carrying one - since 2009. It would have been a year earlier if Turkey had GPS mapping available in 2008. You do not need data to use Google Maps if you download them when WiFi is available. I have used Google, Apple and Waze. Right now Waze (part of the Google empire) is my #1 choice because it displays speed limits and advises about accidents, road hazards, police and speed monitoring devices. They aren’t perfect but they work well.

I realize that some folks still like using maps. I’m not one of them but that is their choice.

I want to take a step back and say that I fear 3 days driving yourself around the D-Day beaches will be a rather dull experience unless one of your party is a WWII scholar. Pretty quickly, beaches begin to look a lot alike, and a chunk of concrete is a chunk of concrete. It sounds as if you have a high level of interest in the topic, so i encourage you to take a look at tours, either private or small-group. Several different companies offer 1-day or 2-day van tours, most departing from Bayeux. I was very happy with my Overlord tour. Dale Booth also draws a lot of positive comments here. With a driver/guide, you will not get lost and you will understand what you are seeing. You'll move around a lot more efficiently and (outside the tour) will have time for some of the very good invasion-related museums in the area. I enjoyed all of these:

St.-Mere-Eglise (Airborne Museum--limited subject matter)
Bayeux
Caen (peace Museum; large, broadest coverage)
Falaise (civilian experience, including Resistance activities)

Using a map or google maps is to my opinion a matter of preference. I always use well detailed maps, but sometimes the help of a gps would be convenient. It’s more that I like to keep devices, things that can be stolen out of my car, so don’t have to worry about that. And for some reason I just like maps, have a lot of them.

Good thing about google maps is street view, you can look around and get an impression how places and the envirement looks before leaving. I do this most of time at home and can so discover the hidden gems and put together a nice itinerary, which worked very well during my stay around Paris last April.

Good thing about paper maps is that they are cheap, weigh almost nothing and easy to get for around at supermarkets and gas stations. I like to use the yellow cover Michelin maps scale 1/150,000 and costs around €6 . If you use nr.303 “Calavados Manche” it covers the area between Fécamp north of Honfleur and Dinan. Green lined roads are touristic and it has a little section with suggested touristic itineraries. Likely the place you are going to stay will give you leaflets with the info/maps you need.

I see most folks are responding to your request about navigation aids.

Since this is your first time driving in France, you should do some Internet reading about French driving regulations. An example is this site, which is written from a UK perspective but still is helpful.

Probably the key things to remember are that you need to understand the concept and signage associated with "priority to the right," which will come into play in many small towns and rural areas. You also should be aware that fixed GPS systems in autos may not show current speed limits on certain roads, which were lowered from 90 km/hr to 80 km/hr last month.

Lastly, roundabouts (traffic circles) are extremely common in France. They're generally pretty simple to use, but multi-lane roundabouts in heavy traffic in urban areas can pose challenges to those unaccustomed to driving in them.

One more thing: prepare to be tailgated. It's the national pastime, evidently.

If you are going to public gardens or specific tourist sites (say, a stone menhir), a GPS will be more useful than a paper map. The problem, as in the US, is making sure you have a good rural location that you can be guided to on real roads. One tedious way to do this is to study every destination in advance, and get (on a road, naturally) the coordinates on Google Maps, and put those into the GPS before leaving.

Are you aware that many US vineyards and rural B and Bs warn guests not to enter a statutory mailing address into their GPS?

I found that Rick and one more guidebook were perfect for Normandy D-Day sites. I did not find the Sargent Rock lectures, with laminated photos, being given all around me, were my cup of tea. Personal preference. If you like tour guides elsewhere, hire one here. One real issue is discovering hidden sights, like the cliffs scaled by engineers. I found that in a book, not on my Garmin. And it was a dangerous location. You need to understand that Europe is not the litigious, roped-off precipice culture we have.

