Itinerary Advice (Loire, Normandy) Gratefully Accepted

Looks pretty good.
1. Either would work.
2. Yes.
3. On the Mont.
4. Either would work.
5. IMO you're trying to do too much on Sept. 17
The 13th is a Sunday. A surprising number of country gas stations in that area are closed on Sunday.

Thank you Kent!

On questions 1 and 4 I was wondering if one option was preferable to another and reasons why. On question 3, where would you stay on the Mont? I heard it was a big hassle parking off-site and toting luggage over there for one night versus others saying it was well worth it. As to Day 17, I was just putting options for the entire time in the Loire, not doing all that in one day. We like a moderate pace, not too crazy but fitting a lot in with breaks to stop and smell the roses. Thanks so much for your input and also for the comment about gas stations closed on Sundays, it never even occurred to me to think of that question. Another reason I love this forum! :0)

I agree with Kent, it looks good. For your questions:
1. I'd stay in Honfleur that night just so you won't be rushed that day, from Paris to Giverny to Honfleur. Give the Monet gardens and museum the time they deserve, enjoy Honfleur's harbor and church. It's about an hour and a half more to Bayeux, and if you haven't made reservations you could go on there if you feel like it late in the day. Or you could go to Caen and visit the wonderful WWII "Memorial" there -- really a museum, and could easily take half a day to explore. Then Bayeux the next day (13th).

2. I think three days is enough for Bayeux and the beaches/cemeteries. There's another WWII museum in Bayeux, which some like better than the one in Caen, some not (I haven't been to both). Bayeux also has a great Norman cathedral, where the tapestry originally hung. The tapestry was a highlight of our recent trip, worth a few hours along with related exhibits.

3. Many on this board (along with RS) recommend spending the night on the Mont, so you can experience the place after the day trippers leave and before the next wave arrives. This makes a lot of sense to me if your budget allows. There are also some hotels on the mainland right where the causeway takes off for the Mont, a good alternative for less cost. I last visited MSM over 50 years ago and I remember it was crowded then.

4. Amboise is a good base for the Loire country, I never heard of Esvres-Chateau (a hotel?). Villandry and Chinon are well to the west, on the other side of Tours. You might want to focus your time on the great chateaux closer to Amboise, like Chenonceau, Chambord, Blois, Cheverny, Amboise and the nearby Clos Luce (Leonardo's last home), and others. With maybe a four-hour drive from MSM to Amboise, three nights there leaves you only 2 1/2 days for the Loire. Two chateaux a day are about my limit, maybe you can handle three. Given how much there is to see near Amboise, I'd stick with three nights there and visit Chartres Cathedral on your way back to Paris (20th). Your driving time that day would be around four hours, plus 2-3 hours for the cathedral.

5. Here's the problem though: You're trying to get from Amboise to Schiphol, by car and train, through the middle of Paris, with a stop in Chartres, in just one day. The train is fast but very expensive unless you buy tickets months ahead, and then you're locked into it. I don't think your last day will be possible, so you might have to skip Chartres or, as you suggested, shortchange the Loire and spend the night in Chartres. Why are you flying back from Amsterdam? If you fliy home from Paris, you could easily drive to CDG on the 20th and spend the pre-flight night there? Open-jaw tickets from your home to Amsterdam, then back from Paris, shouldn't cost much more, if any, than roundtrip, and would save you the time and cost of backtracking. Possible?

Jaye:

Yes, it's a bit of a hassle to drag your luggage up the hill, the lodging isn't right at the bottom. But I thought it was well worth it for the adventure aspect of sleeping 1 night in that magical place.

There are only around 5 hotels on the Mont and they have a small number of rooms. If you wait too long it will come down to which ones have vacancies. I forget which one we stayed in. As I recall, none of these hotels had large rooms or were modernized. It's kind of like going back in time.

