paris, normandy and brittany

I would look into taking a train from Paris to Rouen and Honfleur; OR Caen & Bayeux then day tours to the beaches; OR Rennes/ St Malo/Mont St Michel to spend your remaining days.

ldleahy,

There is a train from Paris to Caen/Bayeux. Nice, comfy and relaxing. If i remember correctly, it was like a 2h+ journey.

the one i took stopped in Caen first and then Bayeux where i had my hotel.

Im biased to trains since i don't like to drive period. Others will have different views on traveling to/from Paris so take you poison.

happy trails.

Many people recommend leaving Paris by train and getting a car somewhere outside because traffic in and around Paris can be so difficult. A train might even be faster from central Paris to a place like Caen. The downside is paying the train fare (or, worse, two or three train fares) and then the car rental for the same day. You have to decide what the costs and benefits are for your trip.

The Paris Metro, or a taxi if you have much luggage, can get you to Porte Maillot or La Defense west of central Paris. From there you can get a car. Or a regular train (SNCF) from Gare St-Lazaire to Caen or Rouen or elsewhere in that direction, and get a car in that city. I'd advise against trying to see Normandy and/or Brittany only by train or bus because so many of the best places are relatively remote. A car will save you time, give you flexibility, make baggage handling easier, and perhaps save money for two people vs. train costs. Driving isn't difficult outside the big cities. Tolls and gas are expensive, but the autoroutes are very fast and the cars generally get great mileage (diesel, called "gazol," is cheaper).

Earlier this month I drove from Paris to Arromanches and then along the coast to Omaha Beach. Then drove down to Mont Saint Michel and over to Cancale. Then drove to Amboise before heading back to Paris. Total tolls about 41 euros with 15 from Paris to Caen. It's an easy drive once you get out of Paris and onto the highway. A difficult part of the driving was getting out of Paris and to the highway because it's confusing; however, it only took about 30-45 minutes. Getting back to the CDG airport was tough due to heavy traffic because we were coming up from the south and had to go around the city. May be different if coming in from the northwest. Also, I got lost trying to drive around the CDG area looking for shopping, gas, food, etc. Would have been much easier if I'd gone straight to the airport. If I were you I would drive rather than train it and then drive unless you are elderly.

Get a car at Caen across the street from the railroad station and you won't be sorry. You won't have any trouble finding your way. We had our own Garmin Nuvi GPS with Europe maps installed. We also bought a Michelin road map on Amazon or Ebay. We are seniors from rural KS but we had no trouble driving to Mont St. Michel, then around the bay to Cancale Brittany and all over Normandy. Go on tripadvisor.com, Normandy forum, for all manner of tips. We found driving to be very easy and stopped where we wanted for as long as we liked. We booked a rural B&B near Bayeux since we had our own car. We saved into the GPS the addresses of our museums, hotels, B&B, and towns along the coast before we left the US.

Probably just adds cost to train somewhere and then get a car. If you make a plan, can read a map, its not hard to get out of CDG and head to Normandy. Also, I had a GPS and the infallible advice from Ed for my first car trip in this area (I do drive in Europe all the time).... many others advised a roundabout way to get my car (which I ultimately wanted) and Ed said just get the car at the airport...and here is how to get out of town. It was so much fun to be able to explore that area at my own pace and on my own schedule. I have been twice to that area and stayed in Bayeux, St. Malo, Mont St Michel, and a few other great places. It is an amazing area. Both times I was there in Nov. and the American Cemetery was virtually empty. It was a stunning experience. Have a great time... and hopefully Ed will chime in and give you his advice.

All that's left for me to do is summarize and make a couple of corrections:

There's neither train tracks nor a station in Honfleur. If you take the train to Rouen to get a car, you'll be on the wrong side of the river and have a chance of missing the quickest crossing and having to go all the way down to the Normandy Bridge.

You can drop people at Gare Saint-Lazare so they can ride the train, take off driving, and be waiting for them (after having had a cup of coffee) when they walk out of the Caen station. Done it. Tolls are about thirty bucks and gas maybe twenty-five - - train tickets will cost more.

The easiest departure from Paris driving is from Nord. The cars are under the station. Pull out, head west to the first wide street, turn north, hit the peripherique counter-clockwise, hook a right on the N13/A14 (the signs will say toward Rouen, disregard them once you get going down the freeway or you'll eventually cross the river and screw up as noted above). The A13 runs all the way to Caen with excellent signage and you'll never be on less than four lanes once you hook the first right at the corner of Nord.

Trains to sights on the Contentin are nonexistent. Buses will slow you down. You can string them together by car.

Nobody who's ever done what I suggested above has ever come back and kicked me in the butt.

ok - ed i will take your word and go by car. the next question is - where to stay? day trips from any location? I would prefer to stay in one place and day trip it if possible. your thoughts again.

I stayed in Bayeux (per Ed's suggestion) and did a number of trips from there, but second trip I stayed on Mont St. Michel and would highly recommend it for one night. Don't be that close and miss the opportunity to have that experience. Day trip could not compare.

We stayed in Bayeux as our base and did day trips plus enjoyed Bayeux very much. We did have a car. We also drove to Mt. St. Michel and spent one night there - which was great. From there we drove to Honfleur which was a nice stop. It's so easy to drive in Normandy and so beautiful.