Four of us (two married couples, mid-40's, active) are spending three days in Normandy in April 2011. We'll be leaving from Paris Saturday morning. Our current thought is to rent a car at Gare Du Nord Sat AM and drive to Giverny for a couple of hours, then spend the afternoon at the war museum in Caen, arriving at our farmhouse rental in the evening (our rental is near Cerisy-la-Foret, about 13 miles southwest of Bayeux). We have Sunday and Monday open...we would like to spend one of those days doing a full day WWII tour, and the other day split between Bayeux in the morning and Mont St Michel in the late afternoon and evening. We leave Tuesday AM to drive back to Paris and will take the Thalys train to Amsterdam Tuesday afternoon. I have three main questions, but am open to other thoughts and suggestions as well. 1. Would it be better to take the train to/from Vernon from Paris and rent the car in Vernon (near Giverny?) According to the Hertz website there is a rental location in Vernon which is open during the hours we would need. I've been reading up and it sounds like Gare Du Nord is not the easiest location from which to rent. 2. Is it too ambitious to think we can do both Giverny and the museum in Caen in one day, or would there be a better way to organize our time? The farmhouse owners have said they will meet us at any time and that it would be easy to find the rental after dark so they are amenable to us arriving in the evening. 3. In order to get the lowest prices on the Thalys train, we need to book ahead. It looks like a three hour drive if we return the car at Gare du Nord...would we be safe to book a 2:25 PM train? We'd like to be in Amsterdam for dinner on our travel day. There is also a 3:25 or a 4:25 train we could take. Thanks in advance for any help you can give!
Posted by
Seattle, WA
689 posts
I prefer to take a train to a city outside of Paris, and rent a car. When I visited Normandy, we did Lisieux. Renting from a train station in a smaller car is super easy--no lines, no hassle. It can also be faster, since you might encounter traffic in the Paris metro area.
Posted by
Pensacola
9110 posts
Scooting out of Paris from Nord is a piece of cake - - that's what I'd do. You can make it back from Caen is three hours. It would be great if you could hit Rouen while heading in either direction. (I'd swap it out for Giverny in a heartbeat.) You can't do both and the Caen museum all in the same day. For what it's worth, the last time I was up that way was a couple of years ago. I was traveling with a former director of a major military museum and he says that the Bayeux museum is better done and more complete than the one at Caen. You can hit both the Bayeux military and tapestry museums in a half day.
Posted by
OP
Piedmont Triad, NC
174 posts
Thanks Christy and Ed for your help:) Giverny was a special request from the couple we are traveling with, so we will stay with that, but we have a little time before we have to finalize plans so I will do a little more research and see what more I can find out about the museums and towns.
Posted by
Austin
976 posts
I would (and I have ) pick up the car in Paris and return it there. My teenage son and I had no trouble driving in the summer from the Left Bank to Honfleur as first destination. If you can drive in a major US city and have a good navigator with your GPS, you'll be fine. I was sorry to miss Giverny but we wound up with a station wagon type car, even with the flap over the rear I was uncomfortable with leaving all our wordly possessions in a parking lot.
We did St Michel late one day when the crowds had left and the sunset was gorgeous. The Bayeux Tapestry museum keeps you moving along with the audio guide and you won't be there an hour.
Posted by
San Francisco
14794 posts
If that is your assessment of the museum in Bayeux compared to the one in Caen, then I'm going to make it a priority when I get back to Paris in June. I saw the museum in Caen ten years ago, now I'll give the Bayeux museum a thorough visit.
Posted by
San Francisco/Marin County
9436 posts
I was (happily) surprised to read Ed's post... we have always thought the Bayeux WWII museum is the best one of all, and we disliked the one in Caen in particular. Not only is the Bayeux museum much better, it's also less expensive and it will take less time than the one in Caen.
Posted by
OP
Piedmont Triad, NC
174 posts
Thanks everyone for your opinions - I appreciate the help! Haven't made any firm decisions yet but it is definitely helpful to hear from other folks:)
Posted by
Monee, IL, USA
27 posts
Here's my two cents. We rented a car in October from CDG (Paris) and drove straight to Bayeux. It was a 3 1/2 hour drive with no stopping. Plenty of tolls along the way also but not that expensive. We loved driving from Paris but we also had a GPS which I say is a MUST. Super easy and hassle free ride. We spent a a full day at the WWII beaches, cemetery, etc and still did not see everything. Since we had our own car we used Rick Steves guide book to tour the area on our own with no paid tour. We were able to take our time and stay at spots as long as we wanted to. We spent three days in Normandy. One day was spent driving to Mont St Michel, About 90 miles one way from Bayeux. We spent at least 5 hours there and after visiting we took a scenic road back to Bayeux. It was basically a full day with the driving, lunch, touring, etc.
Know nothing about the train stuff, sorry. Hope some of this might be useful on your visit. We loved the Normandy area better than Paris and can't wait to go back.