Normandy with Small Children

Posted by Dyan (Concord, California, United States) on 01/24/14 10:17 PM

Hello,

My husband and I will be traveling to Europe at the beginning of April with our children (6 and 3). We are spending a few days in Paris and then would like to rent-a-car and drive to Normandy. We are staying in the 6th Arrondissement. Where should we rent our car? Inside Paris, take a train (and all of our luggage) outside of the city, etc.?

Also, if you had 3-4 days in Normandy with small children what would you do/where would you stay? We have a free night in Roeun that we can use on our second or third night in Normandy (but not our first). I am interested in going to Giverny at either end of the Normandy trip. Honfleur and WWII Beaches both seem interesting.

Thanks

Dyan

Posted by Sharon

Santa Rosa, CA, USA

01/25/14 05:41 PM

1446 posts

You will find other people with more experience than I have in this area, but here's what we did when we went to Normandy. We took the train to Bayeux and got our rental car there (from Hertz). We stayed for several nights in Bayeux (which is a wonderful town) and took a one day tour of the battlefields (with Battlebus at the time). The tour was fantastic and the time in Bayeux itself was great - much to see there in terms of the cathedral, the Bayeux tapestry, the WWII museum and cemetery. It's a great trip.

Posted by gone

01/25/14 06:49 PM

2081 posts

welcome Dyan,

I fly solo, so what i did and like may not fly with your family.

I also took the train from Paris to Bayeux and stayed there.

I had a personal tour of the Normandy USA sectors since i dont care or like to drive.

Im more of a practical person, so to me saying you have hotel credit in Roeun and NOT staying there all 3/4 days make me wonder. I say this because it take time to pack/unpack/get situated in a NEW area again. Logistically it may not workout for the best, but i would look at where you want to go/do things and see if its a good central location for your stay.

Just so you know, just seeing the WWII sites can be an ALL DAY experience.

There is also the Bayeux Tapestry in Bayeux. That was really cool to me. They also have a really nice WWII musuem too.

happy trails.

Posted by Dick

Olympia, WA, USA

01/25/14 09:36 PM

6484 posts

You could take the train to Vernon, rent the car there, visit Giverny, and head on out to Bayeux, beaches, Mont-St-Michel, Honfleur, Rouen, whatever else interests you and the kids. Drop the car in Rouen and train back to Paris, or drop the car at CDG airport if you're flying out. Or some variant of the above.

Or, if you don't want to deal with the trains, luggage, and kids all together, pick up the car on the outskirts of Paris. Auto Europe lists pickup and dropoff locations, including Porte Maillot, which isn't far from the Arc de Triomphe, and offers a straight shot out toward Vernon and on to Normandy.

Posted by Ed

Pensacola

01/26/14 04:06 PM

9110 posts

The way I'd do it with kids is send the old man over to Gare Montparnasse to snag a car and get himself back to the hotel to pick up the rest of the family. From everwhere you are it ought to be pretty easy to worm yourself across the Concorde bridge, get on the Champs, and take it right out of the city where it becomes the A14 headed to Lower Normandy, Rouen, etc.

Rouen is off the path for everything else you mentioned except Giverny, so it'd be the stop at the end.