Need some organizational advice

You should fly open-jaw, into Prague and return from Paris. You can go: US -Prague-Paris CDG-pick up a car to Normandy to Bordeaux. Drop the car and take the new TGV go Paris until you leave. Or you can reverse the order and arrive in Paris but leave from Prague. Look for booking "multi-lec, not one-ways.

Sounds like fun.

Here is the first principle for organizing your trip. Do not double back to Paris or anyplace else. Corollary: Do not fly in and out of the same place.

The second principle is, count nights, not days. It will keep you honest. So, 3 days in Bayeux = 4 nights, unless you really mean 2 days and some change.

Prague is a major outlier in this plan. Personally I would not go all that way for 2 nights (= 1 day, btw, when all is said and done). You'v got plenty of great things to see in France.

But, le coeur a ses raisons, so if you must have a day in Prague, put it at the end of your trip, or the very beginning.

To make this example simple, let's assume you fly home from Prague. Then your choices are to fly into Paris and work your way to Bordeaux, or vice versa.

By the way, if you are not wedded to Bordeaux, almost every part of France has a great wine culture (not Normandy though).

So you might start in Paris and drive to Bayeux (or take the train and rent a car) for 3 days. Then drive to Amboise (which is in the Loire valley) and take the train to Bordeaux. And fly to Prague, and then home.

Or fly into Bordeaux, work your way to Paris, then on to Prague.

You might reasonably make your plans based on which airports have the best connections to Prague and your home, Bordeaux versus Paris.

Finally, the tally: You have 14 days. If those days include arrival and departure, it's really 13 nights = 12 days.

3 nights in Normandy plus 5 in Bordeaux plus 2 in Prague leaves you with either 3, 4, or 5 nights in Paris (2-4 days). That's a wee bit tight, maybe rethink Prague, or Bordeaux.

But once you nail down those dates and your itinerary, you can make those reservations.

Have a blast.

Prague is an outlier on this trip. If you fly into Prague at the start, the first day will be a shortened due to jet lag. I'd either drop it altogether, or spend more time, at least 3 nights.

I can understand the allure of Prague, went there 17 years ago when it was still a somewhat "new" destination and loved it, was there last year, less impressed with the destination, but loved the beer.

I too would say to focus on France, maybe zip to Brussels or Amsterdam if you want a break (Open Jaw to Amsterdam, out of Paris or reverse?) Train from Prague to Paris is a long 12 hours or so and lots of transfers, no direct fast train

As others have noted, "open jaw" flights, with Paris and Prague at each end, make more sense than a round trip into either city.

And as others have noted, Prague is the outlier, especially with only one full day there. Might be worth saving for another trip, perhaps combined with southern Germany and/or Vienna/Budapest. In which case, you might as well fly into and out of Paris.

And as others have noted, most of France, other than Normandy, is "wine country." So, unless Bordeaux and its wines especially appeal, you might consider an area closer to Paris, like Burgundy or the Loire. I'd suggest the Loire because it's closer to Normandy, giving you a nice triangle with Paris. Plus the chateaux of course. Maybe your wife will start mumbling "I love the Loire." ;-)

Such a triangle is best explored by car, since most of the train connections are back through Paris. Rent it in Caen and drop it in Tours, or vice versa.

Prague is out in left field because it's so far from the rest of your trip. I agree with the idea of flying into Prague and flying home from Paris. After Prague, I'd catch a flight with a European carrier to Lyon. Lyon is more convenient to Bordeaux. A car works best to stop at various towns/caves on your own schedule, so you could rent a car in Lyon. Afterwards you can continue driving to Bayeux (adding stops that interest you). When you're done, train back into Paris for the rest of your stay before flying home.

When reserving a car, remember that four adults with a carry on bag each won't fit comfortably in the smallest cars. You will probably need to go up at least one size. If everyone is packing a checked bag and a carry on bag, you will need even more car to fit comfortably.

The problem with Lyon is that there is a large mountain range between Lyon and Bordeaux. Lyon is not convenient for Bordeaux. Perhaps Brad is referring to Burgundy, but the only cave there is the Grotte d'Arcy-sur-Cure

EXCELLENT ADVICE!!! Thanks to all. I am quite interested in the reply from Bets, Adam and Dick. At this point I am leaning towards flying to Prague for three days, then flying back to France and renting a car and make the "triangle" Loire, Normandy and finishing in Paris. It is logical and thrifty with our time in France.

When we did Russia the south of France and Paris last fall we ended up flying back to Paris from Petersburg and taking a car south as I couldn't find budget airline flights from Petersburg to the south of France that were not silly expensive. We however had 10 weeks with the last month spent in Paris.

Why Bourdeaux? If it is just wine, I'd opt for Burgundy which is just such a stunning area. But open jaw into Prague and out of Paris is the right idea. That isn't much time to cover so much territory. If it were me I would save Prague and do a Vienna, Prague, Budapest trip maybe Berlin too, some other time. If you did that you could fly RT Paris and then train to Normandy and pick up a car and do Normandy and Burgundy (or whatever) and finish with 6 nights/5 days in Paris. IN any case finish in Paris if you are flying home from there. All that expense to get to Prague for a day or two doesn't really pay off.

The Loire is more reasonable. Either Bordeaux or Dijon/Burgundy would have been almost a seven hour drive plus stops from Normandy.

It sounds like Bordeaux is out (for this trip) and more time in Prague is in. That sounds like it will fit your time frame.

But--What do you mean by "back to France"? That sounds like a major time sink. Fly to Prague last, or first. If first, fly to France second. But not "back."

If your plan is to drive from the airport near Paris to the Loire, see about flights to Orly, which is south of the city (and closer to the Loire).

I'm sure Bets is right. I started out thinking of recommending Burgundy, but that leaves you having to cross the entire country to get to Bayeux. European carriers fly into all cities, so you could try flying into Bordeaux. The real point is it's too long a leg to drive or train, a plane is the best choice.