We are planning a trip with grandchildren starting in London and going to Normandy and probably on to Paris to fly home. What is the best way to cross the English Channel to get to Normandy? We might need to be able to rent a car for the couple of days in Normandy so rental facilities is a factor.
Thanks!
Lynne
There are a few options. You could take the Eurostar to Paris, change stations to Gare Montparnasse and take the train to Caen, where you could pick up your rental. There are rental agencies just by the station, and you might have better luck getting an automatic if you can't drive a manual.
Or you could take the Eurostar to Paris and rent a car in the city. But that would require driving in the city - I get hives just thinking about it.
Or you could take the Eurostar to Lille and rent there, but I think your rental options might be more limited there.
There are several ferries from the South coast of England to Normandy. Departures include Portsmouth and Poole, and arrivals include Cherbourg and Caen (really Ouistreham, but close). Ten years ago I had a ferry booked from Poole to Cherbourg. When I arrives in Poole, they advised me the French fishermen had blocked tho Cherbourg port in protest (God knows about what, this is France). The Ferry company took me by taxi to Portsmouth, where they put me on a ferry to Ouistreham. They even arranged to change my Hertz rental from Cherbourg to Caen and arranged all transportation between. I'm thinking it cost them more to do this than my original fare cost. Whatever, I made it there. My take away is that the ferry schedules can be variable—weather, protests, whatever.
I'm personally planning a trip to Normandy in the summer of 2019 that includes a day dependent trip across the channel. Debating whether to count on the ferries, or to just book a Chunnel trip one way or the other to be more certain about getting there on the planned date.
CJean has laid out the rail-and-car options but the station to use in Paris is Gare St-Lazaire, not Gare Montparnasse. There are frequent direct trains to Caen from St-Lazaire. The Eurostar takes you to Gare du Nord, then you can take a taxi or the RER "E" to Gare St-Lazaire. With kids I'd suggest a taxi to keep it simple and let them see the streets of Paris, however briefly.
Ferries are another option, will take longer but maybe more fun for the kids.
You will need a car to explore Normandy, and Caen is probably the best place to rent one.
This website shows a lot of options to help you plan this, but do your bookings direct with the Eurostar, ferry line, airline, rental company, etc. if you can.
Thanks so much! I guess I should have mentioned that we want to visit the D-Day area --
Some posters have reported rough water on their ferry crossings, but I've never been willing to schlep from London to a ferry port. The train route is long and tedious (especially the station change in Paris). I don't find Normandy pairs well with London, despite massive American desire to do so. Try to take advantage of the Paris opportunity.
I've made two trips to the Channel Islands, using large ferries that sail between Normandy and southern England. Of five planned voyages, two did not take place because the ferries were canceled--one of them for three days in a row. If I had a tight schedule, I would not depend on one of those ferries. If something goes wrong, you'll really be scrambling, and you probably won't be near a commercial airport.
For seeing the invasion sites, I highly recommend one of the small-group tours or a private guide. I was very pleased with my Overlord tour. With a professiomal driver/guide you will move efficiently from site to site (they cover a wide area) and you'll get lots of helpful information. You will know what you are seeing. If you try the do-it-yourself approach, you may feel like you're looking at beaches and chunks of concrete. That would have been my experience, and I'd have been bored after an hour unless I stuck to the museums (which I love, but I think most folks go to the beaches, which without a guide's explanation look like pretty much any other beach).
Most tours depart from Bayeux, which has the Bayeux Tapestry, an important cathedral, a very good invasion museum, and an attractive historic center that didn't get obliterated during the invasion. So Bayeux is usually the best base for people exploring invasion sites. Other good museums are the huge Peace Museum in Caen and the Airborne Maueum in St-Mere-Eglise. The Airborne Museum was included on my tour. All three museums have their purpose, but I'd want to see at least one of the more comprehensive museums (in Bayeux/Caen) if I had the time to do so.
