normandy rental car drop off

Have you previously driven on city/surface streets in Paris?

have not driven in paris

Are there even many choices of car hire lots to make the drop off in the Marais? Who are you renting from?

The closest place to drop the car will likely be Gare du Lyon. If you don't want to drive much through the core of the gridlocked city, you'll need to circle on the ring road all the way around Montmartre to slice in from the east between the 11th and 12th arrondissements.

CDG and the 40 min. transit into town (plus metro time) might be just as easy as all that, if it weren't for the inevitable long slog with luggage from the car lot to train platform. Have you thought about dropping the car at the Rouen station and taking the 1:20 express to St. Lazare?

appreciate those ideas. not familiar with the area at all, so this is all new stuff.

It is a really bad idea to arrive after an overnight flight and then drive a long distance -- even if you don't care about risks to yourself, think of the rest of us on the road. If you do this, I'd stop the first night at a place near the airport e.g. perhaps the very picturesque Senlis. We have returned cars at Gare du Nord and at central agencies and at the airport. These days we do ourself the favor of dropping at airports rather than fighting city traffic and then take a cab to our apartment. If you do decide to drop downtown be sure you have very clear instructions about where to drop. AGencies are typically under ground and very hard to spot unless you know what to look for.

To avoid driving to/from Paris you might consider taking the train to Caen after your arrival at CDG. You can pick up your rental car right across the street from the Caen railroad station and easily drive to Bayeux, about 15 miles. Trains to Caen leave from Gare St. Lazare and it takes around 2 hours. Dropping the car off at the Caen RR station, hopping a train to Paris, then taking a taxi to your apartment removes lots of hassles. Capitaintrain.com is the best place to investigate train schedules.

I really don't recommend dropping your car at the Gare de Lyon in Paris unless you have driven in France before. I have driven there frequently, and I dropped off my rental at Gare de Lyon last spring--but I was prepared. I used Google Street View to pin down exactly which parking garage I had to enter to drop off my car. This was key, because the only sign for the rental agency (Europcar) was on the wall of the parking garage next to the entrance--impossible to see from the street until you were right there! I would have driven right past it if I hadn't looked it up in advance. Even inside the garage it was a labyrinth trying to find which level to drop off my car--the signage was terrible. Why deal with all the stress while you are on vacation? As other posters have suggested, drop off your car at the Caen train station (the rental agencies are right across the street), and take the train into Paris.

Re driving to Normandy the same day as arriving at CDG: We don't know enough about the OP's travel history and habits to know if it is a bad idea for that person or not. We don't even know where the OP is from. It could be Bombay or LA or a short hop from London.

After flying from Atlanta, I have jumped in a rental car several times and driven for hours. But that is at airports and countries I am familiar with, and I have not had a problem with jet lag. On the other hand, my wife falls asleep before we even get out of town.

great info. my first time on a chat forum. we are from California and the person who always sleeps on the flights is driving. thank you all.

It's not safe to get off a trans-oceanic long haul flight and then jump in a rental car to drive that distance under those conditions.
Even the "person who sleeps on the flight" will have their driving reaction time significantly impaired by jet lag. Recently there was a discussion here by a doctor of the medical evidence that supports the above statement.

With all due respect, if you decide to do this despite the advice here, please get all the insurance you can afford and make sure your current medical insurance covers you in Europe.

Roy it is always a bad idea to drive after a transatlantic flight or similar long flight Because someone says 'oh that doesn't apply to me' doesn't make it safe. I don't want to face their hubris inflated self coming at me down the highway.

Highway hubris? This discussion has jumped the shark.