Hi. We are a family of 4 (2 boys, 15 %26amp; 12) with 3 and a half days to spend touring Mont St. Michel and DDay sites. We plan to leave Paris early Sunday morning and then be back Wednesday afternoon to fly out. This will be early July. I have several questions:
- rent a car in Paris for the duration or travel to Normandy by train - faster? - and rent a car in Caen or Bayeux for the 3 days?
- go to Mont St. Michel (drive?) and not get there til afternoon sometime, tour, then stay somewhere around there before proceeding next day to DDay area?
- how long should we plan to spend at MSM? Hours? A day?
- which tour company is best for DDay sites? I%26#39;ve seen Battlebus in the forums -- are there any other recommendations?
- is there anything else we might have time for while in the area? Possibly the tapestry, anything else?
Many thanks! I know this is a lot of questions!
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Taking the train to Caen and picking up a car there would be easiest; you%26#39;ll probably want to visit the Peace Museum, and the Abbaye des Dames and Abbaye des Hommes are well worth a visit. You could spend the night at Bayeux and do the D-Day beaches the following day. Then early the next morning head straight to Mont St-Michel; you%26#39;ll want about 4 hours to see the abbey precincts and just look around. On the last day see the Bayeux tapestry, then drive over to visit Honfleur. You can then drop the car and take the train back to Paris.
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looks to me like you have posted twice? I answered you in your other thread so you may want to check it as well. anyway- you%26#39;re getting good input.
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I%26#39;m not quite clear about Underhill%26#39;s proposed itinerary. It seems to me there is either an extra day in there that you don%26#39;t have, or that there is just too much on your last half day - Wednesday morning, right? - for you to do. Let me see if I can break it down.
Day 1: Sunday. Train nto Caen (approx 2 hours). Visit Caen. Pick up car. (You need to check opening times for the car agency, this being a Sunday.) Proceed to bayeux. Overnight there.
Day 2: Monday. All day visit to the D-day beaches and associated sites with Battlebus. Overnight in Bayeux.
Day 3: Tuesday. Drive to Le Mont St Michel (approx 2 hours). Four hour visit. Return to Bayeux (?). Overnight there.
Day 4: Wednesday. See Bayeux tapestry (minimum 1 hour). Drive to Honfleur (approx 1.5 hours). Visit Honfleur (minimum 1 hour.) Drive to airport (approx 2 hours). (The option of taking a train from near Honfleur (there is no station in Honfleur IIRC) would take a LOT longer and is not feasible.)
This gives you a minimum 5.5 hour day on Wednesday. Even if it is doable, I think it is way too much to attempt with a flight to catch. What if you get lost along the way or run into heavy traffic congestion?
Of course a lot depends on your flight time, but you will need to be back at your chec-in desk at CDG 3 hours before your flight time. having dealt with dropping your car. (I am assuming that by %26quot;fly out%26quot; you mean that you are returning to the US.)
My suggestion would be to leave the Sunday and Monday as they are. On Tuesday see the Bayeux tapestry, then drive to Le Mont St Michel for your visit. Overnight in Le Mont St Michel. On Wednesday drive to CDG for your flight home (approx 4 hours).
Even that is a bit much. To be honest, if it were me, I%26#39;d probably drive to Rennes on Tuesday, drop the car, and take the TGV back to Paris (approx 2 hours), spending my last night there.
I%26#39;m not a big fan of loading up the morning of a flight, especially with kids. Just seems to me to be a bit too stressful.
You could also consider doing the whole trip by train, since your car will simply be sitting in Bayeux for 36 hours in any case. Paris to Caen to Bayeux to Pontorson (for Le Mont St Michel) to Rennes to Paris. Travel times would probably be no longer than by car, shorter for the Pontorson-Rennes-Paris part. Of course with four people a car *might* be cheaper, but you do have to figure in fuel and tolls.
If you want to look at options go to www.viamichelin.com for routes, tolls and fuel costs, and www.voyages-sncf.com for train timetables and ticket prices.
Last thought: I%26#39;m assuming that we are talking about July 2 through July 5. I%26#39;m not sure when the French school vacations start this year, but you *might* be dealing with heavy holiday traffic and/or crowded trains. In any case you probably want to make some pretty quick decisions and start booking hotels ASAP
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Thanks, everyone, for your thoughtful suggestions. I booked a rental car to pick up in Paris and drive to Normandy, as all the car rental agencies appeared to be closed on Sunday. We may be stressed when we get back to Paris for our flight home, but hopefully we%26#39;ll have seen all we wanted to.
I%26#39;ll report back after our trip! Thanks again!
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Here%26#39;s a tip I%26#39;ll pass along that may be useful on getting into the American Cemetary. Traffic can back up on the coast road when the parking lot is full. Take the road down to the beach and the monument to the 1st Division (Big Red One). Its one way. When you come back up the bluffs, you will be right at the entrance to the cemetary and may have avoided a line of traffic.
One of the most interesting museums is the Musee des Epaves Sous Marines de Debarquement in Port en Bessen (on the road to the coast from Bayeux). It has two of the little known double drive tanks.
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