If you research the Mont at websites, Rick's guidebook, etc.--you should be able to pick the one that's right for you

The advantage to me of sleeping on the Mont was that we got to see how "magical" (I don't know the right word) the Mont is after 2 things happen: 1) the hordes of dry-trippers leave, which happens by 5 or 6pm, and 2) how it was up there at night. They usually turn some lights on the wall, and you hear the ocean, and there's this realization of where you are.

Giverny is closed one day of the week, I think it's Monday but you should check. I think you're not showing up there on a Monday.
But check the website for the closure date.

The single most important thing about Giverny is:
try to get there before the day trippers on bus tours from Paris get there. Check the opening hour, I think it's 9am and you want to be there before 9:30am, to avoid very large crowds from the Paris bus tours. These crowds last all day. If you can't get there early, figure how much time you need there and get there late enough in the afternoon to avoid some of the bus tours.

On Bayeux or Honfleur, I drove through each place (for the Bayeux tapestry) but slept at another place, a farm accommodation south of Arromanches, and saw the D-Day sights by car on that day prior to getting to Arromanche--so I don't have any personal experience sleeping in either place. Bayeux is further further down the road to Mont St. Michel, but I don't know if that makes any difference on your itinerary. Bayeux is larger: generally with a car the smaller the place, the better. For example, at the farm I stayed at, it was just like here, you drive up to where you're going to sleep and park right there in the parking lot. That isn't the case with a lot of lodging in France, especially if it's located in a city.

Glad to help on the gas station thing, a first timer from the US would be blind-sided by it, like a lot of things about driving in France (such as how to pay in a parking lot with gates on it, but that's another story--pay at the pay station before getting in your car, there's no pay station at the control gates).

Anyway, about gas, on Sunday the gas stations at the plazas on the Autoroute were open (you don't have exits like you do here, you have toll plazas and those gas stations will be open. There may not be anybody to process your non-European credit card, but you can find a person and pay inside with your American credit card or with cash). Gas will probably be 3 times as much as here and the price is per liter, of course.

Last thoughts:
Good post from Dick.
Try out Normandy Calvados, a liqueur-type alcoholic beverage, made locally.
In the Loire Valley, there are road-side wine caves, you can go in and try some wine.
But the French law is more strict than ours on blood alcohol level, so have a designated driver. There limits .05 compared to our .08, so depending on physical and other factors, you could be close to the limit after one drink.
The police can either assess a large fine on the spot (I've heard 800 euros) and/or confiscate the car on the spot.

1. I would do one overnight in Honfleur

2. Three nights is perfect.

3. Your choice, cheaper to stay nearby and you will get a great view in the morning.

4. I'd do three nights Amboise.

Overall sounds like a wonderful itinerary and an absolutely wonderful trip. Have a great time!

PS: I absolutely loved the town of Bayeux. Don't miss the Cathedral and the tapestry.

Wow, I logged on and found all this great advice, happy, thank you all so much!

Dick, I am going to try and do the open jaw flights as you suggested (THANK YOU). After some research I discovered the fast and direct trains from Paris to Amsterdam stop in early afternoon and we would be wasting half a day traveling back to AMS on the train. Also, you are right at this time the airfare isn't much different doing it that way. We always fly PDX to AMS as that is the only direct flight to Europe. The CDG will be super early so will look for a hotel at/by airport that morning.

Kent and sanderskn, I am going to follow your advice (thanks so much) and try to book a night on the Mont, will most definitely try Calvados and of course WINE! :0) We do plan on seeing the tapestry and cathedral in Bayeux and we will spend the night in Honfleur.

We are renting a car and driving to Giverny so what time we can arrive will depend on where we get the rental and how early they open, sure hope we can get to Giverny early as suggested, just depends on timing.Since I am in early stages of all this I haven't yet booked the auto or figured that part out, looks like lots of threads I will read on this. Was thinking to call AutoEurope and see if they can help as well. We don't want to drive inside Paris for sure. The 12th is a Saturday so will need to look into all this.

Getting busy with more reservations and planning. Happy Travels!!!!

Sounds good. Glad we were able to help.
Let us know if you have other questions.

Happy and safe travels!