Bayeaux

Kerry, lots of good places to stay in Bayeaux. The B&B I stayed in I won't reccomend as I left early each morning for tours and they would not have breakfast until 8am. I was already leaving on the tour at that time. Tour company I used was Battlebus and everyone that uses them has given them high ratings. I took the Band Of Brothers Tour and American Highlight Tour. Both were wonderful. Also have heard good things about Dale Booth. He also has a B&B on his farm which I plan to use the next time.

http://www.dday-experiencebedandbreakfast.com. You should get lots of other replieson your question also.

We are using Overlord tous Band of Brothers for trip next May. Have heard good things about them.

kery,

To begin with, it's difficult to know what your criteria is for "not too expensive". One centrally located hotel you might consider is the Churchill Hotel. They also have a Shuttle Bus to Mont St. Michel, which provides about three hours there.

Regarding tours, there are lots to choose from. BattleBus is no longer operating under that name, however the owner of that firm is still offering tours. Here are some you could look at.....

• http://ddayhistorian.com/ (Paul Woodage, who is the former operator of BattleBus - he's often used as a consultant for History Channel and others filming in that area)
• http://dboothnormandytours.com/ (Dale is ex-British Army and extremely well versed in the history)
• http://overlordtour.com/ (they also offer half-day tours, which provides more flexibility and lower cost)
• http://www.bayeuxshuttle.com/ (I never used them but have a look at their website - they also do tours to MSM)

I've toured with both Paul and Dale, and they are both outstanding guides!!!

Bon Voyage!

kerybinks,

not everyone grazes on the same side of the fence so whats "not too expensive" for some maybe for others. Also, you may want to think in terms of local currency. Its Euros. My Rule of Thumb at this time is 1.30 United States Dollars (USD) for 1 Euro. Since you dont say where you live i am just using USD as an example.

But once you figure out what is "not to expensive" for you in terms of Euros, it will help you find out if what you consider "not to expensive" is on the low side or not or maybe too low.

Just an for your info, Bayeux is in my opinion, a really walkable village/town.

As far as tours guides, you will get some/many of their favs.

If you care to, look at Booking.com, link here booking.com. just plug and chug when you're going to be there and you can view a map of the area with the available places. that way you can get an idea on where you will be staying with regards to where you want to go/do/see things. whats nice is that you can choose your own language and currency if you're shy about stating your budget. you can do the booking thru them if you want, but from what i understand they charge the hotel some $$$ for the service. In any case, you can use the info from booking.com and contact the hotel directly if you care to.

good luck and happy trails.

You will find loads of specific information about Bayeux if you go on www.tripadvisor.com, Bayeux forum.

We stayed at the Hotel Reine Mathilde (http://www.hotel-bayeux-reinemathilde.fr/en/). It's in the center of things, within a block or two of the Bayeux Cathedral, the Bayeux Tapestry and where we were picked up for our Normandy beaches tour. It has a nice little bistro and there are other good restaurants within easy walking distance. The folks on Trip Advisor seem to like it, as do those on Booking.com, and the price still seems reasonable compared to when we stayed there.

If you have not gone to this Bayeux Museum website,
http://www.bayeuxmuseum.com/en/lamarquebayeuxmuseumen.html, be sure to take a look. It's new and a little rough, but provides lots of information on visiting Bayeux.

Note that when you mouse over the main tabs at the top, other selections appear below. They are a little hard to see, but they work.

You might be particularly interested in the Memorial Museum of the Battle of Normandy, http://www.bayeuxmuseum.com/en/museememorialbatailledenormandie_en.html.

I highly recommend that you also visit the Bayeux Tapestry, http://www.bayeuxmuseum.com/en/latapisseriedebayeuxen.html. I studied it as a work of art, but it is invaluable as an historical document for the conquest of England by William the Conqueror from 1064-1066.

A look at the Bayeux Cathedral, http://cathedraledebayeux.voila.net/index.html, is also well worth your time. It is absolutely beautiful. The link is to its official website, so it is all in French, but there are lots of good pictures to drool over.

You don't say when you are going. We were in Bayeux in early October, 2011. No matter when you go, be prepared for possible cool and rainy weather and dress accordingly -- especially on any of the beaches tours. You will be out walking around on the beaches themselves, at the cemetery and just about everywhere you go. Our tour was not a drive-by and I expect the ones now aren't either.

We drove from our timeshare further north in Normandy early in the morning to arrive at MSM. Since our next day was to be spent on the American sites, we stayed overnight in Bayeux at Campanile Bayeux for E67.25. This didn't include breakfast and we paid extra for that. It was a nice - but not extravagant - buffet. Worth the money to get a good nutritional hit for a full day of the beaches. Campanile (a chain) is within long walking distance of town, but we drove to the nearest free parking lot to save our legs. By getting there in the afternoon, we were able to see the Tapestry and cathedral, but finished up too late to see the D-Day museum. Campanile is clean, quiet, safe - but not overly spacious, charming or luxurious. There was free wi-fi. We would definitely stay here again.

Kerry: I strongly recommend that you visit the Bayeux Tapestry museum. It is remarkable--both as a work of art and as an historical record. The museum also has two additional floors of displays that were reasonably interesting. Before entering the tapestry display area, you will be issued head-phones and audio guide--the recording is indispensable to understand fully the Tapestry. There is a handout available (get the one in English-duh!) that describes the various other displays in the two floors above the Tapestry which will help you decide if you want to visit them. I took my time at the Tapestry display (allowing other visitors to pass me by and periodically rewinding the audio guide to repeat some descriptions). I also visited briefly the displays on the floors above the Tapestry. Total time was about two hours.

I stayed at this B&B in Bayeux in July 2012 and it was lovely. http://tour-louise.com/en.html. It's small, I think they only have 3 rooms, but the owner was so nice and the continental breakfast was very nice. It's next to the cathedral and the updated ensuite rooms have windows overlooking the cathedral which is lighted at night, beautiful. Also has free parking for guests if you're driving.

Check out Hotel Le Bayeux. We loved it. Very close to the cathedral and tapestry and on a beautiful quiet street.

We stayed at Nancy's recommended place, La Tour Louise. The location was good, the room was clean and comfortable, and the owner seemed very helpful. Well, not so helpful to us though. There are 3 rooms. We were there with another couple and for 3 nights we were using 2 of the 3 rooms. We had one car for the 4 of us. The 3rd room was occupied by a different couple each of the 3 nights were there. Although the B&B's website states free parking is provided, and I clarified it when I made our reservation, I was not told that there was only one parking pass for the 3 rooms. I had a discussion with the owner on our first day and he knew we had a car, and would like to use the pass, yet he never made the pass available to us. It always went to the people staying only one night. I couldn't tell you why. Breakfast there was an additional €8 per person. We opted to not have breakfast there. Our friends had a train to catch on check-out day, and they decided they would have breakfast there that morning. They gave plenty of advance notice and the owner assured them there was no problem. That last morning he was nowhere to be found until it was time for them to checkout and pay. No breakfast and no explanation of why for them. His English is very good, so it's not a matter of not understanding. If you don't have a car and don't want breakfast the place is fine.