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Paris –Normandy November trip itinerary w/o a car rental?

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Planning a 7-10 day trip starting in Paris, touring the Normandy region (Saint-Malo, Mont St. Michel, Bayeux, D-day sites, Caen D-day museum) ending up in Rouen, and returning to Paris by train. There is a TGV train to Rennes from CDG with a transfer to Saint-Malo which makes a lot of sense (3:46 travel time). Train service from Rouen to Paris is also frequent. The problem is arranging car service or taxi transfers from Saint-Malo to MSM, MSM to Bayeux. Can anyone recommend a car or transport service for transport?

Rome2Rio advertises BlaBlaCar ride share service. It looks really flexible and cheap. Has anyone used it? Is it reliable?

I know car rental is the obvious solution but I don’t want to drive around Normandy in the rain with shorter daylight hours and have to worry about parking and leaving baggage in the car during tourist stops. I know the taxi fares will be high for these longer drives but car rental charges for an automatic picking up in Rennes and dropping in Caen or Rouen would also be high. If I could call on a reliable cost efficient taxi transport service to shuttle between these places it would be very helpful.

Appreciate any advice, suggestions or recommendations.

Here is a rough itinerary:

Saturday 11/16 – land at CDG, TGV train to Rennes, change trains on to Saint-Malo (3:45)
Sunday 11/17 - Saint-Malo to Mont St. Michel transfer, tour MSM, store bags, transfer to Bayeux,
Monday 11/18 - D-day site tour w private guide, overnight in Bayeux
Tuesday 11/19- transport to Caen cemetery and museum, store bags, afternoon train to Rouen
Wednesday 11/20 - tour Rouen, early evening train to Paris (1:17)
Thursday 11/21 – Paris
Friday 11/22 – Paris
Saturday 11/23 – Fly home from CDG

Posted by
27111 posts

I did a sort-of-loop through Normandy in 2016 by bus and train but didn't include Mont-St-Michel, which of course is the stop that's most challenging.

I have read here, and I think in Rick's guidebook, that the Churchill Hotel in Bayeux offers shuttle-trips to Mont-St.-Michel. I don't think they're advertised as day-tours and am not sure whether one must take that shuttle round trip. If not, perhaps you could ride it in the opposite direction.

Folks have said here that the visit to MSM is best not attempted as a day-trip. I assume you're aware of the severe crowding to be expected.

Have you checked rail and bus timetables to be sure you're getting significant logistical benefits from staying in St-Malo rather than Rennes the night before the visit to Mont-St-Michel? Rennes does have a nice historic district. The best I can tell, absent some sort of private transportation, you will probably end up by taking a shuttle bus from the Pontorson rail station to MSM. The shuttle schedule is here. However, it's possible there are direct buses from Rennes or St. Malo that don't force you to transfer at Pontorson.

BlaBlaCar is sort of an organized form of hitchhiking. I don't know that it's all that different from Uber and Lyft, however. I have not used BlaBlaCar.

I'm confused about you references to luggage storage. I assume you mean you will store the bags earlier in the day and then pick them up before moving on.

Posted by
13937 posts

Since you’re not really giving yourself any time to actually visit Saint-Malo, you might consider changing that first night to Bayeux then see if there is some kind of day trip to MSM. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen people comment on that but it may be summer only.

FWIW, I spent a few nights in Saint-Malo and found it charming. I loved watching the tide change and engulf the 3 small islets among other things.

Posted by
20 posts

Relying on BlaBla car for a specific date and time is very iffy. If you have a tight schedule, plus luggage, you are at the mercy of hoping someone posts your exact trip with 2 empty seats (or one) about one week ahead of your dates.

You could go onto the site now and see if anyone has posted a trip looking for passengers in that area of France.

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