My preferred dates are booked for Heart of France. I had intended to travel in May or September to avoid crowds. Now the choice boils down to HOF early June or midOctober, or 7 days Paris pick my dates and do addons for Mount St Michel and Normandy. I really wanted to do Rick’s tour with evening arrival on MSM. My concern with Oct 17 tour is shorter daylight. Is that even a concern? Is October actually an underrated month? And is the first week in June a lot busier than May?
Appreciate your thoughts
Martie
Posted by
Ohio
2161 posts
We just booked HOF for mid-Oct. I would have preferred early Oct but it’s sold out. I did this tour years ago the first week in June and it was very crowded. I’m guessing Oct will be less crowded. Fyi, MSM is cool.
Posted by
SE Pennsylvania
2661 posts
No harm in joining the wait list for your preferred date. I know quite a few people reported success with getting their preferred date last year.
Posted by
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, USA
14733 posts
This is a wonderful tour and you will surely enjoy MSM and the full day at Normandy with the local guide. After 12 RS tours, the tour day of Normandy with Dale Booth ranks up there near the top of best tour days ever.
Time-wise, in looking back on my TR it looks like my HOF tour started on Sept 29. I don't recall there being any issue with shorter daylight hours although when we all went up to the Abbey for the morning service it was pitch black (rain as well) so everyone had to use the flashlight function on their phones. We had to be up there at 6:50 to be let in.
I'd say that June will be busy especially around D-Day, so to me it would depend on what day you wind up in Bayeux as to whether I'd do that one. I'd probably go with October, but that's just me. I also live a lot further north than you do so may be more used to darkness coming early in the Fall.
You can go to www.sunrisesunset.com and plug in locations to get calendars of daylight times. Be sure to tick the box for Civil twilight as that will give you dark to dark times.
Here is a link to my old TR if you are interested.
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/tours/trip-tour-report-for-best-of-england-paris-hof
Posted by
OP
Louisiana
2 posts
Thanks so much for your quick replies. I'm going to go ahead and book the October HOF. Can't wait to meet other RSers. I'll probably come in a couple days early. Is it better to try to stay at the hotel for the tour if possible or elsewhere?