It's our first trip to Paris and I need help!

We arrive CDG and will go straight to Normandy (specifically Bayeux) for a night. Hopefully we will be taking the Battlebus D-Day tour while we are there.

What I need to know is whether it'd be more cost effective to rent a car or to take a train. If we take a train we'll have to take a cab from the airport to the train station ($), then take the train ($), then find our way to the hotel/b&b ($). The car looks to be about 200EU for the trip.

Advice, please?

Train from Paris to Bayeux departs from Gare St Lazare. You can take the RER-B from CDG and switch to subway or RER-E to St Lazare for 8.20€.

Paris St Lazare to Bayeux is 32€ full fare, but if you buy PREM fare early, they can be as low as 15€.

I have no idea how fare you hotel is from the Bayeux train station.

You can do the maths.

For all the moving around to go into Paris to get the train and fitting in the times, renting a car is easy. Are you only going to be in Normandy for that one tour? Are you going back to Paris? We toured Normandy for 6 days and drove back to Paris. The car cost was not much more than 200E.

Take the car. I was surprised how easy it was to get into and out of CDG. It was much easier that getting into and out of Atlanta airport.

I have driven from Paris to Bayeau and it was no problem. It is somewhat troublesome getting thru Paris and it is a tight squeeze in Bayeau. But you will not forget the beautiful drive or the independence of having a car.
emilyandjim.info has some or our agenda of our trips.

We, too, rented a car at the airport and drove straight to Bayeux for our 3 night stay. After flying all night, we were, admittedly tired, but once we got to our hotel in Bayeux, were pleased with our choice. The hardest part of the drive for us was when we came upon the toll booth - about 8 lanes across with different choices of booths to go through. Since we aren't knowledgeable with the French language, we didn't have a clue which booth to go through. Anyway, other than that, it was an easy drive. Happy planning!

A hotel in Bayeux itself is an easy walk from the train station.

Well, some hotels are and some are not. It is a pretty good sized city for heaven's sake.

Can I have a recomendation on a rental car company? How long is the drive? We will be staying in Bayeux for four nights. We will have been up all night on the flight and were planning on taking the train, the rental car sounds good, except if it is a long drive, then I would prefer the train do the driving! This is our first trip to Paris/Bayeux.

YOu can get driving distances and much more on www.mappy.com. I haven't driven it in awhile - have taken the train last two times and picked up a car in Caen - but I'm guessing 2 hours, maybe less.

Thank You I will check into it. Has anyone taken the Cruise Tour that left from the Eiffel Tower?

How many in your group? That will impact your budget significantly. If there is two, then renting a car is less likely a better deal. You'd likely be able to buy two r/t tickets to Bayeux for significantly less than $200.00. Once you get to Bayeux for the one day, will you need a car for the D-day tour? If not, you're likely better off with the train, take the tour and return on last train the next day. If you have more than two, then the train costs will likely outstrip the car rental cost.

To me, it depends up the need for the car in Bayeux and the number of people.

There will be just the two of us and we are staying at the Churchill. We are doing the two day Battle Bus Tour. Thanks for your input!!!

Car is best and gives flexibility, and we have done it twice from CDG--getting out of CDG is not hard, the operative thing is the time of your air departure--because if it is rush hour, then you will have to drive in the night before and stay around CDG-we were at Holiday Inn express for good rate once. that is the only issue. For Normandy you want a car to visit the beaches, etc.

With two of you, and taking the Battle bus tour, I don't think a car is really needed. Depending upon the day of the week, etc. you should be able to make the trip for around 120 euro for two. That includes the train from CDG to the St. Lazare station (you'll have to switch trains in Paris to get there) and then on to Bayeux. Churchill is just a couple of blocks from the train station. Place de Quebec where the tour starts is a block from the Hotel. No car needed.

The only thing will be train times. You can't take a train from CDG and make it to Bayeux in time for their tour, so you'll have to go the night before. Depending upon the day, you may be pushing the time for the last train back to paris.

Go to www.voyages.sncf.com and enter your dates of travel (must be w/in 90-120 days or so) to find out the train times and prices. If your trip is longer than that out, just make sure you select the same days of the week you'll be traveling to get the closest pricing.

Sorry, I thought you were only there for the tour. With four days, you'll be without ground transportation for a couple of days, one at least. You may want to reconsider the car, as I understand the busverts is not the most reliable, depending upon your arrival date. Here's a link to their site: http://www.busverts.fr/_hiver/plan.asp

Good luck. I'm finalizing details for our trip to France right now. Trying to convince the group that Bayeux is the other place to go instead of Loire Valley Wine tours.

REnt a car and ENJOY Normandy--all of it.