After lots of studying this board (and some books), we have come up with our itinerary! I have several questions in here too! We are two couples celebrating our 40th wedding anniversaries in June, so this is the plan:

Fly to CDG, rent a car. First question: Any suggestions on a make of car that would be good for the four of us? Drive to Les Andelys. Two nights at La Chaine d'Or. See Giverney, Rouen, Lyons-la Foret, Chateau Gaillard.

On the way to Honfleur, see the abbeys, etc. Two nights at Hotel L'Ecrin. See Deauville, Trouville, Lisieux, Etretat, etc. We plan to use RonZ's pleasant drive that he posted! Perhaps a working farm...

One question: How difficult are the walking trails in Etretat? We are all 62 years old, and in good health...

Two nights near Bayeux at the Chateau de Vouilly. On the drive from Honfleur, we will stop to see the museum at Caen. Take a full day tour of the D-Day sights.

Head for Mont St. Michel. Two nights at the Chateau de Bouceel. We are planning an evening visit to the abbey to avoid the crowds. Then spend a day to get a taste of Brittany, checking out Dinan and surrounding area.

Head for Chartres. Visit the Cathedral, return the car, and take the train back to Paris.

Here is another question: I am assuming there is no need to buy a train ticket prior to getting to the station in Chartres. I would have no idea what time we would be ready to head for Paris. Is my assumption correct?

Then 5 nights at the Hotel de Varenne. I am guessing we will be in Paris for the Summer Solstice, so picked this hotel because it may be a quieter area than others, perhaps. It also sounds wonderful. We have all been to Paris before, so that part of the trip will be easy to figure out.

We have all our room reservations. We have been holding out on buying our plane tickets. One of us is living in a dream world and is waiting for the prices to come down! But we are keeping an eye on the seat availability. One couple lives in SC, we live in KS. But we do want to fly together so there won't be any problem arriving at different times.

One last thought...on the Fodor's newsletter, they had an item about a Business Class only airline, L'Avion, flying from Newark to Orly. $1599 RT in June. Sounds a little intriguing to me. But...if our first area to hit (remember, all room reservations are made) is Les Andelys, would this be feasible? We have not reserved a rental car at CDG yet.

We are excited about this trip and I would like to thank everyone here who has posted information about Normandy, Brittany and Paris. It is all invaluable when putting a trip together.

Hello kansas, maybe you could just turn around and say, while wearing your magic red shoes: "There's no place like Paris...there's no place like Paris...." and that would take care of plane flights....??

Re: Chartres train ticket. No, you won't need to worry about buying tickets in advance. This is an ordinary train, reservations not needed, etc. and I've never seen any special sales on tix for this train that would require buying in advance.

Re: your excursion during your stay in Honfleur. You might need to prioritize, that's a busy day you have planned (as is your day in Les Andelys.) I'll leave it to someone who has done the trails to answer your question re difficulty. Note that it is about 1.5 hour round trip drive from Honfleur to Etretat, according to Viamichelin.

Re: plane ticket prices. Hard to guess, and June is getting into high season. Prices on my own route went down slightly as of last week for departures from now till early May, Easter a notable exception; prices for June are still up there and they haven't yet announced 'sale' fares for those dates. But your own local market might be different.

Bon voyage.

You could easily fly into Orly, then take the Air France shuttle to CDG and pick up your car there.

You might consider seeing Rouen on your way to Honfleur rather than going back and forth from Petit Andelys.

Hi Kansas, your trip sounds great! Regarding dropping the car at Chartres, I just wanted to put in a word of caution. My experience had to do specifically with a rental with EuropeCar (called National in the USA). There isn't a drop-off for their rentals in the center of town, but rather in an adjacent village called Chartres-Luisant. (I believe there is an area in the Chartres train station with a window for Hertz or Avis, but it's very small, so I'm not sure what services they provide there in the station.) Also, there is no baggage check area / lockers at the Chartres train station, so keep that in mind with your itinerary.

I always rent cars through AutoEurope, which works in conjunction with local agencies such as Avis and EuropeCar. The ability to call their toll-free number and speak to someone in English was enormously helpful to me on that trip! They sorted out my confusion over the rental location, and we subsequently took a taxi to pick up our car.

As Sue said, you don't need to purchase your SNCF ticket in advance; there are plenty of trains from Chartres to Paris (about one every hour, I think). It takes a little over an hour to reach Paris-Gare Montparnasse.

You haven't mentioned specific plans for your visit to Chartres. I just want to say that I highly recommend a tour with Malcolm Miller. I first experienced his tour as a college student in the late '80s, and have gone back many times in the intervening years, including last year. His tours are twice daily except Sundays; you can google "Malcolm Miller Chartres" for lots of info...

ggreen

Thanks for the advice. Sue, we will certainly prioritize. If we don't see everything we want to see, we will just have to plan another trip! That would not be so bad!

