Roadtrip Help

To get a calculAtion of the fuel costs and tolls for your planned trip, go to the Via Michelin website and input your origin address in Paris (you can use your hotel if you don't know where you're renting the car yet) and destination in St-Malo, then do the same for St-Malo to Mont St-Michel and back, and St-Malo back to Paris.

Of course the fuel cost will be approximate, because who knows if you will get a diesel or petrol-fueled or hybrid car, but you can put in for the different fuels and/or sizes of car. And most helpfully, it will tell you how much you will be paying in tolls.

This will all give you a fuller idea of the cost of driving vs. taking the train by bringing in factors you will encounter in addition to the cost of the rental itself. Of course there isn't any good way to know how much you will have to spend on parking.

Check with your St-Malo hotel to see if they have parking within the walls, how much it costs, etc. The Mont St-Michel website will tell if there is a parking fee there.

we are 3 people so driving seems more economical.Looking into seeing if there are any nice towns to stop

Our trip to Normandy/Brittany, several years ago, we turned in our rental car at Caen, and then returned to Paris by train. This avoided the big-city driving. We’d initially rented at Lille, so much of it was a different itinerary than your plans, but are you eventually returning to Paris? If you took a (hopefully much cheaper, like less than 1/3 the cost pp) train to Caen, then rented from there, you could return it back at Caen (no one-way), and return.

Last time at Versailles, we took the train from Paris. If you didn’t have a car yet, and wanted to go from Versailles to rent in Caen, you’d need to take a train back to the Saint-Lazare station in Paris, and then from there to Caen. But the journey back to Paris is just over a half hour, then 2 to 2 1/2 hours to Caen.

One thing c about doing everything by train, is that I don’t think that would get you to Mont-Saint-Michel. You still need a bus, or taxi, for part of the journey to/from Saint-Malo. A train/rental car combo would give the best results for time/price/easy.

It was so long ago. I won’t attempt to suggest the current ticket policies or strategies for Versailles or Mont Saint-Michel. But I’d avoid trying to drive in, or very near Paris.

If you're driving from Paris to Mont Saint Michel on a short timetable and aren't up to the adventure of driving along narrow, curvy, rural Norman roads among the hedgerows, I would recommend (for speed as well as for ease of driving) that you stick to the Autoroutes: A13 out of Paris and then switching to A84 around Caen.

Three nice towns along (that is, near) that route would be Pont L'Évêque and Beauvron-en-Auge (both on the Paris side of Caen) and Villedieu-les-Poêles (between Caen and Mont Saint Michel). Do a little research on those place names on the Internet and see if they look interesting to you.

Villedieu has a long history of metalworking and there's an interesting small bell factory you can tour (in English) there that -- aside from a few modern conveniences such as electric lamps and powered hammers -- doesn't look that different than what you might have seen had you visited 200 years ago. When I say "small" I mean the factory is small. The bells certainly are not. They've made bells for landmarks around the world, including Notre Dame de Paris.

Thank you that seems very informative.

I suggest that you see Versailles on one of the days you're in Paris, rather than by car on the way to Normandy. It will be much easier. The palace, gardens, and other buildings are worth a full day, but you could take less time. Here's the Versailles website for ticket and other information.

Lots of scenic towns and villages once you get out of Paris suburbs, but you may want to spend time in places like Bayeux and the D-Day beaches. I suggest you rent the car outside of Paris. Caen would be a good choice, or Rouen, or even Versailles. Here's a good way to shop for and rent a car. You can easily reach Caen by train from Paris (Gare St-Lazare), and you don't need to buy advance tickets. I'd be very surprised if three train tickets cost more than the gas and tolls to drive from Paris to Caen (not to mention the aggravation you save).

I haven't been to Mont-St-Michel in about 60 years, but I expect it would be quite busy on Easter Sunday, perhaps the whole weekend. I don't know how tickets work there but others will. If you take your time, avoid driving in or near Paris, and stay flexible, I tihnk you'll have a safe, easy, not-too-strenuous trip. One of our host's best pieces of advice is "If something isn't living up to your expectations, change your expectations."

Thank you for the reply. I actually just tentatively reserved a car rental from Versailles, to avoid Paris traffic. But will check out the other places you have mentioned.

