Paris to Mont San Michel then down to Lyon. How to cut down on travel time?
 

I am going to the Alps this summer but my wife wants to visit Paris and my daughtger wants to see Mont San Michel! I will drive to Mont San Michel from Paris and then want to head south asap. If I try to break up the trip to Lyon where can I stop about an hour or to heading south? Rouen is a possibliity or Tours but I do not know the roads. It appears Mont San Michel to Tours has slow roads compared to going to Rouen? Perhaps I should aim (from Mont San Michel)for something just north of Paris near a main highway? Any suggestions?

Why not take TGV train from Paris to Lyon? Is driving a priiority? The train system is quite good.

You might get more help if you give more specifics/parameters.

Are you willing to do "open-jaw" flights? Are you willing to take the train some of the trip? Where in Switzerland are you basing?

Ah yes...how much time in each place? Start and end point?

You can also play around with www.mappy.fr to juggle routes and intermediate stops.

I would probably stop overnight somewhere in the Loire Valley.

Perhaps I'm geography challenged, but the map seems to agree with my thoughts, and your plans don't make a lot of sense to me. First, the Alps are between Switzerland and Italy, aren't they? Are you going to Mt Blanc or the part near the France/Italy border? I just don't understand why you're going to Lyon. Actually, I've been to a resort in the Alps, Verbier in Switzerland (I think that is the Alps). It is easy to get in that general area by TGV from Paris, going through Lausanne or Geneva or something like that, which is what I did.

IN any case, Rouen isn't south of Mont St Michel, it's northeast. I don't understand how going from Mont St Michel to Lyon would take you to Rouen. Wouldn't you go down to Rennes and then across the A81 to maybe Orleans and down A71 or get over to A6 instead and go down to Lyon. Something, I just don't know why you'd go up to Rouen. Going down to Tours and then over would work, also.

I'm confused too - where in the alps are you going?

Are you landing in Paris, seeing that, then getting a car, heading to Mt St Michel and then all the way across France to the Alps? Thats a very long drive for one day - probably at least 10 or 11 hours without any stops.

If you could provide more info people could make better suggestions.

I am going to the Alps after visiting Parist and Mont San Michel. Rouen is not exactly south of Mont San Michel but when I plan the trip via Michelin site it appears to be quicker to go though Rouen than Tours. I suspect it has to do with the roads. These roads are what I need to learn about. What is the fastest route from Mont San Michel to Lyon?

You can get that information in viamichelin.com

I mentioned earlier, www.mappy.fr, similar to viamichelin, should give you the fastest route as the first option. That may well take you via Rouen. You have options to choose the fastest route, the shortest, avoiding toll roads, etc.

If you want to do point to point, you can plug in, for example, Mt. St. Michel to Tours (west end of Loire valley) or Orleans (east end of Loire valley) and then from there on to Lyon.

I have not done it but I believe via Lyon is one of the preferred routes to head up into the French Alps--or at least it's one viable way. The way I read your original post, I assumed you wanted Lyon as well as the Alps as a specific destination.