Paris and Normandy plans

Can you book multi-city tickets in and out of Lyon and Caen airports? If not, Lyon will be the outlier on this trip making logistics more cumbersome.

Just to clarify, I was planning to take the train from Paris to Caen and Paris to Lyon. Plan to rent a car in Caen and return it to Caen.

When you arrive at CDG, take a direct Grande Vitesse train from the airport to Lyon (2h 15m). From Lyon, take a train to Caen that requires a transfer in Paris (5h) and pick up your car rental. Sleep in Bayeux and see Paris and the end of your stay

Ken,
September happens to be the most expensive month to visit Paris. With fashion weeks and many business conventions that month, hotels are more expensive and harder to find rooms. Even the first week of October can be problematic. If your research finds you a good (refundable) lodging choice, book it when you find it. Your plan to take a train to Caen to rent a car is wise, but if you take a full week for the Normandy portion of your trip, you might want to consider taking a train to Rouen, staying 2 nights (1 1/2 days), then picking up your rental car and driving to Bayeux. The D982 road follows the Seine River and is a lovely country drive. You can stop at the Abbey of Jumieges (spectacular ruins!) on your way there. Then stay 3 nights in Bayeux (2 full days). We have always driven ourselves around the sites (beaches and museums and cemeteries), so you can do that if you wish, or take a tour, or do both. You can return the car at Caen and take a train back to Paris. If you want, you could drive to Honfleur for a night and next day drop the car in Le Havre to take the train to Paris. Or go the other way to Mont St Michel, staying the night on or near the Mont. Return the car at Rennes, then train to Paris.
Lots of options and much to see and do in Normandy. Bonne chance and bon voyage!

Yes Bayeux is still a good base. There is so much more to see than just the tapestry, and it is also very central if you are interested in D-day sites. Unlike a lot of medium and large cities in the area, it was not destroyed by bombs and artillery during WWII. So it has a wonderful town center with many half-timbered buildings.

Let me recommend you drop Lyon, and drive from Paris to Rouen, then to Bayeux, and then to Chartres, and back to Paris. With two weeks this is a very viable round trip and better than trying to reach Lyon. I've done all of those in the past year. 10 days in Normandy from Rouen to Chartres, with Bayeux and the D-Day beaches, and more. It was one of the best drives I've had in Europe.

When we visited France, we used Bayeux as a base. We took the train to Caen and picked up our rental car, then drove to Bayeux. We stayed 2 or 3 nights (can't remember exactly). It was a great base for exploring the Normandy Beaches. We had a tour scheduled with Overlord, but they canceled it so we had to explore by ourselves.

Thank you for all the information and insight. I was surprised to find that there were accommodations available in Paris and Bayeux in early August that seem to be reasonable. Also, airfare was about the same price.
I haven't settled on a final itinerary but I probably need to make some decisions soon.
Any thoughts or experience visiting in August?
I like the idea of traveling earlier in the fall/late summer. Maybe the larger crowds could make this time less appealing.
Again, thanks for the help.

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