Versailles to St-Malo is about a four-hour drive, according to Google Maps, with no stops or allowance for traffic conditions. So you could spend a short time at Versailles, get the car, and reach St-Malo in late afternoon or evening. That would be too rushed for me, but I don't know what your overall timeframe is or how much more energy you have (I'm guessing a bit more).

rd,
First, tickets at Mont St. Michel are only necessary for the abby. The town on the mont is free. You park in the lot (pay) and take a shuttle (free) to the causeway, which you walk across to get to the mont. The abbey is at the top and you will buy your tickets there. (Unless, of course you need to pre-buy. since Covid.) It should say on the website.
We have driven to Normandy from Paris, but I agree to get your car outside of Paris. Train to Caen or Rennes, then car to the abby. Or car from the Paris area (e.g. Versailles, Orly) and drive to the mont. We don 't like to take the autoroutes (A roads) because we like driving through the countryside and the smaller towns. So we have taken D roads through Giverny, to Rouen, along the Route des Abbayes. etc. to Bayeux. We have then gone on (after a stay in Bayeux) to the Mont, stopping in Villedieu-la-Poelle. It is a charming little town, and besides its bell-making (and pots and pans-making), it was also known for lace-making. If you are there on the right day and time there are tours and demonstrations to enjoy. If you stay there it is a short drive to Mont St. Michel.
The only trouble I see is that you only have three days, which will limit your sightseeing. Driving and stopping at scenic villages along the way will be difficult on that weekend. There will be traffic from Easter vacation families returning home or off to the family for the day. But it is doable. The train would be your best bet if you can secure a car rental at St. Malo and if the train times work out.
By the way, I just saw you secured a car rental in Versailles. I do hope you realize that visiting the chateau at Versailles will take up most of your day, so will you see it on the 29th and spend the night there before heading off to St. Malo? Versailles is not a quick stop. And as Kim says, check out Viamichelin to get an idea of drive times. Please don't underestimate them!
Best of luck on your trip!

Rouen is beautiful and then Honfleur and Bayeux (tapestry) , also Deauville and if you head north then west. If you drive directly west to st malo then Chartres is a must!

as Judy says, taking the train to Versailles, seeing it, then getting your car is a LOT to be doing in a day. There are a couple of other gotchas with that plan. You will have checked out of your Latin Quarter hotel with your luggage and then need to get to the RER and then out to Versailles. What will you do with your luggage while you visit the (very expensive so you will want to get your money's worth) chateau of Versailles? Then you get your car. Where? The 30th of March is a Saturday so expect most rental counters to be either closed all day or closing for the day at noon. Will that work for you - have you checked opening hours at the place you made the reservation?

Then a long trip up to St Malo, check in and spend the night.

Then on Easter Sunday on to Mont St Michel. Have you checked the tides to see what will be waiting for you? And if anything will be open?

Then you overnight again, and return to Paris and return the car. Where? Traffic will be awful that afternoon. Anywhere that would normally be open (very few are on Sundays and holidays anyway) will likely be closed on Easter Monday. Are you sure that where you want to return the car will be open on Easter Monday afternoon, and have you planned to fill the tank at a place that will be open and near the rental place?

Not to throw cold water on your plans - just the opposite. I don't want you having any nasty surprises.

Bison Futé (crazy buffalo - where do they come up with those names??!!) is the official French government website for traffic congestion prediction for the whole country. They produce a table of expected traffic, as many French folks are quite predictable for when they will be travelling.

The 2024 table isn't up yet but you can look at last year's to see the predicted traffic around Easter. The table for 2023 is at https://www.bison-fute.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/Calendrier2023BisonFuteA3.pdf

In 2023 Easter Sunday was 9 April. Zone 1 is the Île de France including Paris and zone 2 is northwest of there including Normandy and Brittany. You can see that while most of the rest of the month is green, Friday (V = vendredi ) is red and heavy in zones 1,2,3,4 in the departure column (Départ) and green in the return column (Retour) because people are getting away for the holiday weekend. Then Saturday (S = samedi ) is red in zone 2 departure, where you are going. Easter Sunday (D = dimanche ) is green both ways because people are where they are going, and then the Monday (L = lundi ) they all head back to Paris and where they came from, red in zones 1 and 2, where you will be.

You can see in the key at the bottom of the table that red means "driving very difficult", next highest to black.

Expect similar this year, and when the 2024 table comes out you can get that from https://www.bison-fute.gouv.fr/calendrier-bison-fute,10739,langen.html

On Saturday the 30th, you really don't have time for any stops. I've driven to Brittany several times. It's long. It's much longer by car. You should take the train to Rennes, rent your car there, and drive one hour to St. Malo. Though you are traveling the day before a family holiday and are buying your tickets late, I'm seeing tickets on SNCF Connect from 33.70 to 67 euros, one-way, Paris-Rennes. Add 10-20% because I have a senior discount card in my application. It's cheaper than the 200pp RT you stated. Don't use a reseller, but do use SNCF Connect.

You don't have to go through Normandy to get to St. Malo.

Part of my husband's family is from Brittany and the last time we went for a celebration, we took the train to Rennes and rented our car there. There's no way I'd waste time driving there.