Normandy from Paris

Take the early train from Paris to Caen. There is a great DD-day (1-day) tour provided by the Memorial de Caen. The tour includes a guided tour of the WWII museum, a great lunch, and a guided minivan tour of the beaches and American cemetary in the afternoon. (No more than 6 passengers). They really take care of all the planning and all the work for you! The personable, knowledgeable guide meets you at the train station in Caen and returns you there at the end of the day. I have done this tour myself and highly recommend it! You may buy your tickets at www.linkparis.com. You can $ave a bit by buying your train tickets on your own. (Not the rail Europe tickets on the site.) And, there is plenty of time to see everything! The tour is at a very comfortable pace. No rushing!

Are you asking about the D-day beaches or Normandy in general? The short answer is that there "isn't" for a day trip. Two things working against you - distance from Paris - a couple areas and the expanse of the area The beaches, themselves, are over fifty miles east to west and that doesn't include the areas of interest behind the beaches. For a day trip from Paris a car would be you best choice. Give you max flexibility and control of your time. Most people who tour this area do it with an overnight in Rouen or Honfleur. There a similar question with good responses under Normandy in the To the West section which is where this question should probably have been posted.

We had two great half day trips to Normandy from Paris last May. On each we took the train from Gare du Nord in the morning. We did not need to buy train tickets ahead of time, but we did check train schedules before we left our apartment. On one day we went to Rouen and as we got off the train we checked for return times to Paris. We wandered through town on foot and a few hours later returned to the train station for our ride back to Paris. We also took the train to Vernon on a seperate day and rented bikes to ride out to Giverny and Monet's house and gardens. There is a bus available as well. In Rick Steve's Paris guidebook he says that you can easily take the train to Vernon, spend the morning at Giverny, then train on to Rouen for the afternoon and catch an evening train back to Paris. It even says in the book how if you do this you will be spending a nice day in Normandy!

As you can see by the responses, you need to be more specific on where you want to go in Normandy... it's a big area. A day trip to Rouen or Giverny (from Gare St Lazare) is quite doable due to the short distance. If it's the D-Day Beaches, Bayeux, Deauville, Honfleur, etc. you can get there and back on a train in a day but won't have much time to see anything. A car is the best way to see the coast area plus spending at least 1 night is advisable.

Oops! Yes, Gare St Lazare.

We didn't want a car in Paris, but my wife and I tho't about leasing a car as we left Paris, since we would be in Europe for at least an additional 17 days (the minimumsee Rick's leasing information). My wife cast the deciding vote or idea: what would she do if I became incapacitated? She knew no French (and altho' we found the French folks eager to assist us in our visit...) and would feel overwhelmed. So we bought a rail pass (again, see Rick!) before leaving Lovely Louisiana. Our trip into Normandy was with the single purpose of seeing the D-Day Beaches (we're in our 70's and the events in WWII are still very real to us), visiting the cemeteries, and seeing the countryside. We corresponded with Roel Klinkhämer and Victory Tours. I cannot imagine a tour that would top this. We left Paris very early one morning in order to change trains in Caen and arrive in Bayeux in time for the tour to begin. We were on the Métro at École Militaire (Rue Cler area) a little after 5:30AM. We departed Gare St-Lazarre at 7:07AM on Train #3351. At Caen we changed trains to a train with only two cars, #52617 (but the 5 had been dropped, leaving it #2617). Arrived in Bayeux at 9:29AM, and took a taxi to meet with Roel and the 8-member tour group. It was in mid-October. It was chilly. Wear warm clothing. At the end of the tour, Roel rushed us to Bayeux for the train back to Paris. There was no "correspondence" (change of trains) this time. Our train #3314 left Bayeux at 6:41PM (18:41) and arrived at Paris St.-Lazarre at 8:46PM (20:46). It was in mid-October. It was chilly. Wear warm clothing. Enjoy your trip