Can any tell me how you would travel from Paris to coastal Normandy? I want to visit the Canadian War Memorial and to the area around Rouen.

If you want to avoid driving in/out of Paris, you could take the train to Rouen or Caen, rent a car there and proceed to the sights you're interested in.

We rented at CDG, spent 5 days in Normandy, then took train from Caen to Paris. That worked well, too.

You can also take the train to Caen or Bayeux and explore the region by bus:

http://www.busverts.fr

I assume that you are planning to spend more than one day visiting Normandy. If that's the case, I would take the train to Rouen, and after visiting the city, rent a car to visit the Canadian battle sites.

I expect that by the Canadian War Memorial, you mean the Juno Beach Centre. It's located right on Juno Beach at Courseulles-sur-Mer, and while it's really more of a museum than a war memorial, it's certainly worth a visit. Here's their website:

http://www.junobeach.org/Centre/index.html

You might also want to visit one of the Commonwealth War Graves Cemeteries in which Canadians are buried. Most Canadian graves are in two large cemeteries, one of which, Beny-sur-Mer, is fairly close (15 minute drive) to Courseulles.

http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/general/sub...memorials/beny

The Commonwealth Memorial in Bayeux pays tribute to those who died with no known grave.

Any visitor to Normandy who is interested in the battle of Normandy should not miss Le Mémorial de Caen, a museum devoted to war and peace in the modern world, with special attention to Normandy. Of special interest to Canadians is the Canadian Memorial Garden located there. (there are also American and British gardens.) For information on Le Mémorial, see their website:

http://www.memorial-caen.fr/portail_gb/hp/hp.asp

There are Canadian memorials large and small dotted throughout Normandy. A good source of information is the Canadian Battlefields Foundation.

http://www.canadianbattleofnormandyf...on.ca/main.htm

If you don't plan to rent a car, your best bet would be a guided tour from Bayeux, which you can reach by train. Battlebus runs a one-day tour from Bayeux of the Canadian sector:

http://www.battlebus.fr/tours/page6.html

For general information on the Battle of Normandy, Paul Reed's site is invaluable.

http://battlefieldsww2.50megs.com/no...ds_tourism.htm

Wow thank you all so much. I think we planned to rent a car because part of this trip is to visit the homeland of my ancestors.....always fun to "kick the stones" and all that.

It doesn't sound so very difficult at all. Can we rent a car at the train station or could it possibly that simple?

I second the recommendation to take the train to Caen and pick up the car there. As I recall, the car rental agencies are right across from the main entrance to the Caen railroad station. We used AutoEurope and it went very smoothly.

Hi Timlin:

We explored this area taking in all the sites pertinent to the Canadian troops and found it to be a very moving experience.
If you are looking for a recommendation for overnight accommodation check out the Clos Normand in the little village of St Aubin sur Mer. This hotel fronts the beach at one end of Juno Beach, which of course was the Canadian landing beach. The food was very good and the hotel charming and cosy.
We spent a memorable evening on Bastille Day at the hotel a few years ago watching the fireworks and listening to a history of the area complete with stories about the Canadians landing on D Day.
The beautifully tended Canadian cemeteries the other posters mentioned are close by and of course as they say no trip to the area would be complete without seeing the memorial at Caen.
I also strongly recommend a car as there are so many things to see along the coast and inland.