Normandy Loire and Burgundy- is this possible?

Sure it's possible, check the driving times on rome2rio or Google Maps. I don't know about that much driving right off the plane though, and into a fairly big city. You can see several chateau in a day of you want. My wife and I saw four chateau in a full day plus part of a morning the next day (2 nights stay). Also you might want to consider Bayeaux as a place to stay for a night or two over Caen. A rental car is not a convenience in big cities. In Burgundy Beaune is a good base but outside of the Medieval hospital/hospice I did not find the town that special. Nearby Chateau de la Rochepot and Fontenay Abbey, also Semur-en-Auxious. If you have not been to Chartres you could visit that in transit. The cathedral there is one of the best I have seen out of dozens.

Many people (I suspect most) are not safe to drive after an overnight flight; I certainly would not be. Are you sure you won't be jetlagged and severely sleep-deprived? You could take a train to Rouen and rent a car there the next morning.

Although Caen is not a bad place, it's a sort of industrial city that was extremely heavily damaged during the war. There are a few pre-war sights still extant, but most people would not choose to stay there unless they were using public transportation and sought the advantages of Caen as a rail/bus hub. That's why I was there--I had no car. I'd think it would be easier to spend the night in a smaller town, but that's just a guess.

Not having had the benefit of a rental car when I visited Normandy, I can't say how viable your itinerary is. The weather in Normandy and Brittany tends to be cool and overcast, with rain possible even in the middle of the summer. I suspect you're right that October isn't the best time of year for that area.

You can use ViaMichelin.com to get driving-time estimates. You'll need to pad those times a lot to allow for stops, getting lost, traffic delays, looking for parking, etc.

Thanks for the advice, I will look at a smaller town or village between Paris and Rouen for our 1st stop, we do not want to drive for more than a couple of hours after our flight.I am considering the Train to Rouen but my Husband is against this as we would need to drop the car off back in a different location to pick up so I am not sure how that works, I will look into this though for sure.Good to know about Caen vs Bayeux, will definitely change that on my itinerary.We are not going to book hotels, as October is low season so we are not tied down to any specific location for any length of time.I may look into not staying in any large Cities, we may consider small towns on the outskirts as we have a Rental car.

Nice place to stay on the way to Rouen is tiny but lovely La Roche-Guyon near Giverny or if Van Gogh is of interest Auvers-sur-Oise. Follow the N104 freeway just north of CDG.

It’s hard to say how the weather will be in October, still good but it can be completely different from region to region. In 2016 I wanted to visit Burgundy but the weather was so bad there I changed my plans and went instead to the Loire.

Visiting Normandy and the Loire is doable in 10 days, adding a third region like Burgundy will be too much to my opinion. There are many threads on the forum here about what to see and do in Normandy and the other two regions too. After Le Mont-Saint-Michel you can drive for instance to Amboise and visit on the way Fougères, Vitré and you can consider Le Mans as it has a very lovely historic centre. Amboise is a good base voor visiting the château there and the famous one of nearby Chenonceaux. You don’t have to go inside Chambord, but just seeing it from the outside is very impressive and not to miss. On the way back to the airport you can visit as suggested before Chartres.

Or after Normandy you can drive directly all the way to Burgundy, loads of things to see and do there. I like to add the medieval construction site of Guédelon and very charming Troyes, it’s comparable with Rouen but more intact. On the way back to the airport you can visit Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte and Château de Fontainebleau, both top destinations and are good alternatives for the chateaus in the Loire.

Putting together several itineraries is to prefer in case you have to deal with bad weather and have to change plans. And in October (as you already say during preparing this post) you don’t have to be afraid of overbooked places to stay, you can be indeed very flexible with choosing B&B’s and hotels.

