France L/N/P Trip - Advice?

My one comment is that I would strongly advise against adding Champagne to your itinerary. Not that it's not worth seeing (I've been there several times, including a week in the Aube), but I just wouldn't go out of my way to visit, given the rest of your itinerary.

Bayeux is an excellent base for a number of activities: one-day small-group (van) tours of the D-Day sites (which I highly recommend, in lieu of just driving yourselves around), the tapestry, the invasion museum in Bayeux, the historic center. It's also very close to Caen if you want to visit the (large, time-consuming) Peace Museum there; that could be done by train + taxi or local bus, but if you'll have a car for other reasons, I think it would be simpler to drive. If you want to see some of the invasion sites on your own, I think Bayeux will also be suitable for that. No one-day tour will cover everything.

I suggest using ViaMichelin.com to check approximate driving times to other points of interest in Normandy. I managed to get as far as Honfleur and back by bus, so that would certainly be doable by car. Doing much of anything by public transporation will require taking the quick train ride to Caen and (probably) changing trains there or switching to a bus.

If you wish to see Mont-St-Michel, a car will be very helpful. However, in the recent (pre-COVID) past, spending the night there was strongly encouraged, because day-tripping in led to a sub-optimal experience due to severe crowding. Perhaps you could arrange to spend one night near MSM on the way between the Loire Valley and Bayeux.

I would leave Champagne for another trip. It's way outside the triangle you described, on the other side of Paris, meaning a long drive around the city and two more "moving" days in your trip. I'd also suggest caution about driving any real distance after an overnight flight, if you'll be coming from North America. Maybe you can sleep easily on planes, most people can't. So I'd recommend either making Paris your first destination or getting to Normandy or Loire by train from CDG.

Sadly, the French railway system still hasn't provided direct service between CDG and Normandy despite the complication of getting there by rail via Paris itself, including changing stations, and the many threads in this forum that should have inspired them to do so. ;-) There is a TGV train taking less than two hours from CDG to St-Pierre-des-Corps, near Tours on the Loire, but it appears to leave the airport at 11:19 AM (based on my random one-day search on bahn.com, a good schedule source). That's probably too early for a risk-free connection with an arriving flight, especially since the best fares are non-refundable and sold way in advance.

If you stay in Paris first, you can take the train to Caen, rent the car for Normandy, take it to the Loire (Bayeux to Amboise about 4 hours nonstop per Via Michelin), and drive back to CDG for an airport hotel the night before a morning flight home. If your flight is later in the day, you might want to drive to Paris the day before, drop the car, and spend your last night in the city. Don't try to drive from either Normandy or the Loire to CDG on the day of your flight, too many things could go wrong.

Bayeux and Amboise are good bases and very popular with the RS crowd because he recommends them (for good reasons). But Wally makes a good case for Arromanches, especially if you don't want a guided tour of the landing beaches.

Based on the early advice, my current thinking:

Arrive in Paris
Train to Tours
Pick up rental car/drive to Amboise
Days in Loire Valley
Drive to Mont St. Michel for an overnight
Drive to Arromanches-les-Bains or Bayeux
Days in Normandy
Drive to Caen to drop rental car
Train to Paris
Days in Paris
Flight Out

This approach adds a bit to the complexity of rental car pickup and drop-off (or maybe not, if Tours and Caen are more convenient pickup and drop-off locations). At the least it keeps me from driving around Paris.

Kuixote, we cross-posted with very similar strategies (so we must be right).

Check out that rail schedule website with your dates next spring for the feasibility of a train between CDG and Tours (more likely St-Pierre). Maybe there's an afternoon TGV on some dates that would give you an adequate cushion (I'd suggest at least three hours, better four) after your scheduled landing. Note that if the website shows "RER" as the first train, that means into Paris and likely a walk or cab ride to another station for the second train.

Given Dick's comments, making the TGV time @ 11:19 work for the Tours train (after our 8:15am arrival) might be a bit sporty if we're delayed. I may have to keep a back up car rental option.

I'd prefer to finish the trip with the Paris days rather than do the Paris days first with a CDG night-before-airport-positioning stay at the end.

I'm glad trip planning is so much fun...it's possible all of this will get scrapped if the travel restrictions aren't lifted.

Appreciate all the comments regardless!

I would also check the scheduling of trains and rental cars, for doing your loop anti-clockwise, ( i.e., going to Caen first.)

If your flight is on time, and barring any other huge bizarre issues, three hours would be plenty of time to arrive and make a train from the CDG station (in the example, to Tours).

I usually count about an hour from landing to being out the front door of the airport — add another generous 30 minutes to find your way within the airport to the train station, and you still have an hour and a half of cushion time.

That is what I would do.

I agree with most others who think Champagne is a bridge too far on this trip. Being on the other side of Paris from your desired locations etc.

Your revised plan looks good to me.

I will say that the weather can be nice or still a bit raw in April, so be prepared, especially on the coast.

In '18 we took train Le Mans to St Pierre des Corps (Tours) and picked up the rental. I think through Sixt - office was right outside the station and easy to head out of town from. Not certain of the connections from CDG but the facility at SPdC was easy. And I believe they allow different pickup/drop off cities.

Sounds like a fun plan - getting ready to start our planning - yet again.

We were on a Seine river cruise a few years ago that included a full day at the D-day beaches. The time in Arromanches was one of my favorites of the day. It is a lovely town and the museum with its story of the artificial harbor built for the landing is very interesting.

I would do it the other way around. Grab your car in Paris if you wish, or train it to Caen and pick your care up there. Spend your time in Normandy, then to the Loire and on to Paris by train after dropping the car somewhere in the Loire.

Thanks to all for the advice. After some quick checking of travel and lodging availability, we opted for a "counter-clockwise" approach and will now do the trip in a N/L/P sequence (with a bonus overnight in Mont St. Michel).

Cheers!

The simplest way to get from CDG to Bayeux would be a taxi (50 euros) to Gare St-Lazare, then a train (frequent, no advance ticket needed) to Bayeux. That liberates you from worry about flight delay, immigration delay, baggage claim, or anything else. You can pick up a car in Bayeux after a night's sleep.

Caen has more convenient car rental options near the station, but if you get off the train there (just before Bayeux) you'll be driving on arrival day, not recommended.

Just a reminder that whereEVER you decide to pick up your car, try to make sure it is NOT on a Sunday or French holiday. Fewer places are open on those days anywhere but the really big concessions (I.e. at the airport ).

Also please note that the car rental places in secondary cities often close for an hour or two during the lunch period.

These are not huge problems, just something to be aware of and plan for.