Normandy from Paris

Getting to the Normandy region is easy- take a train. But to explore the region, especially in less than 2 days, will require a car. Train into Caen, and pick up the car there. Where to spend the night depends on what places you want to explore. You will need an International Driver's Permit (get it from your local AAA office before leaving home).

However, some people seem to equate Normandy with only the D Day beaches. If that is what you meant, then train to Bayeux, stay there, and hire one of the tour companies like Overlord tours to see the D Day sites.

Thank you for the quick response! Do you have any specific recommendations on centrally located towns to stay in Normandy if we want to see the D day beaches and also explore the area?

Do you have any specific recommendations on centrally located towns to
stay in Normandy if we want to see the D day beaches and also explore
the area?

Stay in Bayeux. We enjoyed the Churchill Hotel in the town center. If you are without a car, you should book a tour of the beaches, US Cemetary and Point du Hoc. Search this site for recommended tour operators. While in Bayeux, visit the Cathedral and the neaby Bayeux Tapestry Museum. Drink some cider or Calvados.

abbyspear,
We really liked Rouen, where Monet was inspired to paint multiple visions of the cathedral. The old town is a veritable medieval charmer. Between Bayeux and Rouen is the Route des Abbayes, with many abbey ruins. The ruins of Jumiege are spectacular. You can drive along the Seine River and enjoy a peaceful version of the Normandy region. At the town of Villequier there is the Musee de Victor Hugo. Depending on when you arrive at Caen or Bayeux and get a car, you may not have time to leave the D Day area.

At the D Day beach area, it is very moving to be at the American Cemetery during the lowering of the flag at the end of the day. We have always gone on our own by car, but most people on the forum seem to enjoy a tour with a company such as Overlord. That is up to you and your comfort zone.

Have a great trip!

Thank you, that is super helpful advice!

Thank you Judy, that is very helpful!

As mentioned, train to Caen from Saint-Lazare station, and pick up a rental car. Pay close attention to the days/times when booking your car. Many of the agencies (perhaps all of them) are closed on Sunday, and they close for a lunch break on other days. Stay in Bayeux. Enjoy your trip!

thank you travelbug79! I appreciate the heads up on rental agencies schedules:)

Does anyone recommend hiring a tour company for Mont Saint Michel, or is this easy to see on our own? Thanks

MSM is totally doable on your own if you have a car to get there.

And if you go to Mont St Michel on your own, you could time your visit to arrive early and walk around the walls before touring the abbey (or late afternoon to walk around the walls after the abbey).

Planning a short trip to Normandy is almost harder than a long trip because you will only have time to see a couple of sites; the work is trimming down the list so you're not spending much of your time traveling instead of sightseeing. A prearranged tour or two days of tours that is based in Rouen might be a good idea if you can find one.

An alternative itinerary (assuming summer travel with longer days) that includes some sites in Brittany would be to take an early train to Rennes, explore Rennes, pick up a car. Drive to either St. Malo or Cancale, lunch around 2pm. Go to Mont St Michel around 4pm when crowds are thinning and stay across the bridge at a hotel. Visit MSM. Next day drive to Caen, drop off car, take train to Bayeux, take 1/2 day Overlord Tour that starts in the afternoon, then train back to Paris. Alternatively on the 2nd day explore D-Day beaches with your car and then drop the car off in Caen. I don't really love this itinerary because it feels rushed; the more I think about it the better off I think you'd be going to Rouen and doing day tours from there via a bus tour company.

Does anyone recommend hiring a tour company for Mont Saint Michel, or
is this easy to see on our own? Thanks

As stated by others, easy to do on your own if you have a way to get there. BTW, you must be in pretty good shape to walk up to the abbey. IMO MSM is one of the most beautiful and memorable sites in Europe. Well worth a day trip or an overnight stay. For dinner I recommend the salt grass fed lamb (appologies to an vegans on this thread) with a delicious Sancerre.

