London-Normandy-Paris--Help with itinerary/transport options

I am seeing 15 train options for 1 June to Paris on the Eurostar website and 6 to Lille. Trains haven’t stopped at Calais for ages.

Driving Lille to Bayeux is going to take the best part of 6 hours including picking the car up, so it’s going to be a full day of travel. Your timetable only allows 2 days here, which certainly isn’t too long. An organised tour of the battle sites would be beneficial. Most want to see the tapestry in Bayeux.

I would then head to the charming St Malo/Dinon area - plenty history, galleries, pleasant coastline and good walks. Try to fit in Giverny en route to Paris.

Option 2

Wareham would be a good base or any of the villages nearby or if you stayed in Poole, you could take the ferry from there to Cherbourg - easier than having to get to Portsmouth. The Portsmouth - Cherbourg ferry runs 5 times a week. This option is less hassle.

a few things come to mind ...

Accommodations. Since you are 30 days out, finding two rooms in a hotel, or, quality vacation rentals can get tough.

Availability of lodging may influence your decisions more than any suggestions here.

Ferry ... the idea is intriguing and may save you a bit of travel time especially since you want to explore. Renting a car and driving Cherbourg to Normandy intrigues me. Since you are wanting to explore It seems you might be saving a transit day versus train travel to Lille.

Rental Car --- I hear so many different things on this board as far as availability, car drop off, and other stuff.

In my experience, I rented a car at Paris Gare du Ost, drove to Normandy, drove to Loire Valley, then Germany, Luxembourg and returned car at Brussels airport. It all worked.

Little stuff ...

Sunday in the French countryside. Many restaurants will be closed. Mondays too.

Sea Sickness crossing on the ferry.

WWII sites ... how much time to spend touring. I did in a day without a tour. It can be done. Others will tell you it is a must. It all depends on you and your family.

Reference, perhaps some out of date:

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/england/london-to-wwii-beaches

I would caution you that it is not unheard of for cross-channel ferries to be canceled. It has happened to me twice out of five planned trips--all of them between May and September. I know I've been unusually unlucky, but when you don't have much time, losing a day due to a ferry cancellation is a very big deal.

I'm for Option 1 ... I just looked at Eurostar, leaves London St Pancras at 9:01am and arrives Lille at 11:28am (you lose an hour on the way over to France) ... $139 / person ... or you can take a later train at 5:04pm arriving at 7:26pm for $100 / person but that option will mean a hotel in Lille before continuing on the next day ... look into taking a train from Lille to Caen where you rent the car ... takes about the same amount of time as driving ... with the train, you won't have the stress of driving and trying to find your way around, plus the savings on gas and no drop-off fee (which can be substantial) ... however, the train cost for 5 might exceed that of the car even with those added expenses, so look into both options and decide what works best.

Plan on spending the entire day (6/1) getting from London to Caen, so you realistically have from 6/2 until 6/7 for the Normandy area ... we did a 4 day trip from Paris in 2017 ... train from Paris to Caen, rented a car, drove to Mont St Michel, then back Normandy and Bayeux (stayed at the Hotel de Normandie in Arromanche for 2 nights, beach was across the street, could see the remains of the artificial harbor from our window on the top floor), returned the car in Caen then train back to Paris ... you have a few more days so should be plenty of time to add a few more sights ... must sees are the American and German cemeteries (we were at the American Cemetery when they took down the colors ... everyone stopped and paid respects, very moving) and Pointe du Hoc (there are still some of the German artillery guns in their bunkers you can walk up to and craters from the battleship shelling ... and the monument there is also very moving).

You asked for suggestions for what to do in Normandy. Take a WWII tour! It will be an invaluable history lesson for your kids. Yes, I know, it's tempting to rent a car, visit the beaches, see some statues, and visit a WWII museum. But you'll have NO idea of what you're missing. A good tour guide will give you the details: where the machine gun nests were, the name of the soldier that jumped over that fence over there, the strategies of the Germans, how the geography affected both sides, the challenges of D-Day, etc., etc. Best tour we ever took.

There are lots of good tour guides out there and many are mentioned here on RickSteves. Just search for Normandy Tours at the top of this page. We had Allan Bryson and he was great. He actually talked to the veterans and their sons to get first-hand information. You can find him by searching Google for Allan Bryson Normandy. He works out of Bayeux and if there I think your teens would enjoy seeing the Bayeux Tapestry.

Thank you, everyone. After considering all your suggestions and advice, we decided to avoid the ferry. We're going to take the train from London to Paris, rent a car, and drive to Normandy and return the car back in Paris after. It will give us the most flexibility and what appears to be the least number of stressful transfers. We'll have 3 full days plus a few hours on either end for touring WWII sites and possibly Bayeux if there's time. I'll look into the Rick Steves guide, thanks so much for the suggestions!

Kadie, somehow it didn't come up yet in your thread, but are you deliberately visiting the Normandy Beaches (as opposed to the rest of Normandy) in the single week of the year when they are most crowded?

I personally, because my father was 4-F, and his brothers served only in the USA, don't think that Normandy is the single most important place in the country of France. But the "anniversaries" of the beginning of June can make things very crowded there, even when it's not a "5" or "10" year anniversary. We sometimes had to drive around looking for a parking space as if we were in a mall at Christmas. And it wasn't June.

I urge you to return your car on the outskirts of Paris and not drive to a midtown hotel first. I made that mistake. And I drive in New York City at least once a week.

Yes, my teenagers especially (and my husband and I) are interested in the WWII sites in Normandy, so we are going there for that. It's unfortunate timing, I didn't want to be there over June 6, but we had no choice in our dates and will make the best of it. I've contacted several tour companies to try to do private tours to help with the crowds, but I understand it's inevitable.

I agree there are many important WWII sites in France and, of course, all over Europe. Out of curiosity, where would you have me go?

Thanks.

Kadie, have fun! Having a rental car will make it all much easier and more fun.

Take the time for Bayeux Tapestry. It is a World Heritage thing and I feel you all would be kicking yourselves afterwards if you didn't take the time to visit. Besides, it takes you on a pleasant drive through Normandy, and, it is important to understanding Normandy and England history.