Long day trip to WWII sights do-able from Paris via rental car?

Depends on your definition of crazy. Just came back from Normandy-Paris. You're a little closer than CDG but it took us about 3 hours just to get Bayeux (home base for 4 days in the region). Once there, the the amount of sights and distances you can cover for WW2 sites is pretty vast. We spent one very full day alone starting at 0800 at the Bayeux Normandy Invasion Museum, the American Cemetery at Omaha Beach, Longues Sur Mer (German Gun Battery) and Pointe du Hoc. That's a lot to cram in and hustle back to Paris even with extended daylight hours. Bayeux was a great town and rally point for D-Day sites and their museum is about the entire Normandy invasion not just June 6th. Spent a few hours here before heading out to give my teens some perspective. If you have the means, I would highly recommend spreading it out with at least one night stay. The region of Normandy is beautiful and highly recommend Bayeux which seemed to have a vast array of overnight accomodations to suit any budget. We stayed at Hotel D'Argouges (which was awesome!).

It is hard to do as you suggest. It is a long drive. And then beaches themselves stretch for over fifty miles from east to west. You would really have to careful chose what you would to see in that time frame. It would be difficult to take it all in in less than a day but could get a quick flavor by choosing one or two key spots.

I'm not an expert on the French train system but a couple of years ago we took a TGV type of train from Gare du Nord (if memory serves) to Caen and rented a car from a location literally across the street from the exit doors of the station (the blue car in the picture was our rental) - I recall it took a bit less than 2 hours to go from Paris to driving the rental car out of the lot. So you might want to see if a fast train is available early and late in the day (to and fro) at a location near where you will be staying.

Having said that - as already pointed out, there are a lot of locations you could possibly visit - you will not be able to see more than a handful in 1 day even if you had an open road and a Ferrari and frankly the local roads in Normandy are not going to support dashing from one location to another...besides another day or two in the land of the 3 C's (Cream, Camembert, Calvados) is well worth considering :-)

Not crazy, but it will be very rushed. Sevres at least puts you on the right side of Paris, and it may be quicker to drive from there than to get back into Paris and Gare St-Lazare for the train. And you'll need the car in Normandy, and maybe don't want to spring for both train and car. Driving would be simpler.

For me, the cost of one night's lodging would be worth it to allow time to appreciate the Normandy beaches and the sights in Bayeux. Even two nights. Especially if I were getting free housing the rest of the time! :-)

kristin,

While it may be possible, you wouldn't have a lot of time to see much (and there's a LOT to see in that area)! The drive from Sevres to Bayeux will probably be about 3 hours each way, so not the most efficient for a day trip. As Frank mentioned the D-Day sites are spread out along about a 50 mile front and extend some distance inland. If you're not familiar with the area, it may take you awhile to find some of them, which is why it's often better to take one of the excellent local tours. You may drive by important sites and not be aware of their significance.

There's a great WW-II Museum in Bayeux, as well as the famous Tapestry that describes a much earlier battle. The Gun Batteries at Longues sur Mer are not far out of town. Another good location would be the small town of St. Mere Eglise. There's a good Museum there dedicated to the Paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne (Pvt. Steele is probably still hanging from the Church Steeple). There's not a lot to see at Omaha Beach but the American Cemetery is just above that, and that is definitely well worth a visit.

I wouldn't say it's "crazy" but it's not the best scenario for a day trip.

Sometimes, in Europe travel, less is more. Covering less gives you a better quality experience.
And sometimes not, it depends on your priorities.