Thanks, I am not planning to book any Hotels other than the 1st night, my Plans May change due to the Weather.Normandy is definitely in as it is so close to Paris, Loire valley or Burgundy next?, Loire Valley May be easier to get to from MSM in Normandy than Burgundy but are there more pretty Towns and villages in Burgundy?.I wonder too if all 3 regions are too much.Maybe I will just plan all 3 regions and decide on 2 once I am over there based on weather?.Thanks for the on the trip stop ideas

"Thanks for the advice, I will look at a smaller town or village between Paris and Rouen for our 1st stop, we do not want to drive for more than a couple of hours after our flight.I am considering the Train to Rouen but my Husband is against this as we would need to drop the car off back in a different location to pick up so I am not sure how that works,"

I rarely return a car to the place I rented it. No problem, as long as you're returning in the same country. I use the consolidator Auto Europe (www.autoeurope.com) for my European car rentals. They are based in Maine. After I see what's available online I call them to ask about one way drop off charges. There has always been an option to avoid that cost. You just have to do the math to compare your choices.

Further nice towns and villages to visit in Burgundy besides Semur-en-Auxois and Troyes (not exactly in Burgundy, just regard it as part of it to keep it simple): Auxerres, Noyers, Flavigny-sur-Ozerain, Époisses, Vézelay, Saint-Fargeau, Montréal and still on my wish list Châteauneuf.

Further to what Andrea said, many (but not all) car rental agencies allow for dropoff at another location within France -- we rented in Caen because the agencies in Rouen wanted the car returned there while we were able to drop the car at CDG with a rental from Caen, a much larger city.

I think your plan has far too much driving for ten days (how many nights?) But lots of Americans believe that a car is the way to see things - even if it ends up being a lot of divided highways and boring access roads to really attractive towns that are, each, 20 minutes off the big highway.

You should double-check open hours in shoulder season - maybe an extra day or two of closure in October? (I have no personal experience with October in the provinces.) One way to save time would be to research the biggest Chateaux that are west of Tours, to see if one of them (like Villandry, or Azay, but the gardens will be going dormant in October) might meet your desires - that would save a few hours to get to the most famous ones, east of Tours. (We settled for west of Tours because our circle was CDG-TGV to St Pierre Des Corps-car-western Loire-MSM-Normandy-CDG car return. We couldn't see everything despite leaving out Burgundy.)

I'll join those who advise against driving -- at all -- after an overnight flight. Even if you've been able to sleep on the flight, your body clock will be out of whack and that can be dangerous for you and others on the road. Also, you'll pay less for the car if you rent it in Rouen or Caen instead of at CDG. And no problem dropping off the car at a different place as long as it's in the same country.

I think you're trying to cover too much ground in the time you'll have, three major regions each of which could justify the whole ten days. Bayeux is a better base than Caen for Normandy because of the cathedral and tapestry there, even apart from the D-Day sights and tours. If you're thinking of driving from, say, Caen out to MSM and then down to the Loire in the same day, you'll be spending a lot of time on the road and visiting MSM at the most crowded midday period. Maybe a night at MSM, on or near the island, so you can appreciate it when the day-trippers aren't there, would be a better plan.

For just one chateau and one wine tasting the long drive to and from the Loire seems inefficient. If you're going there, you might as well see at least a few more. Pick one side of Tours or the other. We found two a day was about our limit.

There's lots to see in Burgundy too. October is when they're harvesting the grapes so an especially interesting time to be there. But I'd recommend choosing either Burgundy or the Normandy-Loire combination for the time you have, not trying to "do it all."

Now thinking of doing 2 regions only but will have itineraries for all 3,my decision will be made when I get to Normandy as that is definitely in, I will base rest of the trip on weather.As for no driving on arrival day, how often are Trains ?from CDG to Rouen and do you have to book ahead?, plus how far is it going to be to the car rental and how would I get to it?.Lots of research for me to do , plus aren’t the French rail workers always going on strike?.I like the idea of spending the Night near MSM

There are usually car-rental agencies very near the train station. They may be in other locations as well. I can't say absolutely for sure since I was looking for them in Rouen or Caen. I suspect if you go to Google Maps, zoom in, and search for "car rental", a good number of options will pop up. For price comparisons, though it is recommended that you check the three consolidators, because they often beat the rates offered directly the rental car companies. The consolidators are AutoEurope, Kemwel and Gemut.

I am going from CDG to Rouen when I arrive. Train schedules are at www.sncf.com

The route is CDG to Gare du Nord on an RER, switch to a metro - Magenta to St. Lazare, and train to Rouen.