Looking for a goldilocks schedule....

You are IMHO trying to cover way too much ground. The Dordogne which is my favorite part of France is a bridge too far in this trip. It is not something you can sensibly do in a 'night stop'. I would myself have organized the trip to end in Paris rather than rushing back the night before the return home which will wash out any relaxed feel from the trip. If you are stuck with this order of things, I would cut the Dordogne and Nice and spend more time in Normandy, Brittany and the Loire. Driving and driving and driving and checking in and out of hotels in a rush puts you in ticket punching travel rather than actually enjoying these beautiful regions. And ending in the south and then spending the semi last day driving all the way back to Paris is a drag. We have done that. We would never do it again. If you are committed to all these stops, I would fly to Nice and pick up the car there to drive north. Or take a train from Paris to Bergerac and get a car there and spend a couple of nights in the Dordogne and head north finishing with Normandy and spending the last night at CDG after dropping the car that afternoon. Get to the airport hotel in time to take a train into town for dinner.

As far as Bayeux, you haven't left enough time to see the Bayeux Tapestry, 1066, the story of William the Conquerer. Many people visit this town just to see it. You will be given an audio guide and will walk along the length of this amazing piece of art.
And the British and Canadian D-Day beaches are also very interesting. Add at least one more night in Bayeux. We spent four nights but did Mont St-Michel as a day trip.

I would definitely add a day to Bayeux and a day to Amboise. To see the beach and museum at Arromanches and the museum in Caen would fill most of a day. And at least a half day is needed to visit Omaha Beach and Pointe du Hoc. The tapestry and cathedral in bayeux should not be missed. Neither should the restaurant Le Rapiere. To properly enjoy the 3 chateaux, you’ll need more than a day to relish their history and grandeur. And there’s a lot more in the Dordogne to explore. Maybe consider taking a bit more time in those regions and not driving to Nice.

Edit: why go all the way to CDG to rent a car when there are so many rental offices in Paris?

Are you staying at that Chateau in Amboise? I stayed there for two luxurious nights in the 90's. LOVELY PLACE! And remember that Leonardo Da Vinci is buried there, as the King of France brought him at the end of his life to spend the rest of his days there. Read the New Yorker article right now about Leonardo Da Vinci called, " Angels and Men".

I think you should spend more time in the Loire valley, myself.

I agree with the others that your are trying to cover way too much ground in 9 nights. There is a lot to see in all the areas you propose to visit, but you will instead be rushing off to the next place. I wouldn't go farther south than the Loire valley on a trip of this length. For example, Rouen has several interesting museums and an impressive cathedral. And do you not plan to have lunch on that first day? Starting at 10 AM and trying to pack in Giverny plus Rouen plus drive on to Bayeux will make for a very long day.

Although you plan to rent a car, I'd still recommend taking a one-day D-Day van tour with a company like Overlord. Many begin and end in Bayeux. They will move you around much more efficiently and provide a lot of useful background information. Overlord's charge is about 100 euros per person, and I considered that money very well spent. As mentioned, there's a very large World War II museum in Caen where one could spend a full day. Bayeux also has a (smaller) museum, plus the tapestry. And Normandy is much more than just the D-Day sites and the tapestry. There are many pretty coastal towns, just as a start.

Nice is probably too far for this trip but I think you could see the other sites. My suggestions:
Day 1 Get car, visit Giverney, overnight in Les Andeleys (lovely hotel there and a good castle if you have time)

Day 2 Drive to Rouen, visit for a few hours, then head to Bayeux. Tapestry if you have time otherwise first thing the next morning

Day 3 D-day sites, late afternoon head to Mont St. Michel. If WW II is a major interest for you, then add another night in Bayeux and have one less for the Dordogne.

Day 4 Morning at Mont St. Michel, drive to Amboise (I would instead stay at La Roserie in Chenonceux which is so close to Chenonceau that you can walk there).

Day 5 Chateux of your choice - two or three is plenty Same hotel as Day 4

Day 6 and however many more you have - Drive to the Dordogne and enjoy the area. Tlhis is the only location here which we have not yet had the chance to visit. We are going there next fall and I have researched extensively. Get the Rough Guide for the region. There's also a Michelin green one for the region.

Day the last one - drive to Bordeux, turn in the car at the train station and take the train to Paris for one last beautiful night.

I think you are doing the Bataan Death march.. You will arrive tired from a long overnight flight and you want get on the highways and go go go at breakneck speed for next 9 days.
I also vote to skip nice and add some days into the Loire Valley and Normandy.

I would not pick up the car at CDG. Traffic is always terrible. Instead, pick it up at or on the way to you first stop. You can return to CDG at not much more cost. Still bad traffic, but only once.

Yeah, too much to quick. But salvageable.

Giverny > Rouen > Bayeux is a lot. I think you can do it if you (1) arrive at Giverny before it opens and (2) give yourself some extra time the next day. Which you should do anyway.

Going all the way to deGaulle to get your car is a mistake. You could even look into getting it in Rouen (using the train to get there), but it will take longer.

Spend 2 nights in Bayeux. You won't regret it or have difficulty filling the time.

Bag a chateux or 2 on your way to Amboise. They aren't all a huge production, see some ruins. Lunch by the castle walls in Fougeres—it's enroute.

3 biggie chateaux in one day, that's a lot. Are you and yours really that into empty old Renaissance mansions? Be honest. Leave time to eat. And to breath.

