Bruges to Bayeux

If you pick up a car in one country and drop it off in another, you will be charged a hefty drop off fee. You could take IC trains from Bruges to Lille Flandres. Depending upon the time of day, some trains are direct and some require a change in either Kortrijk or Gent. Pick up a rental car at the Lille Flandres train station. See www.autoeurope.com.

The autoroute networks in France and Belgium are fairly easy, and outside of Paris and Brussels, traffic in both countries is fairly light.

There's a series of autoroutes that more or less continuously parallel the coast from Oostende to Caen. This should present the most direct route. I've never driven most of this stretch, but I doubt it would save you much time over taking the train.

Tom is right when he says that driving won't save much time over taking the train all the way. It is about an hour and a half by train from Bruges to Lille. viamichelin.com estimates the driving time from Lille to Bayeux to be just under four hours. By the time you take care of the paper work at the car rental point in Lille, taking the train all the way from Bruges might actually be faster.

We drove from Bayeaux to Brugges 2 years ago. I don't remember if there was a drop charge as we kept the car for 2 more days. The drive is pretty unremarkable, lots of farms and windmills. The motorways are easy to navigate with not much traffic. I remember the drive as taking 5 or 6 hours, and we didn't stop. Much longer than mapquest had predicted. If the train takes 6 hours, it might be breakeven for time.

Karen

Hey there. I am looking to the same thing. I an I see the tain isn't direct. Did you find a better way?

When I are planning this trip? I have never driven in Europe but if we are there at the same time maybe we coudl go together.

I am looking at the end of July
Brian

A couple of years ago we were in Normandy for 4 days of a 2 week trip. We took the train to Lille from Brugge and picked up our rental. This worked great for us. This next statement might get me in trouble with the train-atics but I found the area perfect for a car and less so for train.

There is a direct train from St. Lazare to Bayeux, don't have to go thru Caen. We did the reverse of your trip, traveling from Bayeux to Brussels for our Belgium days; the trains were great.

It depends on what is meant by "we."

Two of you, and the train is (much) easier than the time spent at two car rental offices in one day.

Three or more,...

TGV train to Lille, Lille to Bayeux by car, will likely start to save you money.