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Transportation Tips: London to Normandy

Posted by on

Hi all,

My husband and I are leaving London on the morning of Sunday, May 3 with the destination of the Normandy area in mind to spend 2.5 days soaking in WWII history before heading on to Paris on Wednesday, May 6 (we're flying out from Paris on the 10th, so want that to be our final stop).

This will be our first trip to France, so I'm really hoping someone can give some helpful suggestions on what the best/quickest means of transportation would be -- after the Chunnel, should we rent a car? Is there a location better to rent a car at in that area? If we rented a car in one place, would it be possible to drop it off in Versailles or somewhere else closeby so we wouldn't have to backtrack to drop it off before heading into Paris without an astronomical one-way fee (like we so often experience in the U.S.)?

I've read a lot of varying opinions online, so I'm just feeling a bit lost on what to do... Any help would be appreciated!

Posted by
3990 posts

I'd take the Eurostar to Lille and from there either rent a car and drive to your destination in Normandy or take a train to Caen or someplace else in Normandy and rent a car there. This would let avoid you having to go all the way to Paris to turn around and head west. One way car rentals are not generally more expensive in France unless you rent from Avis or Hertz or return the car outside of France (which you are not doing). I would return the car in either Versailles (if you have that on your itinerary) or La Defense. You should purchase your tickets on Eurostar ASAP. Tickets get more expensive as your travel date gets closer. You have probably already missed the cheapest tickets. Finally, please don't call it the Chunnel while in Europe.

Posted by
359 posts

You definitely need a car to see the WWII sites. Public transportation to them is not good. Your other option is to do a tour with a tour company.

Posted by
10605 posts

We did this last September. After looking at all the options we chose to take the Eurostar to Paris and rent a car at Gare du Nord. Smaller places may not have car rental agencies open on a Sunday. We made the mistake of heading out of Paris on a Friday afternoon. It took us 4 hours to do the normal 3 hour drive to Bayeux. That shouldn't be a factor on a Sunday. You might consider dropping the car in Bayeux or Caen and returning to Paris by train.

Edit - There may or may not be a one way fee, depending on the car rental agency. Europcar does not charge a one way fee. I always us Auto Europe to arrange my rental cars in Europe. They are based in Maine. It's easy to call them to ask questions and clarify any extra costs.

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