We are in our 70's and planning a two month long trip into France. So far we want to spend a month in Paris, and thinking about an apartment on the left bank in the 15 Arrondissement. We hope to do some traveling around the areas close to Paris, like Chartres and Versailles. We also want yo go up to the Normandy beaches with a stay over in Mt. St. Michael then back to Paris. We do not rent automobiles so we travel by train and buses. We plan to stay a while in Colmar, then travel to Lyon. From there we will travel to Avignon then to Nice, and fly home to Dallas, TX from there.
Would like some suggestions on apartments in Paris, and any of the other places we plan to stay, as we usually stay at least 4 or 5 days in any one place.
Posted by
Olympia, WA, USA
6544 posts
Friends recently stayed at this place just off Rue Vaugirard in the 15th, and liked it very much. Close to a metro station. The bedroom was upstairs so if stairs are an issue you might not want it.
Chartres and Versailles are both easy day trips by train from Paris. With a month there, you can certainly take more day trips if you want. Ina Caro's "Paris to the Past: Traveling Through French History by Train" has chapters on a couple of dozen worthwhile destinations, most of them day trips. Pick a few that most interest you.
You can also easily reach Normandy by train (Caen or Bayeux) but it would help to have a car there and for Mont-St-Michel. There are good van tours of the D-Day beaches from Bayeux, discussed in other threads on this board which you can access using the search function. I believe there's also a day tour from Bayeux to MSM and back, but spending the night there would improve the experience by clearing out the day-trippers. Crowds are more of an issue in the high season, of course.
Posted by
Windsor, Ontario, Canada
4051 posts
Caen, being a city, offers more choice of accommodations and restaurants if you want to stay more than a day. The Caen peace museum gets good reviews and runs its own tour of the Normandy beaches. Or it is an easy commute to Bayeux. I think a guided tour is essential to understand what went on during those fateful days. There are also tours to other Normandy attractions. In my experience, Mont St-Michel is worth only a day tour (it's a big hill, which might test your/our knees.) The tourism office is here:
http://www.caen-tourisme.fr/en/
See particularly the Normandy tours http://www.caen-tourisme.fr/en/tours/guided-tours/other-tours#normandy-circuits
The fortress of William the Conqueror, in the centre of Caen, is well worth an hour or two. Details from the links I listed.
Posted by
San Francisco/Marin County
9422 posts
I highly recommend staying in Bayeux when visiting Normandy and the D Day sites, It's an ideal base. It's a charming, friendly and very walkable town. Caen is the opposite and has zero charm. We liked the WWII museum in Bayeux, it was really good. We did not like the one in Caen, it was expensive, jam packed with people, and confusing in parts.
Hotel d'Argouges in Bayeux is wonderful. We've stayed there 6 or more times and love it. It's in the RS France guide.
Posted by
Shoreline, WA, USA
39 posts
We have used Holidays-France-Rentals.com for apartment rentals in Paris several times. Bernard and his team do a great job. He has apartments all over the city. Renting from HFR is like staying in someone's private home. They tend to be a bit more upscale some of the other rental agencies.
We used Honfleur and Bayeux as bases to visit Normandy and Brittany. When in Normandy visit the German cemetery in addition to the American, it equally as moving.
Happy Travels, Doris
Posted by
Florida (previously California)
3716 posts
What is your accommodation budget for the month in Paris. Without getting into a discussion of the legality of vacation rentals, I suggest the Citadines Tour Eiffel Paris which has nice one-bedroom apartments. It is very close to Le Motte Piquet-Grenelle metro station so you have access to metro lines 6, 8, and 10. It's in a great area but not in the tourist center of Paris. I agree that a rental car would be great for the D-Day beaches but if you do not want to rent a car, the trip can still work out really well. I suggest Bayeux as a place to stay and taking one of the Overlord tour that leaves from there. You could also take the MSM shuttle from Hotel Churchill in Bayeux to MSM and spend a day there.