St Malo, Normandy, to Paris

A rental car would give you the chance to stop and visit pretty Honfleur in Normandy on your way to Paris.

This trip is best done with a car, although you will want to find out about parking for your hotels (may not be included). There are a host of places you could go, including stone dolmans in Brittany, rural public gardens (many part of old estates, check hours before driving there), and GIverney or Chateau Chantilly on the way to Paris. Try to avoid a downtown Paris car return. The traffic is fierce and unforgiving. (I drive in NYC twice a week!)

I can drive a standard, but you will find your visit options severely limited if you do not allocate the money for a car. One issue may be if you PREFER an (expensive) guided tour of the WW II sites, which can reduce the need for a car. Can't tell YOU what is best.

There is nothing wrong with your plan, but note that Bayeux is a back-track, more or less. Vitre or Dinan may be of interest to you, if you have time.

Driving gives you the opportunity to visit a few nice places otherwise hard to do with public transport, like already mentioned Honfleur.

Or further charming places like Beuvron-en-Auge east of Caen and not so far from the A13 toll road. The same for the abbeys of Jumièges and Saint-Martin-de-Boscherville west of Rouen. From the latter you can drive to Rouen and drop off the car there if possible and after visiting it taking back the train to Paris. Skipping Rouen is an option too and visit for instance Giverny as already suggested too and drop off the car if possible in Vernon for taking the train to Paris. If having enough time La Roche-Guyon north of Giverny is worth the detour.

We did St. Malo by train as we no longer drive but a car is best for Normandy and Brittany -- on earlier trips we drove to MSM, Honfleur, Etretat, Bayeux etc. It is possible to go by bus to MSM from st. Malo. When we were there, the landlord of our apartment gave us a flyer with the daily bus trip to MSM. There is a bus there in the morning and a return early evening. (at least when we were there about 4 years ago). From St. Malo we went by bus to Dinan and boat to Dinard and on foot to St. Servan and the fabulous Tour Solidor. We took the train from there to Auray to see the neolithic sites around Carnac (hired a guide with car for that) and then took the train back to Paris.

Note that getting a car with an automatic transmission is dependent on availability and odds there will be one at a tiny spot like St. Malo are not necessarily a sure thing. You can usually get them at airports but small towns? Ordering one doesn't guarantee they will have one -- if someone fails to return a car on time, there you are. You might want to speak directly with the rental agency in St. Malo on this point to be reassured that they can fill this order for you if it is important.

I second the suggestion on seeing La Roche Guyon. If you want to see a site pertaining to WW2 on the German side, the small chateau in La Roche Guyon is one place. I went there in 2001.

La Roche Guyon is a wonderful site, and I visited it last summer. But they really downplay the WWII connection. I had to ask someone working there just to find from which room(s) Rommel operated. I still recommend it.

I'll third La Roche-Guyon. Its location right on a bend of the Seine can be appreciated from the raised viewing area alongside the chateau garden or from the road that runs along the top of the ridge.

The chateau garden is an attraction in itself.

The chateau in La Roche Guyon in the summer of 2001 had on its lower floor an exhibit of Rommel's time at the site in 1944.

Very Informative presenting Rommel in a favourable light. I believe the explanations were only in French, can't recall exactly, but no matter since I had a person with me fluent in both French and English, as my reading level then was next to nothing.

I second the comment about availability of automatic cars in st. Malo. 18 months ago we rented a car at CDG airport and spent 9 nights in 9 towns in Brittany following a driving route we found in an old book. It was lovely. Your route sounds terrific, too. Getting the automatic in St. Malo will be the problem. A little time online should illustrate this. I drive a stick but avoid it at all costs in Europe due to all of the other distractions. Finally, driving in Paris can give you nightmares. It’s almost as bad as central London on Friday during rush hour. And I know all about that.

If you are not comfortable driving a stick then arrange to pick up the automatic at a larger rental spot like a busy train station or airport. Years ago we picked up a car in Rome a tthe airport. We had to wait 2 hours for a car because they were slow coming in. There was a guy there when we left that had already been there two hours before us; he needed an automatic and they had given his car away to someone before him and had no automatics -- this was a major international airport.

It is never a guarantee -- but the odds go down the smaller the rental agency and town.