Renting a car in Bayeux in early Sept 2016

There are far fewer car rental facilities in Bayeux than in Caen. We rented from the Hertz facility in Bayeux which is actually just a busy petrol station with 3 or 4 cars all of which were pre-reserved by customers like me. The employees of the petrol station first waited on EVERYBODY else then helped me. They only speak French, but luckily my B&B owner went with me to translate. If he had not been there it would have been very bad. They rate they quoted me was not what was on my confirmation email, and my translator fixed that problem as well as a few others.

Having a car is really a necessity unless you are on one of the big bus tours. We booked a guide from www.toursbylocals.com who traveled with us in our rental car. It's FAR easier to rent in Caen and drive the short distance to Bayeux.

I second renting in Caen. We have rented from EuRopcar twice and it's right at the train station. When we checked Bayeux it was the gas station Hertz with limited hours.

I've also rented a car in Bayeux from the same Hertz agency at the petrol station, and the experience was much the same as Tim described. The hotel owner made the arrangements, but I had to stumble through the actual rental with my very limited French skills. It all worked out well and there were no surprises.

We enjoyed dinners at L'Assiette Normand very near the cathedral. We are not gourmands, but found the meals quite nice and reasonably priced. Pleasant ambiance as well. But it was the friendly, patient and helpful servers that brought us back the second evening, which frankly, I value more than the food on my plate.

We rented a car in Caen and found it very easy -- right across the street from the train station. We picked up the car on a Sunday when the Europcar office was closed, but they left all the information at the Ibis hotel -- all very convenient and easy. The drive from Caen to Bayeux is not far and very easy to do.

Yes, take the train to Caen and rent the car there. Bayeux and the beaches are easy to reach from there.

I hope you're planning to stay at least one night, preferably two, in Bayeux. The city's sights and the beaches are more than enough for a full day's sightseeing.

Auto Europe is a US-based broker that finds car rentals in Europe at good prices. You pay them and they e-mail you a voucher you can use at the rental office. Many of us have had good experiences with them. Or you can look at websites for Europcar and Hertz, which have offices at the Caen station, and see if they have a better deal. (Right now Auto Europe is offering a "mini" for $48 and "economy" for $52, both from Europcar, for Sept. 9-10.)

Thanks for your responses. We have an apartment for a month in Paris, so all our trips will be day trips. We recently asked a very dear friend of ours, who is a recent widow of a very dear friend, to spend a week with us. (We often traveled together before she got so sick). He is willing to rent a car, which we were not. So that is why we are looking for suggestions about renting a car. Hope we can get one close to Bayeaux, as we have train tickets there already. If not we may see about changing our tickets. We did notice that Hertz asks for more money if you are over 70, which he is just barely, and we are much over that limit, by at least by 4 years.

You have to go through Caen to get to Bayeax. So if you do rent from Cean all you have to do is get off the train at that stop. That would give you more options.

You don't have to change your train tickets. Just get off the train when it stops in Caen (which is before Bayuex).

We enjoyed a nice casual dinner in Bayeux at Moulin de la Galette, which is right at the scenic spot with the waterwheel that you see on such shows as "Rick Steves' Europe".