Where is the best place to rent a car in Normandy (near Mt St Michel) that will allow us to drop it off in Brussels? My husband & I are planning our second trip to France in Sept/Oct 2012. We'll spend 3 or 4 days in Paris then we'd like to take a train to Mt St Michel (via Pontorson? Rennes? Dinan? ) and take a week to 10 days driving thru Normandy on our way to Belgium. We would like to begin with Mt St Michel (overnight) and stop for 1 or 2 nights in cities such as Bayeux, Honfleur, Caen, Rouen, Amiens, continuing East to Belgium to visit Ghent, Bruges & Brussels & flying home from there. Any advice about the rental car options (or any other ideas) will be very much appreciated!
Posted by
Atlanta, GA, USA
141 posts
My husband and are doing the exact same thing next spring, except in reverse. We are picking up at car at the Brussels airport and driving to Ghent, Bruges, Rouen, Bayeux, Mt. St Michel and then ping the car off at Orly before visiting Paris. Many companies won't allow you to off in a different country. The best rates I have found are with a European company Sixt. Other posts out here have confimed that it is a very reputable company. And I just found this really neat site: autoslash.com. If you make the reservations through them, they will continue to monitor rates. If rates fall, they will give you the lower rate.
Posted by
Atlanta, GA, USA
141 posts
So that you are not doubling back, have you thought about picking up the car at Orly and driving to Mt. St. Michel, then going on to Normandy. We are using Bayeux as our base there... Also, we have heard that the mont is a zoo from about 10:00 - 4:00 when the tour buses are there. So we are planning to arrive late afternoon and spend the night. We will spend the evening roaming around on the ramparts and having a relaxing dinner. We will get up early in the morning and tour the abbey before the crowds arrive. Also, a friend recommended overlordtours.com to us for Normandy.
Posted by
OP
Arlington, VA, USA
123 posts
Thanks Paula. Good advice, and I'll check out those 2 rental car options. I'm still needing some ideas about where to rent the car at the beginning of this journey (we can always turn it in in Amiens if needed). I'm thinking Caen at the train station? Then we could drive to Mt St Michel for an overnight and then back over to Bayeaux....we're still trying to determine how many nights to stay in the other cities too.