Sorry, the whole Dordogne-Nice thing is a nonstarter in 4 days. Even if you don't actually need to return to Paris. Which if you do really ties your hands. Remember the Goldilocks ideal. you have the right idea there. Driving all that way to one of the most beautiful places in France so that you can spend a day there so that you can drive another full day to get someplace else nuts. Who's been sleeping in my porridge?

So, what do you do with those remaining days? Will, if you actually are into those empty Renaissance mansions, you are in the right place, and you can explore at a civilized pace. Add a few days to Normandy (add a night in Honfleur), Paris (see Giverny as a day trip), and the Loire, and you are done.

Here's a bonus. If your flight leaves in the afternoon, there's a train weekdays from Amboise that will deliver you directly to deGaulle by 9:41 AM. No transfers in Paris. It leaves at 8.

That's probably your best trip. But if you insist, and don't mind getting up at the crack of dawn at least twice, go to the Dordogne and stay as many nights as you can. Then get yourself back to Paris by train. Or: The same train that gets you from the Loire to the airport by 9:41 AM? It leaves Bordeaux at 6, and Angouleme at 6:45.

Thank you for the the quick replies and great input. By the way, we leave tomorrow night (12th) from SFO.

Thank you for also confirming what was making me uneasy... we were doing too much.

We are picking the car up at CDG because we leave from there to return home.

With your input in mind, we are adding a day in Bayeux, at least a second day in or around Amboise - you all gave good ideas for that area - and we will skip Nice. Or, I should say, for a return trip.

We are at a hotel in San Francisco and will spend the next few hours adjusting our schedule.

Thank you

As someone else suggested, I'd highly recommend taking one of the excellent D-Day tours during your time in Bayeux. You'll waste less time getting between locations and will learn far more about the history and events than by travelling on your own. That will provide a much more interesting visit to Normandy.

As you'll have your own car, you could contact Chris at Visit D-Day Tours (he wll travel with you in the car) or you could travel with Overlord Tour or one of the other firms in the area. Pre-booking the tour would be advisable.

Consider stopping in Chartres on the way back -- fantastic cathedral with truly amazing stained glass.

You don't have to pick up and drop off at the same place. CDG adds a few hours onto your driving day. Look at La Defense for pick up. You'll be on the right side of town. See autoeurope.com for good flexible rental consolidator.

I think you can do what you're describing (at least in the first few days) but I'd caution against too many one night stays. The sights will become a blur and the pace will feel like a death march.

A train to Giverny for a morning stop is fine. Then a train to Rouen for an afternoon walk through the center works. You probably won't be too worn out to drive two hours to Bayeux but that's been a long day.

The next day, you have a full day tour followed by about an hour and a half drive to MSM. You've missed the Bayeux Tapestry because you didn't allow time for it. I don't know of an easy way to get your bags to/from your hotel at MSM (but I haven't tried either).

The following day, you have a four hour drive to Amboise after looking around MSM.

In Amboise, you have a couple hours of driving. If you spend two hours at each chateau, you have an eight hour day. You are going to want meals in there somewhere.

Do you have fantasies of finding a small cave (winery) to stop for a relaxing wine tasting and lunch? If so, realize you aren't allowing yourself time for that.

In my experience, things don't go smoothly. You invariably lose time you didn't expect due to connections, errors, unfamiliarity with surroundings, etc. I find the best thing to do is never rush, give yourself time to relax, recover from a mistake, miss a connection, or stop for a meal because you're starving without worrying about the schedule.

If nothing else, plan on two nights in Amboise before setting out on anything new. You might want to add a couple sights in Loire and a third night.

Also, think of driving times. For me anything more than four hours in a day becomes really long. Preferably, you can pick an intermediate stop, drive a couple hours, see a sight, then a couple more hours to your planned stop for the night.

Realize you can't see everything and focus your trip rather than try to cover too much ground in nine days. I've now done three 17 night trips to France, since last September. Each included limited loops starting and ending in Paris. The first was Normandie, Brittany, and Loire Valley. The second was Burgundy, Alsace and Champagne. The last one went southeast to Lyon, Chamonix, Provence and Riviera before flying back to Paris from Nice. Each trip only had time to see highlights. I plan on one more loop to the southwest, so a total of better than two months just to see highlights, leaving plenty more to see in the future.

I spent 89 days in France this year, not seeing Paris, the Loire or anything on or near the west coast. And I, also, skipped over a lot of places I would have liked to see.

Not only do you not have to drop at the same place you pick up with a rental (and most companies don't have fees for dropping at a different location, I think Hertz does) but you can change your drop later. We changed our drop off twice last fall when an injury of mine derailed part of our trip and we ended up dropping the Brittany leg which ultimately made dropping at Orly the most convenient rather than CDG or La Defense our earlier choices. We just called and changed the drop location. We like dropping at airports and taking a cab into town; in our younger days we just drove into the city and dropped luggage at the apartment and then turned the car in.

The only bad thing about renting a car one place and dropping off another is you're likely to get the car they most want to get rid of. Last time I got one missing a hubcap. It still works though. I should have asked for a diesel to see if they would have let me have a different car, but I really didn't care enough to do it.

I much prefer picking up and dropping a car outside of a major city. It saves the hassle of getting through major traffic. Ideally, I like to start by taking a train to a place big enough to have a rental agent and not much more. I try to reverse that when I drop off, leave the car somewhere easy and train into the city.