Eurostar to Calais vs. Lille? Renting a car upon arrival.

There are car rental agencies right at Lille Europe station where the Eurostar stops.
Avis, Thrifty, Hertz, Europcar.

The Eurostar station at Calais is a long way out of town and very few trains stop there. So yes, it is a much better idea to go to Lille. If you are prebooking a car and want to find an office close to the station, note that the Eurostar arrives at Lille Europe station so pick one near that one. The second Lille station is Lille Flandres, for local trains. The two stations are within walking distance but if you have lots of luggage and children a car hire place near Lille Europe will be better.

It is still the case.

I only spent one daylight day in Lille, so I'm no authority, but I figure that if you rent a car at the (dual) big train stations, you will have at least a bit of "big city" driving at the start of your Normandy trip. I'm half-joking, but since the nickname for Lille is "Little Paris", that might be challenging!?

So many posters here want to see Normandy from London that I hope you will come back after the trip and report on your transport experience.

Thank you! Now to decide if we come in to Lille, stay in Port en Bessin for a few days to see the landing beaches, Mont St. Michel, the Bayeux Tapestries, then stop in Giverny and depart out of Paris Gare du Nord, or trek back to Lille. We drive in NYC a fair amount, so city driving isn't that intimidating, but it can be confusing when you need to return rental cars, juggle luggage, etc.

I would just take the car back to Paris. No it is not much fun driving in the city - not finding the car drop off at Gare du Nord — but Lille would be so far out of your way to drop off and need to come back to Paris.

If you do decide to do that, however, most trains between Lille and Paris take just barely more than 1 hour.

Thanks Kim, we aren't planning to spend any time in Paris. It is meant to be a trip from London to Normandy. The only part about going to Paris was because it is closer to Bayeux and if we potentially go to Giverny (HUGE IF).

Ah, ok. That definitely makes a difference — I shouldn’t have assumed!

Still a few things to think about. Question remains to me if you gain much regarding time and costs with driving from Lille instead of Paris. Booked the Eurostar ticket well ahead price difference between the two is not huge and know that driving from Lille costs more fuel and not to forget toll too. Driving from Lille to Rouen is boring (done it several times), however a visit to Arras and/or Amiens can make it worthwhile.

Driving from Paris to Normandy, Giverny is not that far from the A13 and a visit certainly doable. Further going with the train from London all the way to Paris instead of Lille adds just an hour and is way more relaxed than driving. Leaves how difficult it will be, meaning how much time you will lose driving out of Paris.