Help for 3 days outside Paris?

Hi, we are family with 11 %26amp; 15 year old boys who will be visiting France in late June/early July. We have 3 days free to explore outside Paris and have planned on one day at Normandy and one at Mont St.-Michel. That leaves one other day free for something in the general vicinity of NW France. We need to be able to fly out from Paris in the afternoon of the 4th day.

Any advice?

|||

%26quot;Normandy%26quot; is not a specific location. It is a large area, just as New England is a large area within the US, for example. Le Mont St-Michel is IN Normandy. So I am not clear what you mean when you say you have planned one day %26quot;at Normandy.%26quot;

There is certainly more than enough to see and to in Normandy to keep you very busy for longer than three days. A visit to the D-day beaches and the associated cemeteries, museums and other sites, could easily take up three days by itself.

The city of Caen with its memorial and museum is certainly worth visiting, as is Bayeux with its magnificent 11th century tapestry depicting the events of the Norman conquest of England.

The lovely town of Dinard, and the beautiful coastline nearby could be another place to explore, as could the city of Rouen with its fine cathredral and its associations with the life and death of Joan of Arc..

These are just a few of many options available to you. A quick look through a good guidebook will give you many more ideas.

|||

If you are going to Mont St Michelle consider driving on to St Malo. The Citadel, the fortified walled part of the town has great atmosphere and the Marina and surrounding area should interest your lads and the drive down the coast road has lots of stunning views and plenty of interest.

|||

St-Malo (and Dinard) are both in Brittany, and with 3 days you don%26#39;t have much time just for Normandy and Mont St-Michel. Trying to head up into northwest France will be exhausting; there%26#39;s more than enough in Normandy fo keep you busy. I%26#39;d suggest adding Bayeux, Caen, and Honfleur to your itinerary, then going right back to Paris. On your last night you could stay at the nice small hotel La Châine d%26#39;Or, in the village of Petit Andelys. It%26#39;s right on the banks of the Seine and a lovely place to stay. From there to the airport is about 1-1/2 hours.

|||

%26gt;%26gt;%26gt; St-Malo (and Dinard) are both in Brittany %26lt;%26lt;%26lt;

Technically you are correct of course, Underhill. But they are both much closer to Le Mont St Michel than the other places you mention that actually ARE in Normandy. With limited time, and since the Mont St-Michel visit appears to be a %26quot;must%26quot; for this poster, I think St. Malo and Dinard would make an easier option, and would not involve %26quot;heading up into northwest France.%26quot;

|||

Good point--and interesting territory, too. Twoesses could then drive to Rennes, dump the car, and take the TGV up to Paris.

|||

-:- Message from TripAdvisor staff -:-

This topic was inactive for 6 months and has been closed to new posts. We hope you'll join the conversation by posting to an open topic or starting a new one.

To review the TripAdvisor Forums Posting Guidelines, please follow this link: http://www.tripadvisor.com/pages/forums_posting_guidelines.html

We remove posts that do not follow our posting guidelines, and we reserve the right to remove any post for any reason.

Removed on: 7:19 pm, August 14, 2009