Thank you everyone for the insightful responses, I really appreciate you taking the time to send those to me. I know we definitely want to go to Bayeaux and Rouen in the Normandy area. I was thinking of taking the train from Paris to Bayeaux, spending about a day and a half there. Then, renting a car to drive down to Rouen, enjoy the sites along the way and spend probably 2 days in that area. Then from there would I be able to return my car to a rental agency there and catch a train back to Paris from Rouen?

In April, we took the train from Paris to Rennes. Picked up our rental car in Rennes, so that we could visit Mont St. Michel. We stayed in Pontorson for one night, but could have probably visited MSM and then driven on to Bayeux, but that seemed like a long day to us. Then stayed in Bayeux for 2 nights; stopped in Beuvron-en-Auburge for a quick stop; lunch in Honfleur; then on to Rouen for two nights. Yes, you can return your car in Rouen. My advice would be to drop it off upon arrival. Parking is difficult, (though there are 24 hour parking garages) but cars are completely unnecessary in Rouen. We ended up not returning it in Rouen, as we went on to Lille, and dropped it off there, before taking a train to Begium. But, our original plan was to drop it off in Rouen, so I know it's possible.

abbyspear,
Yes, you can follow the plan you just suggested. Easy train from Rouen to Paris. And since you will have the car on the way from Bayeux to Rouen, you could (if you want, and if there is time) follow the Route des Abbayes to Rouen. You may want to take the train from Paris to Caen instead of Bayeux, as there there are more car rental options in Caen. Caen is close to Bayeux (30 km). Hours for rental companies in Bayeux are more limited. Just a thought.

We took train from Paris to Bayeau super easy and spent two nights in B&B Villa Aggarthi only two blocks from tapestry Museum and it was simply wonderful. We usually spend half our trips in a B&B and this was one of the best. Taxis were waiting at the train station and took us to Villa and back when finished. We paid for a private tour with HQCompany tours. Yannick was our guide. Picked us up promptly at nine at the Villa and return about five pm. Was worth every single penny and would do it again. You of course could look up the company reviews and highly recommended and many mention him specifically. I don't believe by law you need the drivers permit but is highly recommended just in case you run Into any problems with an accident or such. Get at AAA and you don't have to be member. I think it is 20-30 dol!ars. You are spending thousands on a trip and if renting a car it just does not make sense to skimp on this. Good !uck.and enjoy.

Thank you Karen and Gail for the insights, appreciate it!

While it's been stated that an International Driver's Permit isn't necessary; perhaps you won't be asked by the car rental agency for a copy of your AAA international driver's permit (though our Enterprise rental agency in Rennes, France, did ask to see it in April.) But, it's purpose is to provide it to law enforcement in the event you have some sort of incident that requires showing your driver's license and a copy of the permit which essentially translates your license.

We had a very good experience with Overlord Tours. Thoroughly enjoyed the Tapesty Museum, and just enjoyed the town of Bayeux.

If you drive from Bayeaux to Rouen two towns I'd recommend are Trouville (if you like Impressionist paintings, since a number were painted there) and Honfleur. The car return for many rental agencies in Rouen is in a parking lot underneath the train station and is a bit hard to find since there are several entrances but only one of them is the right one. And the station is surrounded by one-way streets so you can't just drive around the perimeter, you have to make a long loop. We returned our car there a few years ago and there were no signs visible from the street saying "rental car retun" in French or in English; maybe it's changed by now.

I second the advice to train to Caen, drive to Bayeux and use that as your base. It is fairly central to all of the beaches (the furthest from there being Utah Beach). Keep in mind that the sites associated with the battles of Normandy are not just on the beaches themselves—although they do represent the general geographic area for each country's, or unit's area of operation. While you first say you want two days and one night in Normandy (the bare minimum it would take to visit the battle areas), you later post that you want to see Rouen and Mont-Saint-Michel. That expands the trip to be much larger than one night in my opinion. Rouen and MSM, while both wonderful, are fairly far from the Normandy Battle area. I would dedicate at least one additional day and night for each additional place you want to visit which is not in the Normandy Battle area. Also, I disagree with getting an IDL. I have never been asked for one by any rental company in 10+ visits, and the fact is no one has ever posted on this or other forums that they actually had any problem because they didn't have one. Some have had an IDL, reported no problem, and surmised that was why. But that is just conjecture (watch, I will get flamed for posting this). Even Rick Steves has come off of his recommendation to pay to obtain one of these. The reality is, if you have a problem with law enforcement, it is most likely to come in the mail after your visit courtesy one of the many photo radars, and forwarded to you (with an additional fee) from the rental car company.

