Paris to Normandy

Two questions:

I will be visiting Paris for a week in mid-November. We are taking an overnight trip to the DDay Beaches in Normandy and especially want to see Utah Beach, as my father-in-law landed there in WWII. If we rent a car and drive from Paris, I%26#39;m thinking we should take the time to go further south to Chartres (along the way, but a bit out of the way). The drive to Bayeux is about 3:30 without the stop in Chartres. However, if we If take the train from Paris to Bayeux, it takes only 2:05. No Chartres that way, but maybe we could see Mont St. Michele. Anyone have suggestions/recommendations for one mode of transport over the other? In addition, has anyone made that drive back to Paris, and if so, would it be unsafe to make that drive in the dark?

All suggestions for routing this are appreciated. Thanks so much.

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Some prefer to take a train to Caen (about 2 hours) and pick up a reserved car at one of the companies right across the street from the train station. You avoid Paris traffic and Bayeux is only 20 minutes from Caen on the motorway. The D Day beaches are an easy drive from Bayeux. We found there were more rental choices and the agencies were open later, as well as on Saturday in Caen. We easily returned the rental car to Caen and caught a train back to Paris. There are trains every 2 hours or so to Paris Gare St. Lazare. We drove from Bayeux in about 2 hours to Mt. St. Michel on the motorway, arriving before the onslaught of tour busses and spent about 2 hours touring the monastery before the crowds packed the place. We always enjoy taking the trains in France--very comfortable and they are hassle free.

oprah44