Visiting the Northern Region of France

I have actually driven from Wiesbaden (Germany) directly to Giverny / Vernon, albeit about 20 years ago, although I haven't tried a trip like yours. There are plenty of roads on the outskirts of Paris that bypass the city, so you can do it, I think, even if unwieldy. Why are you not keeping the car for Alsace? It might make your plans a little easier...

Lavandula

In September 2023 , We took the Eurostar from London to Paris and right away to train to Bayeau for three days. On day four train to Paris and then another train to St. Avoid on the far eastern border for three days then train back to Paris for three days. It was super easy . Did not rent a car, used public transport the whole France part of the trip. Good luck and enjoy.

I suggest you take a look at Brittany as an alternative to driving all the way across France for just a couple of days. Tour around Brittany and drop the car in Rennes and train back to Paris. Brad

I would deeply consider either going north, or south, from Normandy instead of going all the way across France just to visit Strasbourg. I love the Alsace-Lorraine, but IMHO Strasbourg is much too highly rated here. If you go south to Bordeaux you have some beautiful country and all the pre-historic sites nearby. If you go north towards Lille you have all of that region. And if you want some more history you can travel between Lille and Saabrucken and traverse the entire WWI front lines with the Champagne region in the middle. And all of that is a two hour train ride to Paris.

Crossing France by car is not only a long drive, it's expensive. Gas is 2+ euro / liter, and there are a lot of tolls to be paid.

Driving can be expensive but fuel prices are less than suggested above. Currently, the prices of different grades of gasoline range from around 1€75 to just under 2€ and diesel generally is in the range of 1€50 to 1€75. The price depends on location and whether or not one is on an Autoroute (Autoroute prices are higher as you're paying for the convenience). Generally, the least expensive fuel is at supermarket or hypermarket fueling stations.

You can check the current price of vehicle fuel anywhere in metropolitan France and Corsica at a government website dedicated to that topic.

In addition to Bob's good advice, just to say that there are a few apps with good price information. I use Prix Carburant, EssencePasCher, and E.Leclerc has a good app CarburantPro for their places with details of what's at each station.

There are other apps in other countries such as the UK, Germany.

If you decide to drive you can bypass Paris taking the northern route (all are toll roads): A28 and A29 from Rouen to Amiens and further St. Quentin. From there A26 to Reims and finally A4 to Strasbourg. It’s not so much longer than driving through Paris and you don’t risk it’s notorious traffic jams.

You can break up this long drive visiting one of the places: Amiens, Laon, Reims, Verdun, Metz and even a detour to Nancy. Laon is a lovely hill top town still having it’s medieval walls and a unique gothic style cathedral.

Thank you all for sharing your advice and suggestions! Much appreciated.