First Timers! - In need of itinerary + rental car advice :)

I'll chime in. Driving is the way to go in these Normandy locations. However, Étretat and Mont-Saint-Michel are at complete opposite ends of Normandy. Just driving between these two places, without considering parking, is almost three hours. Not counting getting to Étratet in the first place (add another 2-1/2 hours for that from CDG). So your talking about doing 5–6 hours of driving in one day, possibly after a long flight (not sure) and seeing two major sights in the process. I think either place would be a long, tiring, and only possibly worthwhile day trip. Trying to do both in one day doesn't sound like a relaxing vacation in my opinion.

Both MSM day trips, and driving from CDG have been posted about ad naseum on this forum. I recommend doing a search here before everyone flames you about driving from CDG after landing, etc.

Enjoy your trip, but be realistic about how big a country France is, and how much time you want to spend simply getting between sights.

It sounds as if you are planning to do that drive on the day you arrive in France. If so, and if this is immediately following an overnight transatlantic flight, there's an excellent chance you will not be in condition to drive because of sleep-deprivation and jetlag. I would not be a safe driver under those conditions.

ViaMichelin estimates the pure driving time from CDG to Etretat to Pontorson at 5 hr. 25 min. Pontorson is perhaps 5 miles from Mont-St-Michel. VM's estimate doesn't include time at the rental-car counter, navigational difficulties, looking for parking, or stops of any kind.

I've been to Normandy but not to either Etretat or Mont-St-Michel, so I have no idea whether the time you'd have left on such a driving day would be sufficient for enjoying those two destinations. There's a lot more to see in Normandy, of course.

We'll start the drive to Etretat after a few days spent exploring and relaxing in Paris. I'll be going with my Mom, so we would need to move at a slower pace :)

But I see your concern with driving between Etretat and MSM. I just wasn't sure if there are enough things to see or do in Etretat to warrant an entire day's stay? or even with MSM for that matter. Maybe only drive into MSM later in the evening to spend the night, then explore MSM the morning after before heading back to Paris?

S.

No worries about the safety of the drive, then.

There are all sorts of attractive places between Etretat and Mont-St-Michel, both of which are small and--as far as I've been able to determine from reading guidebooks--not the sorts of places many people would spend more than a very few hours. I enjoyed wandering the picturesque towns of Honfleur, Deauville, Cabourg and Bayeux. Bayeux is a bit of a detour but has an interesting cathedral, a very good WW II museum and the Bayeux Tapestry.

If you're not interested in a string of fairly small coastal towns, you could stop in the good-sized city of Rouen on the way to Etretat. It has a beautiful (restored) historic district, a Jean d'Arc sight or two, and at least three museums. You could spend hours there, just looking at the lovely architecture.

Or you could take the southern route back to Paris (dropping the car somewhere other than CDG) and stop at Fougeres after leaving Mont-St-Michel. It's a very picturesque inland town with a chateau that looks like a fairy-tale castle.

Usually picking a rental car up at an airport has the highest fees and taxes. Perhaps take the train to Caen and get car there and drop it off back in Paris, (or Caen and train back to Paris.)

S.
Since you are planning on renting a car upon your departure from Paris you may want to look at the city locations for picking up your vehicle. If you are adept at using a GPS or GPS App on your smartphone you should be able to depart from Paris with relative ease (it's worked for me for Paris, Madrid, and several other large cities). Of course, the day of week and the time of day is key in planning your departure; after all, rush hour is rush and it's no fun. But, then again by picking your vehicle up close to your lodging your party won't be lugging your yourselves and your luggage out to the airport via metro, etc. or taking a train to a nearby smaller city to leave from.
PM me if you have any add'l questions.
Safe travels.

I would pick up a car in Rouen (or Vernon/Giverny if that is of interest). We spent about a half day perhaps less at Etretat. We only visited the cliffs not the town. There are a lot of places between Etretat and MSM, like more than a week/two weeks worth. It is about a 3 hour drive between the two and the fastest route gets very close to Honfluer (sweet little town) and Caen. You might not be able to fill a whole day with Etretat, but Honfluer is quite close so you could overnight there and enjoy the pretty, coastal town.

I don't think that anybody else here has mentioned it so I will - be sure that before you leave home, if you are from outside the EU (your profile and your question are both silent about your home country, let alone state/province or city) you need an IDP (available inexpensively from CAA/AAA for North Americans) or a notarised translation of your home drivers license - much easier and cheaper to get the IDP, take passport sized photos or get them made while you wait - in addition to your actual license.

France is a signatory to the 1949 Convention, as are the USA and Canada.

A good summary of the requirements is at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InternationalDrivingPermit

Thanks everyone! And thanks Nigel for the heads up on the driving permit! I think I will try to pick up a rental closest to lodging (in Paris) for convenience as suggested and try to leave early in the morning to avoid as much of the rush hour as possible :)

S.

There are car rental offices at Porte Maillot (on the Peripherique) and La Defense (outside it), both reachable on Metro line 1 and both providing relatively easy exits from Paris in the general direction you're going. Or take a train to Caen and get the car there.

If you are planning to go to Bruges then may I suggest going to MSM from Paris first then head north to Etretat. From Etretat, drive north to Lille and then drop your car off there and then take the train into Belgium. It will eliminate doubling back to Paris. I did this trip in reverse a couple of years ago. From Amsterdam, we trained to Lille, picked up a car and drove to Etretat. We walked around the little town and then drove up to the top of the cliff and explored there before driving to Bayeux and spending a couple of nights to there then onto MSM. You may think about taking the train to Caen or Bayeux and renting a car there as that may save you some time. Also make sure your car has GPS or have an app on your phone to use as it’ll make negotiating the roads much easier.