Underhill, if we do try the flight into Orly, we will check out the shuttle.

And ggreen, thanks for the info on the Chartres car return. That would have probably thrown us for a loop! We will plan the return with your information in hand.

Of course, you could rent the car at Orly and save the €18 pp for Cars AF. It's hard to imagine that rental would add up to more than that.

Could you possibly go earlier than June.? Airline fare do tend to rise about that time. Since you are couples perhaps that might work...UNLESS any of the 4 of you are involved in schools and education professions. (a lot less crowded with tourists in May also) Sounds like your anniversaries are in June,,,but even so...this is the 40th YEAR, ALL year, &gt
We've rented a car twice at CDG ...and both times they tried to upgrade us to a Mercedes, for the same price as the full size we had ordered.(Hertz, I believe, not sure) We did it once and it WAS a lovely riding car and would be nice for 4. They offered the same deal a couple of years later, but we refused because we were going into Italy and Mercedes' are not allowed to be taken there.
You have a full itinerary, and a wonderful trip planned....and you will get lots of ideas and help on that, I'm sure.
The Normandy coast is lovely, and I know you will have beautiful trip.

We stayed at the Hotel de Varenne last year. It is nice, but be prepared: the rooms are very small. The bathrooms, however, are quite roomy!
There's an excellent Vietnamese restaurant right across the street, and a three- or four-star restaurant on the corner. Enjoy!

The walking paths at Etretat are not challenging at all. Take your time . You will be so entranced by the view that you will be up on top before you know it. I am 72and had no problem at all. Have a great trip. CJ

Hi Kansas
We've had good luck renting from Hertz in France. Request a full size car with A/C and automatic - there is a good chance you'll get a Mercedes. You'll have a comfortable and safe car with a good size trunk. If the car they offer is something less, tell them you require the larger trunk. This car will also have the remote lock with an alarm. A good idea.

We have stayed at Chateau de Bouceel and would love to return. A beautiful property and very nice hosts. Since it isn't far, and if the weather is clear, I would suggest a drive to MSM after dark to see the lights. It is very impressive. The hosts suggested a restaurant that had a nice view of MSM as the lights came on.

Have a great trip and a Happy Aniversary.

Sounds really great--and similar to the way we did our Normandy/Paris trip a few years ago.
And we celebrated our 40th with all our married children in Paris. Be sure to get a memento--ruby colored!!
In Bayeux be SURE to eat at Le Petite Bistro--just across the square from the Cathedral. It was probably our best meal of that entire trip. Make reservations--small and a mom and pop resto. All French folk!!
On that trip we returned our car to Orly--EASY rental return, walk across the street to the taxi stand to cab into Paris. And one reason we did it was because I couldn't figure out the return in Chartres and the train!! Our rental through AutoEurope was also EuropCar.
Departing in a rental car from CDG toward Normandy is relatively easy.
I highly recommend the Michelin Green Guide to Normandy. That is how we discovered the Abbaye Road. And we used it for our D-Day touring.
We drove all the back roads (N roads) not the superhighways. LOVELY countryside--much fun.
We have not done the shuttle from Orly but from reading about it, it seems to be about an hour. You might just be able to rent there and get on the Peripherique to the north.
Have a great time!!!

Thanks for all the replies and great ideas!

We are committed to our two weeks mid June. Mari5, I have to work around my daunghter's schedule as I babysit for her two year old every day. And there will be another baby to babysit for in about a month! So, I take vacation when she takes vacation with her family. This will be one well-deserved vacation, believe me!

Thanks for the Etretat info, CJ. I had no idea what to expect.

And the car information is most helpful. Gretchen, it never entered my mind to keep the car past Chartres and return it to Orly. I think that is a terrific idea. I was having trouble picturing us schlepping all our stuff from the car onto a train. We do plan to pack as lightly as possible, but it still seemed rather daunting. I think we will definitely go with your idea to return the car to Orly!

Thanks, everyone!

Be sure to print out a map to get from Chartres to Orly. It really isn't difficult, but you want to know the way--and it is not terribly well marked on the roads for such an international airport!!
And the cab fare from Orly to Paris is less--particularlywith the 4 of you to share the cab. Economical.

No matter where you picked up your car, it is relatively easy to turn it in at Orly if coming from the West! We did just that when renting at Gatwick/London , took it on the Channel train,(switched right to left hand drive in Calais,Hertz) and drove down the lovely Normandy coast and to the Loire Valley. It's an easy drive ,then , into Orly.........and we took the Orly shuttle bus into Paris.

(if you turn the car in at Chartres, wouldn't the train take you right down to the center of Paris at a train station?).
Either way you'd be taxiing to your hotel.
But it is wonderful to have a car during the trip to the countryside of France which you are planning.
Well, it all sounds like a fun trip...and I know you and your friends will have a a great time ,and lots of giggles.