Good Morning,
I'm looking for suggestions for an England & France Itinerary...We fly in and out of London and have 16 full days in Europe.
Early thought are:
London (4-5 days)
TGV London to Paris (2 days as we've been before but traveling with someone who has not)
Paris to Northern France (Caen, Normandy, St. Malo, Mont St. Michel)
Ferry back to UK
Then...?!?! Would definitely like to see Bath, Stonehenge, and other small towns.
Thank you in advance for any advice!
What time of year? Will you be happy renting a car or prefer public transport?
Beginning of April. We usually use public transportation when we can then rent-a-car when it's more convenient. I'm thinking once we get to Northern France it might be beneficial to have a car. And possibly also once we get back to England.
When you talk about a ferry, do you mean from Normandy to Portsmouth, or Calais/Dunkerque to Dover?
You'll definitely want a car for Northern France and for your return leg to England. It would have to be two separate car rentals though as picking up in France and dropping off in England will incur significant charges (if you can find one that will allow it).
There are two options for travelling from Northern France to the UK. Take a flight from Deauville to London Stansted for as little as £9.99 or take the Ferry, preferably to Portsmouth. Travelling to Portsmouth will enable you to visit the sights there and also be within easy reach of Stonehenge, Bath etc however it will be more expensive than flying.
Travelling to Stansted, whilst much cheaper, will not be as convenient for the Southern and South Western sights that you're interested in. Of course you could forgo them and explore the area closer to Stansted, Suffolk, Norfolk etc.
The one I was thinking was St. Malo to Portsmouth.
While in Normandy, don't miss the Bayeux Tapestry in Bayeux. It is the 900 year old tapestry of the story of the Norman invasion of England.
Not sure how much time you would have once back in England, but you can to Bath and Stonehenge in one day as well as Salisbury.
The Roman Bath Museum in Bath is amazing.
Bayeux Tapestry
Just a little news - if you wait a few years you may be able to see the Bayeux Tapestry in the UK.
The French President has offered to send the Bayeux Tapestry to the UK. There will be a wait while it is conserved.
I have made two trips to the Channel Islands, which are located between England and France. On each one I had a ferry canceled, one of them for three days. Those are very large ferries--I assume about the same size as those used for the run between England and France.
I very highly recommend flying or taking the Eurostar. If you opt for the ferry, research your options in advance so you'll immediately know what to do in case of a cancellation.
I concur with acraven about contingency plans for ferry cancellations. Our overnight ferry from Caen to Portsmouth was canceled on less than 12 hours' notice and we had to race to Cherbourg to catch a different (non-overnight) boat, which went to Poole instead of Portsmouth. We then had to scramble for a hotel room in Poole. We didn't find out until reaching England that the reason for the cancellation was a labor dispute on the French side -- apparently that happens every so often.
I would strongly recommend simplifying the itinerary by doing one country at a time. Visit all of your English destinations, then go to France and visit your French destinations. Fly open jaw, arrive London and depart Paris.
Is the flight already booked--much better to go open jaw, into London and out of Paris or the other way around.
Definitely rental car for Normandy. I would visit smaller cities and towns there.
Bath is not a bad place to start in England, direct bus from Heathrow.
Salisbury Cathedral is one of the best in all of Europe. The town was not all that great, but not so hard to drive into.
Dover Castle is great if that's where the ferry lands--ferry sounds inefficient though. I would look into a flight from Paris back to southern England, some airlines might run that route.
If you did use the ferry to Portsmouth, you would have the convenience of a direct hourly train service to Salisbury. (These trains continue to Bath and eventually end up in Cardiff = the capital of Wales). Portsmouth Harbour has a Royal Naval Historic Dockyard = well worth seeing.
