Normandy April 5 Nights

My 2 cents: Take a train to Caen, rent there. Even without seeing the famous tapestry, Bayeux is a wonderful place to stay, and if you happen to be there anyway, there’s this tapestry nearby ;-) Use your 3 nights there, after your Rouen night.

We did Mont-Saint-Michel as a daytrip. Stay a bit west, in Saint-Malo, and you’re technically in Brittany, just over the Normandy border. Would your car rental company allow you to return the car at a different location, hopefully free or at little extra cost, and what alternative locations would that company offer?

From CDG to Caen by train can be a six hour trip, once you take into account getting through the airport, getting the train into Paris, then switching train stations and getting the train to Caen. Arriving in the afternoon might mean a very late arrival in Caen.

I would definitely NOT drive ANYWHERE from CDG after arriving from the US. I would look at what city you could get to via train direct from CDG. Rouen would be a great option if there’s a direct train. Spend the night, then rent the car the next day and head to Normandy. That leaves 4 nights. You could drive to MSM in less than 3 hours. Spend a night there, then head to Bayeux. 3 nights in Bayeux will be perfect. We did that in 2019. Arromanche is very small. I wouldn’t recommend it as a base off season. We found many of the shops and restaurants were closed in November in the smaller villages, even in Bayeux. But I do recommend Bayeux over Caen as a base. It’s much more charming, since it wasn’t bombed in WWII. Definitely do the 360 cinema in Arromanche though.

Then when you return to Paris, return the car to Orly, not CDG. It’s an easier drive, and closer to central Paris. Drop off the car, then taxi into Paris. You don’t want/need the car in Paris.

While driving after an overnight flight is not advised, if you only go as far as Giverny, that's about 1:15 hours (going via Cergy), which I would say is short enough to stay focused. And Giverny + nearby La Roche Guyon are definitely worth spending the afternoon and following morning.
Otherwise, taking the train to Rouen is a good idea, even though you first have to get to St Lazare station in central Paris.

And Rennes is indeed the perfect place to return the car after visiting Mont Saint Michel (and staying overnight on or near the island). Just make sure to allow enough time to return the car before your train is scheduled, because access to the car rental parking lot is convoluted.

Let's talk tapestry. I have no interest in tapestries, drapes, curtains, etc. If it's ornamental, I couldn't care less.

But I am interested in history. The Bayeux tapestry is not only about the work that went into making of the tapestry but also about the history of it and what it represents. An audio guide is included that explains it all.

Hesitantly, I went. Surpisingly, I enjoyed it. It's about 30 minutes of your time and let your husband know its not just an ornamental thing to look at but a historical story albeit told by the winners.

Without the audioguide I would have been through it in 5 minutes.

It does seem that any train itinerary I look up has us routed through Paris which will mean for a longer day. I will have to do some more digging. Rouen looks to be about two and a half hours via Paris by train. The Giverny option is starting to become more appealing but that means we would probably skip Rouen which looked very interesting. My husband liked the look of that city tremendously.

Frank I agree that my husband might like the tapestry more than he thinks.

I agree with balso that driving after a red-eye is dangerous, but you can be in Vernon for Giverny in the same amount of time it takes to get to St. Lazare station in Paris. Driving to Bayeux, you have Honfleur and Etretat, too. You should have no trouble returning the car at Rennes station. AutoEurope gives you a choice of rental vendors and says if drop off is free or not.

Thank you all for your feedback. Thinking now of picking the car up at CDG and heading to Giverny. My husband seems to think he can power through the hour and a half drive. He does sleep on the plane. Now my next question is do you think it would be worth the time to drive to Rouen and after Honfleur. Should we plan another one night stay or just head to Bayeux? We don’t typically do one night stays but with driving and site-seeing along the way it might not be a bad idea. I have read Honfleur is beautiful if you have a nice evening. But that would mean one night in Giverny, one night Honfleur, two nights Bayeux, and one night Mont. St Michel. That is a lot of moving around. Any feedback?

We dropped a car at Rennes train station no problem in April. All major companies had offices there. Frequent connections to Paris from the very modern station, good walking in the neighborhood if you have time. Brad

Brad- Thanks for the feedback about the car drop off. Will take a look at that as an option. I think the train seems like a good idea into Paris. Thanks again.

We just returned from a trip to Brittnay and Normandy. Here is another thought. We flew in to Rennes, then rented a car and drove the short distance to Dinan. We loved this little town. We stayed 3 nights, then spent one night off of MSM, then 3 nights in Bayeux. We then took a train from Caen to Paris. I know this is more nights than you have, but unless you have non-stop flights to Paris, this option might work. It is much easier to pick up a rental car at a small airport.

Chale- Thank you for your input. We are actually flying from the states into Paris so we are stuck with CDG. Great suggestion though!

No need to spend the night in Honfleur; two hours is all you need there! You can visit Honfleur on your way from Giverny to Bayeux.

Balso - Thanks for your input. Now thinking they one night in Giverny, 3 near the D Day sites, and one night Mont St Michel.

I am actually looking at a place to stay near Saint Mere Eglise. Anyone ever stay over that way? We will have a car so will just travel around the area.

Thanks!

