Normandy Itinerary; Make Sense?

Hi!
I would not travel to CDG to rent the car, it takes you in the opposite direction vs Normandy. You could rent in the west side of Paris itself; Hertz at Porte Maillot would work, or there is a cluster of car rental offices in the Porte de Saint Cloud area.
Or if you want to get away from Paris before you rent, then you can take a train to Mantes la Jolie from Paris Saint Lazare and rent a car there. You would be 15 minutes away from Giverny!

And yes, definitely stay near Paris the last night. For a 1.15pm flight it does not have to be at the airport (Senlis or Chantilly could work), but sleeping there will help for piece of mind.

The rest makes sense to me!

More D-Day, visit the British and Canadian beaches, museums. Everything is well marked.
We also traveled to Normandy from Paris. We picked up our car at the train station on the west or north side of Paris. Easy enough access to the highway. We also spent a night in historic Honfleur.

Check out Honfleur and Etrat in the Normandy region, well worth a visit

I like it. We went to MSM from 5p-7p in July and had the place almost to ourselves. Of course that was 4 years ago so who knows, but it's a good bet you'll get fewer crowds later in the day. When it closes at 7, there are a few restaurants on the 'rock' that serve dinner. We did that and then drove back to Bayeux. I think it would be better to arrive in Paris Monday night. Bayeux is very small and I think you will have enough by then. If it were me, Id stay in a non-airport hotel, but a neighborhood nearby from which I could catch a train, and enjoy one more evening and morning in Paris before taking the train to the airport. (But that makes the car return more complicated ...)

Our trip was in early July 2008, back when you could still drive across the causeway to park at MSM, but if this helps, we were there late in the afternoon. Lots of people were heading downhill while we went up. Basically finished as they closed the place down, so that was satisfying.

While we stayed in Bayeux with a rental car (and did our own D-Day driving and touring), we turned the car in in Caen, then took the train from there into Paris. But then we stayed in Paris a couple nights, and had no incentive to turn the car in at the airport.

I imagine m you want to be checking in on Tuesday about 10:15 AM. Can you get to the airport by then if you’re staying in Normandy Monday night? Check driving times/train schedules. I won’t offer restaurant suggestions from 14 years ago 😊

Your plan sounds mostly good, as does most advice before mine. I agree with not going to CDG to get your car if it can be avoided. I have one booked at Porte Maillot location myself for late May. But if you want to drop your car off at CDG at the end of your trip, starting there too may avoid a drop-off fee. But you will hit bad traffic getting around Paris on your way to Normandy when you leave the airport. Plus you'll have to get from downtown Paris to CDG to even start your trek out of town. Once clear of the periphery though, it should be smooth sailing. Two more things:

1. This will be as busy as it gets near the Normandy Beaches due to being right around the D-day anniversary. But it is never too crowded there, and there may still be ceremonies related to the anniversary when you are there.

2. Your Saturday sounds very full to me. It is over an hour-and-a-half between Bayeux and MSM, and you have to do it twice. If you don't leave until after lunch, you will miss most of the crowds, and that is very advisable. But you will have a long slog home after a long day. Plus, you may want to check the tide chart before going to see if fine-tuning your trip will bring you there when the tides are most dramatic.

That being said, you are wise to plan the second morning to see more D-day sights after your tour. Many have reported wanting to go back to places that weren't either included in their tour, or places they wished they could have spent more time. There is enough to see and fill your time there that I usually stay over a week just in the area of the beaches.

I have zero experience driving in Europe, but there's no way I'd spend my last night in Bayeux with a 1:15 PM departure from CDG. ViaMichelin says the drive will take over 3 hours. That's with no stops or wrinkles of any kind. You have to navigate, deal with any traffic you encounter (heading toward Paris on a workday morning), find the car-rental drop-off location, deal with car-return procedures, and get from there to your check-in counter. Heck, you could get involved in an accident or be significantly delayed by one.

I bet your airline is recommending you get to the airport 3 hours before departure (10:15 AM); it could even be earlier due to COVID procedures. Just Google for info on that. Personally, I'd want to be there about 4 hours early if I were flying today; I admit being risk-averse on flight days. Buying a last-minute one-way ticket home would probably be a very costly proposition.

acraven, I think if you re-read the OP, you will see they will drive back the day before their flight, unless I read something wrong.

On an unrelated note, your posts here are always very helpful and knowledgeable.