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Easter week 2022

Posted by (Side Lake, MN, USA) on

We (mid 70s married couple ) will be arriving in Paris the Thursday before Easter and have 5 weeks to enjoy France. Most of our time will be in Provence but we want to spend 4 or 5 days in the Normandy area to tour the beaches, museum and Mont St Michel and recover from jetlag.

Question one: Are sites and tours open during this time and what is the best town to stay.
Question two: Arriving from USA at 8:30 am at CDG and want to continue Normandy area. I have looked at trains and takes 5 +hrs. from CDG. Thinking of taking shuttle or taxi to main train station and get direct train to Normandy.

We plan on ending our last 5 days in Paris. We have been to Paris several times and now it is time to explore the rest of France. Just starting our itinerary so I'm sure I will be back with more advice.

Thank you RS fans for any suggestions. Using RS Best of France for guidance.

Posted by
32805 posts

where in Normandy do you actually hope to get to on the day of your arrival from Minnesota?

It will make a difference.

I like Bayeux, or do you want to get to a place like Honfleur or Rouen?

Posted by
2965 posts

When I was in IT on Easter Sunday everything was open. I would check the websites of the places that you’re going to make sure.
I’ve been to both Honfleur and Rouen and preferred Honfleur over Rouen, but if I did it again, I would sleep in Bayeux because you’re closer to the sights. There are direct trains from the Paris St Lazare station to Bayeux taking 2h 30m.

Posted by
7377 posts

On our trip several years ago, we had a rental car, but stayed in Bayeux. That was the ideal base. Will you be hiring a driver, or joining guided tours to Normandy sights? I understand that Bayeux works for either of those, as well.

For what it’s worth, leaving Normandy, we turned in our rental car in Caen, and took the train south from there.

Posted by
128 posts

Thanks for the fast responses. I think Bayeux is the best location and if we taxi or uber to the train station, it will save on time and steps. We enjoy our solo travel and doing the planning ourselves but age is creeping up a bit so many sets of steps become a challenge. We hope to rely on public transportation and will rent an auto if need be. Happy travels.

Posted by
2547 posts

For touring upper Normandy and the invasion beaches, Bayeux makes an excellent base. I use the Hotel Lion d´Or. Mont St Michel will be a ways farther west.

If you want to take a taxi from CDG to Gare St Lazare, the fixed fare from the official CDG taxi stand, is 53€, Drivers are not tipped.

I personally avoid Uber; preferring the French services of either Bolt or FreeNow, but taxi is the best option from CDG unless you want to take the RER B to Gare du Nord and connect to the RER E to St Lazare. RER cost is 10.30€. You could also take the Roissybus to Opéra and walk to St Lazare - 13.70€.

Posted by
128 posts

Still working on transportation around Normandy. Plan to take the train from Paris to Bayeux as our base for 4 days, take half day tour and visit the WWll museum. Looking at car rental from Bayeux, stop at Mt St Michele, and drive to Rennes on day 5. Stay near airport and fly to Lyon next day. Any suggestions on car rental companies? Also as US citizen, do we have to buy extra insurance?

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