Travel from Normandy beaches to Bruges

It is very expensive to drop your car off in a different country. I would suggest dropping your car in Normandy (or at CDG) and then taking the train to Bruges.

It's not hard to return the car in Belgium, but it is expensive if you rented it in France. What you could do is drive to Lille (France) and return it at the train station, then catch the train to Bruges, bypassing Paris. It's not a short drive though. Whether that is better for you than returning the car in Bayeux or Caen and then ride trains to Bruges via Paris depends on your and your itinerary. Probably the case can be made either way. So those are your options, you need to decide what works best for you.

Dropping off your car in Lille and taking the train from there to Bruges would be your best option. Depending upon your departure time, you may be able to travel directly or you may need to make a connection in Kortrijk. An important note: If you plan to drop off your car in Caen and take the train to Paris, you need to know that while it's normally a two-hour train ride from Caen to Paris, major work on the tracks is scheduled to begin in July. While construction is going on, the ride will require several connections and will take 3-5 hours.

I cannot tell you whether returning a rental car in Bruges is expensive or difficult, but I can tell you that having a car in Bruges is NOT necessary at all.

"but I can tell you that having a car in Bruges is NOT necessary at all." Let me elaborate on that... there are few cities in Europe where a car is more useless than in Brugge.

Good in Belgium we will train it. Now what about through France from orator to Normandy?

We returned a couple of weeks ago from doing the opposite of you. We landed in Brussels and took the train to Ghent and Bruges. Bruges is exquisite - you will love it!! From Bruges, we trained to Lille and picked up a car and drove to Honfleur, Bayeaux, Mont St. Michel and then on to Paris. We dumped the car at Orly and took the train into Paris. We were grateful we did not have a car in Belgium. For us, it would have been a driving nightmare. Other, more experienced travelers may know how to make use of trains in Normandy, but we couldn't figure out how to make it work. Having a car worked perfectly for us. And Mont St. Michel was the highlight of our trip - but I would only recommend it if you can spend the night on the Mont. It is quite magical. For you, return your car at Gare Flanders and you can hop right on the train to Bruges. Also, we took our Garmin. We loaded it with European maps before leaving. It was pretty invaluable. Garmin may not always get you there the quickest way....but it will eventually get you where you want to go...

"Garmin may not get you there the quickest way ... but it will eventually get you where you want to go". Not a resounding recommendation, if I may say so. A Michelin map will eventually get you there, too.