We are debating taking the high speed train from Amsterdam to Paris and sometime later in the week going to Normandy OR driving from Amsterdam to Normandy. If we would drive, are there specific places/towns you would recommend stopping? We are traveling with two teenage daughters, 16 and 13.

If you're going to spend several days in Paris then you want to take the train Amsterdam to Paris and pick up a car to tour Normandy when you leave Paris. If you drive the whole way you will be paying for a car you can;t use the days you are in Paris - as well as the cost of putting it n a garage for those days. (In Paris, as in any large city, having a car is a nonsense.)

Sorry - for details on the drive check out viamichelin.com.

We drove with our 2 sons, Amsterdam to Paris to return car rental a couple of years back. We were returning to CDG at the end of a 2 week vacation.

I don't remember that it was a terribly long drive, but it was a very boring drive and the restrooms in Belgium along the autoroute were the filthiest I have ever experienced in Europe...and I'm not a neat-freak or germophobe.

If I had it to do over again, knowing what I know, I would have returned the car when we arrived at Amsterdam and bought Prem tickets early enough so the savings on not having to pay parking in Amsterdam plus the 3 days less rental cost would pay for the train tickets to Paris. We probably would have arrived sooner by train as well (we always take longer than the viamichelin estimates.) I much prefer train these days, when possible - like visiting cities, one after the other.

A car, while not absolutely essential, would greatly facilitate your visit to Normandy. Rent it from an agency near the périphérique on the west/northwest side depending on where in Normandy you're going. That's what we're doing in Sept.

I started to rethink my suggestion. A lot depends of how long of a trip you are talking about, and length of stays at your way-points. And your flexibility

My response was at face-value, but if you have a great deal of time and already have a car rented, there is the option of changing the order and returning south from Amsterdam via the coast (seeing Bruges or Ypres, for example, before continuing either along the coast to Honfleur for example or inland to Lille, Rouen and/or Caen and on to the d-day beaches or Mont St. Michel...you were a little non-specific in your original post...don't know what your time frame is, nor your interests. But a car will definitely improve your enjoyment factor in Normandy.

You then could either drop off the car at Rennes, Caen or Rouen and train back to Paris using cheaper Prem tickest or continue with the car back to Paris depending on your time...there are so many things along the way depending on if you come in from the North (Forges-les-eaux, Lyons-la-Foret, Chantilly, Auvers-s/Oise) or more easterly (Lisieux, St. Hyppolite, The Cheese route, Les Andelys, Chateau Gaillard, Giverny or if you head southeast (Rennes, Le Mans, Chartres, Versailles)

Thanks for your input. We only wanted to spend one or two days getting to and visiting Normandy. It sounds like the train is our best bet, since we don't have more time. We do not have a car rented at this point, but perhaps should rent one to drive to Normandy from Paris.

Any good map or internet site like michelin.com or mappy.com will give you details about driving distances and times (from a map you should be able to calculate how long it takes you to go from A to B).

You will want a car in Normandy, but I can't see driving there from Amsterdam - it's a bore and there will be a huge drop-off fee if you get the car in The Netherlands and leave it in France. I would take the train to Paris, then to Caen and pick up a car there and begin your tour of Normandy.