We are thinking of flying to Brussels, train to Bruges for 2 nights, then driving from Bruges to Caen or Bayeaux. Anyone done this? Is it a bad idea?

Not a bad idea. However, if you drop off the car in France, you may have to pay a hefty cross-border drop-off charge on a rental picked up in Belgium. My trip report Ghent, Normandy, Brittany covers some of the same territory. Click on my name to access it.

Yes, dropping off the car in a different country would be a bad idea. However, sometimes rental agencies have cars with foreign plates that they want to repatriate, and in this case they would waive the drop-off fee. While this is easy to do in major airports, there is no guarantee in a smaller city like Bruges that they might have a car with French plates.

To drive from Bruges to Normandy, I would follow the coastal road through Zeebrugge and to the border town of De Panne and then continue on the RN1 in France (and NOT the autoroute), not forgetting to visit the two capes (Cap Gris Nez, Cap Blanc Nez). Cap Gris Nez is the French side of where cross Channel swimmers depart or arrive -- the closest point to England, which you can easily see across the water on a clear day.

Continuing all along the French coast, there are a number of charming old style beach resorts definitely worth looking at. To see where Big Money has hidden mansions, drive into Le Touquet and gawp at some of the residences coming into town.

I've done the opposite drive - Bayeux to Brugge. It is a pretty long drive, so if you don't have that much time, I would stick with the autoroute. If you have time, maybe even enough to stay the night enroute, kerouac gives good advice. All in all, though, it is an easy drive and as good of a way to get to Normandy as any.

As a follow-up to the 'foreign car' idea, I needed a car for this very busy Labor Day weekend, and this evening in Paris, I was given a car with Italian plates.

Hop a train from Bruges to Lille Flandres train station and pick your car up there so you don't have to come back to Belgium to return it to avoid a potentially steep drop off charge.

Or maybe train and bus to Dunkerque as well or Calais from Bruges.

I am driving from Paris to Brussels next month - the drop fee is quoted at 55 euro.

That's not bad at all.

(Thinking back about having had to leave a car rented in Houston, TEXAS! and having to leave it in Dallas, TEXAS! due to an emergency and having been charged a $100 drop off fee.)

Dh and I did a few years ago exactly what Palenque suggested, and it was very easy. The auto pickup stations are next door to the train station, and it was easy enough to arrange. It definitely saved some money in drop-off fees.

Thank you all for your helpful suggestions. How would I find the train schedule for Bruges to Lille? Were there many car rental companies in Lille and could we then return the car to Paris?

Lille is one of the largest cities in France - surely all major car rentals will be in or around the Flandres train station area (this is not the Lille Europa train station that is served mainly by Chunnel trains from London to Paris and Brussels and the odd TGV from southern France.)

There are hourly train links - no reservations possible just buy ticket before train - some go direct, some require a simple change

Schedules at- http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en?

I cannot imagine why you could not return the car at any location in France, including airports (though a special charge may be added on for airport drops)