Thank you Pharmerphil,
Appreciate the advice. I would like to see MSM and Rouen so we will probably choose to spend a little less time in Paris and spend more time up in northern France to give ourselves time for all these sites. We will definitely get our rental car in Caen, as that seems to be the popular consensus.

Thanks again!

Just as an aside, what people are referring to on the forum is not an International Drivers's License (IDL). As far as I know there is no such thing. What is obtained at AAA is an International Driver's Permit (IDP) which merely shows that your US state driver's license can be translated into French. If stopped (and someone did post here about needing it when stopped in France), the officer can request your driver's license translated into French. LACKING THAT FULL TRANSLATION (and not just your name and address), an IDP suffices. The IDP does not give you a license to drive. Your home country/state license does that. For $20.00 the IDP is a bargain for peace of mind. We have always obtained one when planning on driving in another country, going back to 1974. And we (as have others on the forum) HAVE been asked to show it when picking up a rental car....not often, I grant. As someone said about having some euros in cash, it is better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. You can search the forum for discussions about the IDP (in the search box) and make your own decision.
In any case, have a wonderful trip!

Pharmer Phil
My last post was not intended to flame you. Each to his own opinion, but I did want to clear up the IDL/IDP confusion. And thanks for your many fine contributions to the forum.

Thank you Bill for the tip on returning the car in Rouen, and the heads up that it may be confusing, that is great to know! When booking train tickets from different cities in France, do you get those way ahead of time from a certain site? Or do you just wait until you fly into Paris to book train tickets to the Normandy area? Thank you!:)

If you choose to drive on to Paris to return you car, please consider a stop in Giverney to see Monet's Garden and House. I have purchased advance tickets to arrive at 9:00 AM (opening time) in order to avoid crowds that start to arrive on buses around 10. I've also heard positive expereinces to arrive after 3:00 PM when most of the tours have departed.

Thank you again for your advice. One more quick question: should I buy train tickets from Paris to Caen and from Rouen to Paris in advance? And is there a user friendly website to get those on?

Many wait until they get to the station to buy tickets, and I am sure that works fine. I am too OCD for that and like to know exactly all my travel details before leaving home. As for a web site, I always use the official SNCF site. They are the ones who actually operate the trains—everyone else is just a reseller. Keep in mind that many of these trains' schedules aren't complete until a few months beforehand. So don't panic if you don't see the trains you want too far in advance—or only see convoluted routes with connections. Just check back three months prior. These trains don't typically sell out.

Train is the best way, with connections to Caen, Cherbourg, Rouen and elsewhere.

We plan on taking a train from Paris to Breux and pick up a car for a week. We will stay in Breux Pt Bessin and Roeun (sorry for spelling) Yes in addition to the battlefields there are a number of beautiful cliffs as well as a lot of medieval history. My question is what type of auto insurance is recommended-Allianz? Usually not recommended to get it from car rental company

I took an early train to Rouen, walked the center and ate lunch (about 3 hours), then rented a car for my time (for you a day or day and a half). Driving from Rouen to, say, Honfleur or Etretat, is reasonable. You'll arrive plenty early to check in and still see the beaches/cliffs before sunset.

Reverse the process on the way back. See the main things you want to see, then train back to Paris from Rouen. I generally start with the things I'd like to visit, then budget time based on those rather than schedule time then figure out sights. 2 days and one night won't really be two days, transportation will eat up a chunk of both days. 2 nights gives you an entire day bookended by travel days.

You might also stop at Giverny on the way back to Paris (depending on time) and visit Monet's gardens. If that is interesting, you should explore returning your car in Vernon rather than Rouen, then just train to Paris after the gardens.

You could also train to Honfleur directly and just spend time there.