Paris to Normandy on a Sunday (and car rental)

Last summer we did this. We had planned to rent a car in Rouen after taking the train there and drive to Bayeux in Normandy. Because of a train strike, we had to rent the car in Paris' Gare du Nord and drive all the way. I'd research about the Sunday thing for smaller car rental offices, but I will say that driving out from the north side of Paris (where Gare du Nord train station is) was much easier then we thought it would be. We used Hertz and had a great experience. Enjoy your trip. Driving through Normandy was a joy!

Each individual car rental office will have hours posted on their website. As you research and find companies you are interested in, you can simply google that specific rental branch to see if they have Sunday hours.
Picking up the car in France and returning it to Belgium will incur very hefty fees, since you are returning it to a different country. I would return the car in France, take the train to Belgium, and then pick up another rental car there. A bit of a hassle, I know, but it will save you hundreds of dollars.

One of the 1st things you should research, now (no need to worry, just know before you go) is whether there are car rental agencies, that you would want to use (good rate, etc), that are open in Caen on a Sunday. Sundays for car rental are a problem, throughout France in locations outside Paris.

Maybe the Caen airport?

Other details of your trip will become more clear after you determine this.
The French take the Lord's day of rest pretty seriously, and I've never tried renting or returning a car in France outside Paris on a Sunday.

The Caen rental offices close for lunch during the week; I doubt they are open on Sunday. I'd probably rent at the airport in Paris and drive from there, or from Gare du Nord. We took the train to Caen when starting a 5 night trip to Normandy -- but it was a weekday.

Thanks for all of your thoughts.
Looks like I'll be renting a car at Gard du Nord & driving to Normandy from there.

I acknowledge that there will be additional expense for renting the car in France, and returning it in Belgium. But I'd prefer that instead of doubling-back to the Paris metro area to drop it off & then getting a train.

JM

There are car rentals at Porte Maillot, on the Peripherique west of central Paris, easily reached by Metro and RER. Might be easier to escape from there than from Gare du Nord. Another advantage of renting in Paris is not having to pay a train fare and a car rental fee for the same day. And you'll want to save money on that if you're going to incur the drop-off charge in Belgium!

On a Sunday, from personal experience, I think Gare du Nord would be a better place to rent than Porte Maillot due to the larger size of the selection at the train stations and to avoid entering the periferique (ring road) at Porte Maillot, which is very abrupt. We've picked up leased cars there and it's a shocker to drive out of the dealer and cross the street right onto the short ramp onto a narrow freeway, sort of like the Pasadena Freeway or the old ones on the east coast, in a car you don't know. It's not an area that lends itself to driving practice. Driving from the Gare du Nord on a Sunday gives you some time to get to know the car first. Note: that's the only part of the trip that poses any challenge at all! It's easy-peasy to Normandy.

You might see if they have a Belgian car that needs to go home. The last time we rented in Amsterdam with a drop off in Paris we didn't have to pay a drop fee because we were bringing a Paris care home. This is the luck of the moment, but if you pick up from Nord or the airport which has a lot of cars, it is at least possible that they have a car that needs to go home. Like you we were willing to pay the huge drop fee as we were driving up the Rhine from Amsterdam, into Alsace and then Provence and then Burgundy and on to Paris -- the drop fee was just the cost of doing this trip efficiently; we were however delighted to not have to pay those several hundred Euro.

I did some studying, and think it might work to rent the car in Nord (fairly close to where we'll be staying in Paris), and drop it off in Lille after we've visited Normandy.

Then, from Lille, take the train to Brussels or (preferably) Bruges.

Again, thanks for all of your helpful posts.

JM

PS> I have one of the newer Garmin Nuvis, and have already purchased & installed the France/Benelux map microSD. So getting of town shouldn't be an issue.

Trains from Lille to Brugge run about hourly with one connection at Kortrijk and don't require reservations, so that sounds like a good solution. (Trains from Lille to Brussels are similar, but with different connection points.)