Normandy ( car rental, Bayeaux plus ?)

You could stay in Normandy and visit Honfleur for one night or spend the night near Mont St-Michel, still in Normandy.

If you can’t return car anywhere in Normandy on a Sunday, drop it off just outside of Paris. Look at the city of Rennes for drop off.

Unless you are very much set on renting a car, I would suggest the following itinerary to make travel easier on all.

1. Arrive Wednesday and taxi from CDG to St. Lazare train station. Take a train from there to Bayeux. Driving on arrival day is not recommended due to such fatigue and trying to navigate your way by car in traffic. Whether you drive or train, Wednesday is almost shot anyway.
2. Thursday explore Bayeux, the town, see the tapestry, and different sights of Bayeux.
3. Friday schedule a full day tour of the D-Day sights. There are many tour operators, but schedule very soon. You will get more out of a tour than just driving around yourself looking at places.
4. Saturday train to the city of Caen. It is an interesting city a very short distance from Bayeux only 20 minutes. This way there is no need to move to another hotel for the night.
5. Train to Paris on Sunday morning.
6. Spend Sunday and Monday in Paris.
7. Fly out on Tuesday.

Enjoy your trip.

Another option, which is what a friend and I did in 2016, is to rent a car upon arrival in Bayeux. There is a car rental store a short walk from the train station. It's easy enough to visit the American Cemetery, Utah Beach D-Day Museum, Omaha Beach and Pointe Du Hoc. Be sure to see the destroyed cannon batteries at Longues Su-Mer. All but the museum are the main stops on the tours. Just do a little research before you go. Then visit Bayeux and consider going to the Caen Memorial Museum and Caen Chateau (Citadel) or Mont St. Michel.

Caen, a main stop on the train before Bayeux, is larger and has a number of car agencies, plus more restaurants and hotels to choose from. Or take a day guided tour of the beaches, not so much for transportation as for the context the guide will provide. Not cheap but worth the money since what's left to see of the invasion is not self-explanatory.

If you decide you can visit Normandy without a car, Threadwear’s plan is a good one.

Trust me (and Threadwear), you do NOT want to drive from CDG after a transatlantic flight to Bayeux. We made that very drive a month ago (but not while jet-lagged), and it was the drive from hell.

I won’t repeat it here, but for more details about our recent trip, you can read my 6/25/23 post from a related thread:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/france/normandie-to-south-of-france-and-return-to-paris

If you are determined to rent a car, which will give you more flexibility when visiting D-Day sites, consider going to Paris upon arrival to CDG for how ever many days you like, then train to Caen or Bayeux to get the car. Or, spend the first night either at an airport hotel (and get rental car the next day) or rent the car and stay 1-2 nights at a destination closer to CDG before driving to Bayeux.

I recommend at least 3 full days in Bayeux given your interest in D-Day sites. You’ll need to do the research to see if you can return car in Caen (or elsewhere) on a Sunday. We returned car at CDG, which can be done any day of the week.

France is having a busy tourist season this year. Be sure to book your lodging in Bayeux ASAP.

Why waste time transferring to another hotel., stay in Bayeaux. We were the first visitors to the tapestry and avoided the crowds. Museum of Peace in Caen is thought provoking. Having a guide for Normandy was well worth the effort. We loved the small Airborne museum in Sainte-Mère-Église,. If you end up on a train make sure you check for a Sunday schedule! (we learn from our mistakes!)
Safe travels

When we rented a car to drive from Paris to Normandy on a Sunday in 2019, the only open places were the airports and major train stations. I echo the sentiments of not renting at CDG and driving through Paris traffic after a long flight. We returned our car to CDG on a weekday and the ring road outside Paris was a complete nightmare of gridlock, narrow lanes and impatient drivers. Take the train and rent somewhere that is not Paris.

We made Arromanche our home base for exploring Normandy. It worked out well for us. We visited the museum in Caen (wonderful) and went to Bayeaux as well. Our B and B in Arromanche had a large parking lot that was easy to get in and out of and we could walk to town for meals and to visit the excellent museum there. It was also well situated for visiting all the D-Day beaches and other sites (we went to nearly all of them)

am i going to be able to return a car on a Sunday AM in August in
France? Or should we look to return another day?

I have returned cars in Caen from Hertz on a Sunday when they were closed. They have a key drop. Just take a bunch of pictures of your car before leaving since they won't be able to inspect it so they can't claim any potential damage. Not that I have ever had a problem with that, but better to be safe.

We were in Paris a few days and then took the train to Caen and picked up our rental car. We then drove to Bayeaux where our hotel was. We saw the Bayeaux Tapestry. The next day we went to some of the DDay Beaches. The next day we dropped the car in Caen and took the train back to Paris (and then on to Bordeaux).

I agree with others that you shouldn't make a long drive after a transatlantic flight. Take the train to Caen and pick up your car there.

I agree with Ellen, stay in Bayeux, you waste time changing locations and you don’t have much time to begin with.

I highly recommend staying in Bayeux which is charming and wonderful. I dislike Caen very much, not charming at all imo.

Ideal place to rent car is Caen (right outside train station), then drive 20 min to Bayeux. Day Tours are good, but you’re rushed at sites. Ideally, do a Day Tour then return next day in your rental car to re-visit with more time or add places not on the tour. You could spend a week in Bayeux just to visit DDay sites and not see them all.

Normandy is wonderful, and the people are warm and friendly.

We’ve stayed a week each time, at least 8 times, and always stay at Hotel d’Argouges in Bayeux. Love it.

Our favorite WWII museum is in Bayeux. Don’t like the Caen museum at all.

You would be remiss if you didn't see the museum in Caen. It is truly the best in terms of the whole package of WWII and the Holocaust, but it's not for the faint of heart.

We just returned from France and Bayeux is a wonderful little town. We also did one night on Mont-saint Michele and it was amazing, truly unique. It is worth it in my opinion to splurge on a tour guide for the D-day beaches tour. We used Sylvain Kast from the Rick Steves France book and really cannot recommend him highly enough. There is no way we could have seen as much on our own.
https://www.d-day-experience-tours.com/

A private tour would be the best, much better than a group tour.

The Caen Museum is not focused on WWII, it’s whole focus is on Fascism. You could save time and watch RS excellent show on Fascism. The Caen Museum is also very expensive and very crowded. As i mentioned, for a WWII Museum, we thought the Bayeux WWII Museum was exceptional. And not expensive and not crowded. But there are museums everywhere in that part of Normandy.

I agree with the comment about the Caen Museum being overrated and the Bayeux Museum being much preferred. I will also add that my favorite museum in the whole beach area is the one at Utah Beach. It is built into the bunkers that the Germans occupied there, and is very comprehensive. My second favorite is the nearby Airborne Museum in Sainte-Mère-Église, but obviously, I have a somewhat U.S. bent to my preferences. Another good one if you are interested in vehicles is the Overlord museum right outside of the entrance to the American Normandy Cemetery. Plus the Pegasus Bridge Museum if you have a British Airborne preference, or the Juno Beach Centre for more of Canadian perspective. Of all these, the Caen "museum" is my least favorite. YMMV.