Normandy area by train.

I haven't been there, but am doing research for the same trip. Getting around Normandy isn't as easy as in the city, but it does seem doable.

There are trains from Paris to Bayeux. Most people stay in Bayeux and take tours to the beaches. You probably can take a bus to one of the seaside towns and stay closer to the cemetery if you like. Bus Verts is the local bus company. Another option is to rent bikes in Bayeux and ride out yourself.

There is a train from Bayeux to Pontorson. From there, take a bus to MSM where you can spend the day or the night.

Hope this gets you started on your research!

Unless you book a tour, you'll need a car.

There are some really good half day, 1 day and 2 day tours. I did a Battlebus tour and it was money well spent. Leaves out of Bayeux. You'll need to stay the night before a tour in Bayeux.

If all you want to do is the American cemetery, there is a bus that runs infrequently there. However, if you go, see more than the cemetery. You'll be glad you did.

If you go then train route, there is a shuttle that runs to MSM from Bayeux.

Hello Jim,
I have been to Normandy twice, once without a car and once with. I highly recommend getting a car. You can take the train to a town like Caen or Bayeaux and rent there. That saves the hassle of driving in Paris. Yes there are buses, but on our fist trip, we could not find one from the American Cemetery to anywhere. We shared a taxi from the train station, which was inexpensive when split by 6 people. But getting back was not inexpensive using the taxi. Although not a tourism information center, the person at the American cemetery seemed clueless about a bus schedule or exact location where it stopped. Our second trip we rented a car in Caen and easily visited two beacehs, Point du Hoc, some German gun emplacements and a couple of chateaus. Driving there is not bad once you figure out the circles!!

We were in Normandy last week. We rented a car. We took the the train to Caen and rented a car from there. I really recommend renting a car it is the best way to see everything.

Thanks for the replies. We will rent a car.

I tried to fo=igure the same thing out in leaving Paris and coing to Normandy and Mt St Michel. Since we are 4 in the group, the costs in doing a tour from Paris via bus became pretty expensive and time consuming. We also wanted to see the Caen war museum and have the ability to see the area at our leasure.

The final verdict was a TGV to Caen and renting a car and staying in Caen that night. The next day is off to stay near Mt St Michel the next night and return the car to Rennes before the return TGV trip.

I do not have the URLs on me, but I did find a few tours which did what you wish to do. I think they were from the Normandy tourism site. From Paris I found tours which also could be arranged via a minivan from the Paris tourism sites. for what you want. Most people write that the big bus tours are exhaustive in the waits while a minivan tour is worth the cost.

I ended up using chain hotels which have smaller facilites in Caen and near Mt St Michel and are near public transport. Smaller B and Bs are mentioned in the travel guides, but getting there is easier with a car rental. You have a lot more possibilites if it is just the two of you and no kids. Driving on the left in London would scare me. After driving in the NYC area for years and years, this part of France does not scare me.

Pontorson is where we finally decided to stay overnight after Caen.