My husband and I will be in France June 21-26, 2017. I know it's last minute but that's not our choice so will make the best of it! We have only been to Paris once and not experienced travelers but definitely want to learn and explore and have fun. :)
We fly into Pairs Thursday early and will be at a hotel at CDG on Thursday and Sunday nights, leaving Monday. We will visit Paris just on Thursday. We have a car reserved at CDG and plan to leave early afternoon on Friday, returning late Sunday. Given this is coming up VERY soon we need your advice how to orchestrate our trip to include where to stay and where to go first, second and last. We will have two nights: Friday, Saturday to stay elsewhere. Giverny? Bayeux? Caen? Roen?
We would like to see Giverny-Monet's garaden tour, tour Normandy D-day beaches & museum then see Mont St. Michael. We have read about seeing Mont St. Michael at 5 p.m and again in the morning so figure we will do that Saturday to Sunday.
If we don't stay in Mont St. Michael, where do you recommend we stay close by? Where will we park our rental car if we stay on the island? How do you do that with luggage if the car is not nearby?
I'm a planner so this is stressful!! I don't want to waste time on our trip!
Thanks,
Patti
Posted by
Chicago
8166 posts
What is this? Are trying to take advantage of some kind of employer paid business trip?
Drive to the furthest location Mont St Michel then to Normandy stay in Bayeux maybe buy an organized day tour d-day beaches so you get the history verbally and don't waste time by possibly getting lost fatigue from all the driving; then to Giverny then to Paris.
Posted by
IJzendijke, The Netherlands
2087 posts
From CDG to Giverny is about 100km and with the busy traffic you need some 2 hours driving. Leaving around 1PM I think you have enough time to pay a visit even if the traffic will delay you more as usual. The gardens are closed at 6PM, but latest admission is a half hour earlier and a visit don’t need to take more as 2 hours.
You can have dinner somewhere in the neighbourhood and drive after that to your hotel in Bayeux or Caen, or depending the time of the day having dinner there. Join a D-day tour the next day and after that drive to Le Mont-Saint-Michel. The last day on the way back to Paris there is enough time for a visit to Beuvron-en-Auge, 30km east of Caen.
Ofcourse you can do the whole trip in opposite direction, just as you like. If you stay at the same hotel near CDG leave your luggage there and take just with you what you need for the trip in for instance a little carry-on bag.
Posted by
Myrtle Beach, USA
12313 posts
Two days is pretty tough and you will need to drive to Mt. St. Michel. Track maintenance on the train line to Bayeux makes it much tougher.
I guess I'd start by taking the train from St. Lazare to Vernon, stop for a visit to Giverny early in the morning on day one. After your visit, continue on to Bayeux, by train, and rent a car. By then it will likely be well into the afternoon. I recall the drive to Mt. St. Michel is only a little over an hour from there. Stay the night in Mt. St. Michel then head back to Bayeux to see the D-day sights, self-guided or with a half day tour.
Afterward, turn in your car and train back to St. Lazare. A train with no changes is fairly convenient if you can get one. I'm concerned that track maintenance will preclude that.