One day for Normandy

For a one day in-and-out trip from Paris to the Normandy beaches a tour is strongly suggested, if perhaps mandatory. To effectively move efficiently and experience in depth a good tour company is needed. I’m sure you will, with the help of others on the site, get ample suggestions. We had the time for both a tour and driving with three full days to do so. The whole area is huge, but the American Cemetery and Omaha Beach can make a meaningful day trip. We had a tour guide that was reasonably good and valuable, but I would not recommend hearing other reviews of other options. A web search will bring up many options and reviews.

We did Normandy on our own via rental car, but we had 3 days. In general, I don't love tours, but I think they would be the most efficient way to see some of the sites in Normandy if you only have a day. Plus for a place like Normandy, an educated tour guide can provide a lot of information.

Thanks! Any good tour recommendations?

A lot of people seem to recommend Overlord

Here is one of many past discussions that may be of use to you:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/france/day-trip-from-paris-to-d-day-beaches-acf8ace3-7773-4e57-b464-b178dcd45e1f

I would recommend a day tour. We did a day tour that was with Overlord (we booked through Viators, but Overlord was the actual company.)
It was wonderful to have someone take us around, visit many of the smaller towns that had significant history of D-Day, walk on some of the beaches, go to the American Cemetery ( try to be there around 4:00pm, or when they lower the flag and play taps. )
It was a full day tour (we stayed in Bayeux and were picked up there. There were 8 of us in a very new roomy van.)

I would definitely take a tour! It was the best money I've ever spent, and I'm a very independent traveler. I kept thinking on the tour, "Boy, I'd never what the heck was happening here without a guide!" He explained history, strategy, positions, use of terrain, tides, and acts of heroism. It was if he had actually been there (though he has talked to those that were!).

We used Alan Bryson of www.firstnormandybattlefieldtours.com and he was great and drove us around in his own minivan. He is recommended in Rick Steves' current France guide.

I did a full day tour with Overlord tours and was amazed by the knowledge of our guide,I Learned a lot and I thought I knew it all.
Mike

If you’re planning this as a day trip from Paris, there are half day tours. Full day tours require you to overnight in the area the night before, since the tours leave around 8:30.

If you choose to rent a car, I’ve found that there are more options at the Caen train station than at Bayeux. There is a Hertz location in Bayeux, but it’s on the outskirts of town.

Check out Overlord tours. They have the various tour itineraries online.

I believe Overlord has one full-day tour intended for people traveling up from Paris on a very early train. The tour picks up at the Bayeux train station rather than in the center of town. Poke around on the website and you'll encounter the information, I think. I don't know how often the tour operates. It would be a lot easier--and not so long a day--if you went up to Bayeux the night before the tour.

Google maps shows the road travel time to Bayeux at around three hours each way, leaving aside Paris road congestion. Train travel is at least 2 1/2 hours. So the round trip will consume five to six hours of your time, looking out windows, and you still have to get to the Normandy beaches or whatever else you want to see.

Tim is right. There are multiple previous threads on this topic, many of which I've chimed in on, which you can search for. A day trip from Paris is very do-able if that's all the time you have. It's a long day, but a good one. I wouldn't even think of renting a car and doing it on your own. Book a tour.