If you’ve found an ideal place to stay near Sainte-Mère-Église, then that’s the right place for you. We enjoyed our visit there on our trip, while staying in Bayeux. You could do it the opposite direction, but is the place you’re looking at located conveniently to other places you plan to see?

Cyn I think it would be ok. Plus a countryside stay will add some diversity to our trip that has five nights each in Paris as well as London.It seems that our areas of interest span from Bayeux on to Utah beach and Ste- Mere Eglise so either way we would be traveling. With having two full days in the area I think we will be able to see the highlights without rushing. We booked a private guide for our second day. Thanks for your feedback.

I thought my family would hate the tapestry. I even offered to do that one solo early in the morning so everyone could sleep in. My wife vetoed that, but I was dreading complaints, especially from the kids. While one of my teenagers had a problem with the audioguide, everyone else thought it was very interesting.

SCFamily - I think we will make time for it. With it only taking 30 minutes or so I see no reason to miss it as we can visit the cathedral there as well as the battle museum in Bayeux. I think it would be worth a visit even though my husband said he could take it or leave it. 😉

Lots of good advice so far. I have gone to Normandy nine times so far—and eight during a D-Day anniversary. I almost always stay in Sainte-Mère-Église—it is a wonderful town and very central to a lot of the U.S. D-day sights. But Bayeux is also wonderful, with more dining options (big shout out to Auberge John Steele in SME though). I've driven to Normandy from CDG, and taken a train to/from there to several spots in Normandy (Caen, Bayeux, Rennes, and Cherbourg). Lately I have defaulted to taking a train to Caen and renting a car from there. The Bayeux Tapestry is great, as is the Cathedral. As for Mont-Saint-Michel, I am a total advocate of staying on island. I have done both, but the experience of actually being on the island late at night, and being there without the crowds is (as the cliché says) magical. Do it!

When we did Normandy in 5 nights we had had two nights in Paris to see the opera (had an apartment issue but already had opera tickets, so we used the 5 day gap to do some Normandy). We spent one night at Mont St. Michel, two in Bayeux using the full day for a tour of the beaches and then two nights in Honfleur and used the full day for Etretat.

Given you are just arriving after an overnight flight, I'd train to Caen and pick up the car (note that the rental agencies take a long lunch) and stay in Bayeux for a couple nights and then do the rest. I would consider Mont St. Michel a must do -- but an afternoon and following morning was perfect for us.

Thank you for your feedback PharmerPhil. We will for sure check out Auberge John Steele. I just pulled up the menu and it looks delicious. I am delighted you have stayed near Sainte-Mère-Église & enjoyed your base there. Staying on Mont Saint Michel seems to be the popular vote. Do you have a particular hotel you like there? We had looked at taking the train to Rouen or Caen but with our flight not getting in until 1:30pm picking up a car and driving roughly an hour to Giverny seems to be the best bet. The train has us going into Paris and switching trains which would take several hours. Thanks again!

We stayed at MSM on 6/11. I would recommend you spend the night on the island. We arrived as the crowds were starting to wind down in the afternoon (we were able to get on the first shuttle when we walked up with no waiting) and left as the crowds started to pour in the next morning. It was great essentially having the ramparts to myself when I walked around that evening. I think just going for the day and having to be around the height of the crowds would diminish the experience (with the possible exception of the main street through the village. Everything closes down when the crowds are gone, so other than getting unobstructed pictures I found that the village became less interesting as the crowds disappeared).

The main complaint for us was that the weather was quite warm and one of the rooms for our group was on the ground floor. We had to reshuffle who was going to sleep in that room, because several were uncomfortable leaving the window open that close to the ground. The room was stifling without the air flow, so it was just not practical to keep it closed. But your travel dates mean the weather should not be an issue.

I would also check which restaurants are open for dinner and at what times. We ended up asking at the hotel because we could not find the information posted as we walked around.

The only other concern we had is that we could not realistically bring all our bags to the shuttle and then up the stairs to the hotel since we had a child in our group and another traveler who could not help with the bags due to a recent injury. That left us with luggage for 5 people but only 3 who could help move it. So we brought what we needed and left the rest in the rental (all under the cargo cover and not visible from the outside). Even though it was mostly dirty laundry, I was still nervous about leaving it there until we got back in the morning and saw it was fine.

Been to Normandy 4x since 2015. We stay near Bayeux and drive day trip everywhere.

Loved Etretat this time (overnight at a hotel on the beach). Omit if scared of heights or limited mobility. Stopped in Honfleur for lunch and saw the church and walked around. Free parking lot near edge of old town (see google maps).

Bayeux farmers market on Saturday is not to be missed if you can help it. Easy to couple with Cathedral and Tapestry or as a kick off before going to SME or beaches.

I'd skip Rouen personally. I second CDG to Caen for the car as long as you land by 9am or so. It was a tight squeeze getting to St. Lazare this last time landing at 930.

MSM overnight sounds very fun. We've day tripped twice from bayeux area successfully, but you don't get the night experience.

WWII sites are spread out if you go end to end. Juno beach center is great, as is pegasus memorial and merville battery. Then of course SME airborne museum and Utah museum. Bayeux has a good museum too. End to end about 2 hrs by car I'd say (without stopping).

Prepare to spend a lot of money on gas. And maybe watch out for mileage limits on the rental.