Travel time Bayeux to Paris

First of all, you're going to blow it if you think you can make it in two and a half hours. I could probably/maybe make it in three, but it'd have to be a cheap bet. Even then, that's just dumping the car and starting to walk. You know exactly how to get out of Bayeux and how to worm your way through that bitch of of a cluster of loops on the right bank as you come off the peripherique, right? Okay, probably not - - you'll probably come right down the Champs and get twisted around on the one-way streets as you get close to the station - - that's what looks best, after all. Second of all, where do you intend to return the car? If it's at the station, fifteen minutes for that segment is fine. Unless, of course, you're unfamiliar with the station lay-out, have no idea which platform you'll use, have a bunch of luggage to hump, etc. If you're droping it somewhere else, who knows? Five hours total, maybe four and a half. Guess where a better place to spend the night would be?

See if you can drop the rental car in Bayeux and take the train to Paris. Better still, take the train round trip from Paris and rent the car in Bayeux where you can turn it in. Less time on the highway, more time for sightseeing and very low stress sitting on the train. I agree with Ed's comments about dealing with the unknown. As a comparison, I have a 12:20 flight out of Charles DeGaulle and decided to stay at the CDG Hilton the night before to avoid some of the things Ed mentioned. As for the unknown...been there, done that and don't want to deal with it again. Peace of mind is a valuable thing. Just out of curiosity, why would you want to drive from Paris to Bayeux anyway. Of course that question may be moot if you came to Normady by car from somewhere else. Good luck.

hi, When i was there last march, i took a train from Paris to Bayeux and it took approx 2 hours. More like 2h 15 minutes or so. I also belive it was a direct train. i dont like to drive so im really biased, but if you know how to use the subway in paris, i would rather take the train. happy trails.

Taking the train won't work. On Saturdays the earliest you can leave Bayeux is 06:58, connect in Caen, and arrive at Gare Saint-Lazare at 09:57, way too late to get to Gare de Lyon for a 10:20 departure. As I see it, your options are to get up super early Saturday morning and drive to Paris or spend Friday night in Paris. I'm with Ed and would definitely choose the latter. Any number of things could go wrong on an early morning drive that would cause you to miss your train. Why risk it?

Here's the problem with well-intentioned replies not based on personal experience: Tim stated the obvious. Additionally, the only car rental place in Bayeux is the Hertz operation in a gas station on the west side of town a couple or three kilometeres from the train station. Caen, on the other hand, has car rental places right at the train station.

I planned on leaving no later than 5:30. The reason I am not going the night before is the 2 day vs 3 day car rental cost. I figure the worst that could happen is I miss the train I have reservations for and I have to pay full price for the next one and the best that could happen is it all works out. I'm going with the best. I rented a car so I could do Mont St Michel and the D-Day sites on my own. I am picking up the car in Paris,I have a GPS, I have maps,I have driven in Europe so now the only thing I need to do is watch out for the Italian train strike on Sunday June the 2nd when I need to get around down there.

I drove out of Paris from the train station out to Normandy and then back to Paris last June. Getting out of Paris and then back into it will definitely take out longer than Google maps or your GPS tells you. It is a bit confusing but a GPS helps a lot, and is easily doable if you just stay calm even if you miss your turn :-) I think it took us roughly 3.5 hours to get into Paris (we left around 8:00 or 8:30 in the morning and there was a bit of traffic once we got near Paris). Then with stopping and filling up the gas tank and finding the place to drop off our car (which ironically was a gas station with no Hertz sign for us...) probably added another 30-40 minutes. So you'd want to give yourself a minimum of 4 hours from heading out to dropping off your car. Plus however long it's going to take you to get to the train station (unless you're dropping off at the station then it will take you 10-15 minutes to check out and get up to the station floor). So with all that said, I recommend that you leave at 5 am. That will give you a little bit of cushion and you can enjoy a coffee and pastry at the train station. Have fun!