Took this trip 2 years ago and loved it. We picked up our rental car at CDG in Paris, drove to Giverny and spent the first night. The drive was delightful as we passed through Gerberoy on the way and saw beautiful scenery. Drove to Etratet, Rouen and Honfleur the next day on our way to Honfleur for the night....Etratet is something to see! Loved the boats, etc at Honfleur and Rouen’s city walk is charming. Stayed in Bayeux 3 nights as we explored the WW2 beaches and took a tour. We thought the roads, etc around the Normandy area added to the interest of WW2 and seeing the hedgerows and fields where battles were fought was fascinating to us. So glad we had a car. I would highly recommend renting HIPPOCKETWIFI and use their mobile wifi service. You have 24-7 wifi no matter how far out in the countryside that you are. Your google maps and location feature on your phone and iPad are always available whenever you want it. It made our Garmin GPS obsolete! Contact them and you can see the features that are available. They will ship it to your first stop and it is ready to go.
Hope this helps!

PS........drive through Beuvron-en-Auge and have an apple strudel!

Hopefully you will luck into a rental with an integrated GPS - we've rented 3 times in France (2012/15/18) and all 3 times the vehicles had GPS. We don't have a smart phone so can't comment on google maps, but we did buy a France map for our Garmin just in case and took a paper map as well, which I barely unfolded. The great thing about the GPS - for us - was help finding parking lots/garages, gas stations and restaurants while on the road.

We had no issues with the driving. Do watch your speed (there are cameras). We didn't have much issue driving a bit below the limit on the big highways...but we did find on secondary roads - the drivers are a bit more aggressive and seemingly love to tailgate, so don't drive way under the limit. We were driving around Provence at what we thought was a prudent speed for the curving hills, and we STILL had people tailgating and flying by us at the first opportunity (and my husband isn't a timid driver, per se, but with a brand new rental/unfamiliar car, we weren't taking any chances). There are lots of roundabouts, so look into how to use the big ones properly. And be aware of the signage for the toll roads - which signs mean cash/credit card and which are for transponder only, so you don't end up in the wrong lane.

Edit - didn't read Bob's comments first - glad to know I'm not crazy that they tailgate!!

Will you have a phone? I personally use two navigation apps with my phone. I always buy a local SIM with data - but turn the data off to navigate (on to search destinations though).

The one I used least is Google Maps. I like it's searches and regularly use it to find a street address for a destination. I don't like navigating with it. Although it works, it lacks the feel of a GPS and doesn't give speed limits - which I find very valuable for driving in France. I also find Google Maps is a data and battery hog. Make sure you completely close it when you're not using it. When driving with Google Maps, you can turn data off. If you miss a turn, however, it says "rerouting" but won't do anything until you turn data on (which is a pain if you're driving and have just missed a turn).

The one I used most is CoPilot. It works and looks like a GPS, including giving speed limit and lane recommendations. I don't like it's ability to search for sights as much as Google Maps. If you give it a street address, however, it will get you there with data turned off, including if you miss a turn. Download the app and maps at home when you have internet. It costs $30 for Europe maps but is otherwise free. I also like that it gives speed limit warnings. If the speed limit drops, like when you enter a town, it will beep at you if you don't slow down. This is a ticket saver if you ever miss the sign that you are entering a town (speed limit typically drops to 50 from 90). I use CoPilot at home too, but the Europe edition is much better than the US version.

Last trip my Andrews FCU chip and pin card was three for three at automated gas stations. Unless you have a true chip and pin card, you need to use an attended gas station. Ask at your lodging for options. As a last resort, because they cost about 10-20 cents more a litre, use the gas stations at the stops on the Autoroutes (A roads). Those gas stations are always attended, so you can use any form of payment.

Lastly, paying tolls is often an adventure. Be prepared to use every card, debit and credit, in your wallet twice before it accepts. For some reason, sales often go through the second time when they decline the first time (I think the approval times out before the overseas clearance). It seems like each time I've driven in France, I've had one toll booth where nothing worked and I had to resort to cash. Keep some cash (I think 8 euro was the highest toll I paid) on hand, just in case.