Driving Paris to Bayeux

Thanks for your reply, Steve. We will be taking a Battlebus Tour of the beaches while in Bayeux and also have two nights reserved already in Honfleur. Good suggestions, but we're already planning this. Hoping for a different route, but perhaps there isn't anything other than just driving to Bayeux?

Not to be flip, but what's wrong with picking up your car "outside of Paris" in Bayeux?

Unless you enjoy driving, or plan to make stops, you can take the train, see the sights, settle in, and pick up your car the next day. Save a day's rental, too.

You can similarly return the car in Rouen, to avoid hassle.

Sharon, we spent the morning at Versailles, then picked a rental car up at the train station there (cheapest rate was through Avis by way of Costco Travel).

Normandy and Brittany had some of the easiest driving in France as far as we were concerned, and no tolls. We spent a fair amount of time on the A13, as well as secondary roads, but couldn't tell you exactly what those were. It makes a huge difference in travel time whether you're on the freeways or not -- I can't stress how much. I would probably recommend trying to do some of both, since you do get more character going through the small towns, but honestly, the roundabouts can drive you crazy. I don't mean just a roundabout here, and another one 10 miles down the road. I mean nearly every mile on some stretches. I'd recommend mixing character with efficiency! :>)

The E05 runs through the floodplain of the meandering Seine -- if a ditch were dug for it, it would become a canal in short order. It has the usuall cuts and fills of any highway and it has a few embankments (usually on only one side of the road for sound-supression as it passes through built-up areas). It also passes over rolling hills and has excellent vistas most of the way.

Sixt, nor La Defense, would not be my choice of a place to rent a car. A cursory perusal of kayak.com for a few random weeks this summer indicates that any number of agencies have vehicles for eighty percent of the Sixt price. Picking up a car at La Defense and heading north puts you on the noxious A-14 during the morning rush.

Sharon, here's what I suggest:

Use kayak for rates and get a car from one of the places just east of St Sulpice (Rue Bonaparte, a couple of blocks east of the St Sulpice metro station -- generally north of Lux Gardens for orientation).

From there, it's a straight shot out Rue Sevres/Rue Lecourbe (same road with a name change)to the Peripherique (which at that point is, in fact, the E05). Within a couple of kilometers, the E05 leaves the Peripherique and you're running free. Leave the E05 maybe a good twenty kilometers past the Rouen cut-off and pick up the E46 which will take you all the way to Bayeux. The whole project will take you less than three hours. You'll get stiffed 20-25 euros in tolls, but it's worth it. I can drive these roads in my sleep -- unfortunately there's no better way to do it.

What I would do is stop in Giverny (Vernon is probably the best exit) on the way up, since that would leave you time for Les Andeleys after Rouen on the

way back for a look at Chateau Gailard. It's pretty much in ruins, but is interesting because it is the only castle built by Richard I in France although he lived there most of his life (minus two years in England, a few on crusades, and a few in the jug).
As a side-note, his heart is in the Rouen cathedral (left side of right aisle, toward the back, knee-high). The rest of him is down south beside his mom -- don't ask me why.

Even stopping at Giverny will get you into Bayeux in time to see the tapestry. As another side-note, the last time I was up in that area I was traveling with the former director of a major american military museum and he said the WWII museum at Bayeux was much better than the one at Caen -- I don't speak museum-director, so will defer to him.

Ed,

I haven't driven from Paris to Bayeux so I'll defer to the expert (you) for the answer to my question. Is there any reason--other than it will be slower--not to go from Paris to Evreux, take the D 613 from Evreux through Lisieux to Caen, and pick up the N 13 - E 46 there to Bayeux? I ask this question because Sharon wants to take a different route in each direction and this route would mostly be on non-toll roads.

I'm anxious to hear Ed's response to your question, Tim. I was just looking at a map and wondering about that myself.

For Steve: Cities where not addressed, the presence of a ditch was -- a point for which there has not been a reposte, nor a reclama that the faux knowledge was from personal observation.

For Tim and Sharon:

A few thoughts.

It will take about five hours, minimally, to do it that way. The area is farming (crop) country. The section from Evreux to Lisieux is a mixture of two, three, and four lane roads, mostly two with a third lane as a shared passing affair. Farm trucks and equipment are all over the place, pulling out, poking down the road, etc. Knowing squat about farming, I have no idea if this is the season or not.

It's also flat, with not much to see except the fields; while the trip up the Seine valley offers some variety. Some of this section is also designated by 'D' and three digits -- an indication of a non-primo road (which I have no problem with If I don't need to move right along).

A minor issue is that it ducks off the freeway before the Giverny exit, if that's a factor (I could care less about it).

In short, it takes a heck of a lot of time with no benefit.

Had I five hours to devote to the drive, I'd hit the Peripherique as before, take it counter-clockwise this time to where the E05 exits, and head to Chartres. That's an hour. An hour and a half is enough to enjoy the cathedral, and you're three and a half hours from Bayeux (via Alencon). PLUS, you can worm in a stop at Falaise -- the birthplace of William the Conqueror with a really nifty castle.

......and with a little more effort I can find a reason to get you down to Bordeaux

The simple solution, however, is to go north the way I initially proposed. Then when heading back: leave Honfleur across the new Normandy bridge, head for Rouen on the east side of the river, then after Rouen/Les Andelys go back into Paris on the D14 (via Cergy) -- a fairly scenic, little-traveled road.