travel questions from CDG

It is smart to end in Paris; you don't want to drive on jet lag day. How about getting a train to Bayeux and spending a couple of nights there. You could do an all day tour of the beaches with Overlord and also see the Tapestry and Cathedral. Then pick up the rental car for your other stops in Normandy. You can see some of the things we did in 5 nights in Normandy a couple of years ago at:
www.janettravels.wordpress.com/category/normandy/

If there isn't a train to Bayeaux that evening, you could spend a night in Paris near the train station and catch a train the next morning. An advantage there is you could get tickets for 15 Euro doing it that far in advance and you wouldn't have to worry about late planes interfering with your plans. We really enjoyed Normandy. We stayed at the Churchill in Bayeaux which was convenient to Tapestry, Cathedral and the pick up point for the Overlord tours. You could also do your own trip to the beaches if you do your homework; although we had a car, this was one spot where we were happy to let someone else ferry us about -- we visited Angouleme, Ponte du Hoc, Omaha and Utah beaches and the American cemetery and the Airborne Museum. They also offer tours that focus on the British/Canadian beaches if you are from Canada or the UK. We also particularly enjoyed our afternoon hiking around the cliffs of Etretat.

I would prefer the plan of spending a night in Paris, even if you don't see anything but the corner bistrot, and heading out the next morning. You don't have any stress about your flight arriving on time and don't add two more travel hours to your long day.

Train schedules options are pretty sparse that late in the day. Looking at August 10th, if you get into CDG at 16:00 and travel to the city center, you could catch a direct train from Paris St. Lazare station to Caen or Bayeux at 19:10 or 20:45. There is a direct train that departs the airport TGV station about 18:00 and gets to St. Pierre-des-Corps in two hours; or one leaving from Paris Montparnasse station downtown about 20:45, which is the last one of the day. Any of those plans could go awry with a flight delay.

Laura, where are you able to access the TGV info from the airport? We've never flown into CDG before, I'm wondering how long it would take to get from our plane to the train station there if all goes normally. Thanks for the help!

Laura can speak for herself (of course!) but I doubt if the two hours between landing and the TGV departing CDG would be enough time. It might work if everything goes just right, but if you're a little late or it takes awhile to deplane or you have to get luggage or you're not in the same terminal as the TGV (2 I think) or there's any delay at immigration, you'll miss the train. And those cheap tickets Laura mentioned are non-changeable and non-refundable.

Better, I think, to spend the first night in Paris. Take the Air France bus to Opera and stay near the Gare St-Lazare. Enjoy the evening strolling around your hotel neighborhood (if you can walk at all at that point). Take a morning train to Bayeux, spend the day there with the cathedral and tapestry. Then get the car the next morning, or take a landing beach tour and get the car the next day.

This timetable allows for flight delays, gives you a soupcon of Paris, avoids paying for train tickets and car rental on the same day, and holds off paying for the car till you're ready to actually drive it. Just remember, in August all the French people will also be on the roads taking their vacations.

EDIT -- Thanks Bets for the PM correcting me. The bus from CDG to Opera is the Roissybus, not the Air France bus (aka "Les Cars Air France," which runs to various stations but not St-Lazare. Roissybus runs at 15-20 minute intervals all day and evening, gets you close enough to St-Lazare.

I have been to both Bayeux and Amboise and they are wonderful cities to visit but not after arriving so late in the day at CDG. To try to rent a car and drive out of CDG when jet-lagged would be extremely difficult and, while you can take a train, I'm pretty sure there are no direct trains to either city from CDG; you would have to make at least one transfer in Paris and, you're correct, there are less trains on Sunday.

Why not spend the first part of your vacation in Paris and then fly out of a different French airport to return home? We were in France in March of this year. We flew into the Bordeaux airport and out of the Nice airport and had no problems. (We have already been to Paris so decided to avoid the CDG chaos on this trip.)

Also--there is a homeopathic product that REALLY helps with jet lag. It's called "No Jet Lag". You can buy it at Cabela's or online.

I agree with the others. Spend a night in Paris. Have a leisurely meal, walk around a bit, and go to bed early.

The first train to Bayeux (connection in Caen) leaves Gare Saint-Lazare at 07:07. The first train to Amboise (connection in St-Pierre-des-Corps) leaves Gare Montparnasse at 06:41. Or take a direct TGV that departs at 07:38.

I hope you have now decided to stay the night in Paris! How to Look Up Train Schedules Online gives you the DB train schedule link and tips for using it. For the best chance of results that show direct TGVs where they exist, you can choose "Aeroport Paris-Charles de Gaulle TGV" as your departure station. Or through Rail Europe, you choose "Paris Airport, France CDG" or on the French site, you choose "Paris Roissy Charles de Gaulle Airport (TGV station - CDG 2 - 25km from Paris - FR)."

Okay, we have decided to spend our first night in Paris and then catch a train in the morning to Bayeux. Next set of questions: does the Roissy bus to Gare St. Lazare run from CDG on a Sunday evening? We're trying to decide whether to stay at the airport the first night, or a hotel near Gare St. Lazare. Any suggestions of a good hotel to stay at for one night near Gare St. Lazare? Thanks for all of the help!

Roissybus goes to Opera, not Gare St Lazare. It runs on Sunday evenings.

Here's a link to the schedule in English.

https://www.aeroportsdeparis.fr/ADP/en-GB/Passagers/Access-maps-car-parks/Paris-CDG/Access/public-transport/paris-cdg-roissybus.htm

Roissybus

If you arrive at CDG at 4pm, definitely go into the city rather than staying at the airport. Why waste a Sunday late afternoon/evening out at the CDG area rather than enjoying your first evening in Paris??