Edinburgh to Normandy (60th bday trip)

Your main options are: 1) Fly from Edinburgh to Paris then drive or train to Normandy. This is probably the easiest and almost certainly the only one that won't need a stop-off along the way. The only complication is that there are no direct trains from Paris airports to Normandy so you would need to change between stations in central Paris. Another option is to pick up a hire car from the Paris airport and drive to Normandy - you'll probably need a car to see the wartime sites. 2) All train, travelling from Edinburgh to London, then London to Paris by Eurostar and again from Paris to Normandy by train. The advantage of this is that the stations you'll use in London are literally right across the street and it's an easy transfer. It's probably not possible to do in one day, however, unless you're willing to get up extremely early. 3) Train from Edinburgh to London, train from London to Portsmouth and ferry from Portsmouth to Caen, Cherbourg or Le Havre. This gets you directly to Normandy, but you will have to cross central London by tube, bus or taxi. Again probably not possible in one day. I don't know if there are overnight boats with sleeping accomodation on those routes.

I agree with Philip about the options, but would also suggest to fly open-jaws, also known as multi-city, maybe into Scotland and out of Paris or the other way around.

Your best ferry route is Portsmouth-Ouistreham (the port for Caen) on Brittany Ferries. You can travel during the day or overnight. Take a shuttle bus from the port to Caen and a 15-minute train ride from Caen to Bayeux. Stay in Bayeux. The D-Day beaches are spread out for at least 50 miles along the coast. You'll need to rent a car or take a guided tour. Most of them depart from Bayeux. IMO, the best use of both your time and money would be to either fly from Edinburgh to Beauvais on Ryanair or Edinburgh to CDG on easyJet. If you book well in advance, you can get a ticket for under $50 US. Be aware that Beauvais is a 90-minute bus ride from Paris. If you want to have a rental car in Normandy, pick it up at CDG or on the outskirts of Paris. If you're going to take a guided tour of the D-Day beaches, take the train from Paris to Bayeux.

Agree to others plans to fly into say Edinburgh, easy jet to Paris and home from Paris. Not sure if it will save you money but also check into flying out of Newark instead of having to go to JFK. Might be easier to get to Newark rather than JFK.

Dan, Is there any way you could get more time? It's going to be somewhat challenging to fit all this into a very short one week trip, as transportation between locations is going to use time. Does the one week time frame include your two flight days? I agree with the suggestions posted with others, in terms of possible ways to arrange your Itinerary. Regardless of whether you travel via budget air or train from Edinburgh to Normandy, that trip is going to take a full day! I would highly recommend taking one of the excellent guided tours, as you'll see more and learn more of the events on that day, than just by "walking on the D-Day beaches". The tours usually depart from Bayeux, and there are both half day and full day tours available (AFAIK). Without a tour, you WILL need a rental car. There's also an excellent Museum in Bayeux, and of course the famous Tapestry. I assume you're planing to use open-jaw flights, inbound Edinburgh and outbound Paris? Happy travels!