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Paris - D-Day -> Mont St-michel -> Nice/Monaco

Posted by (Toronto) on

HI : first, many thanks for everyone advice from my other post. of course, I am looking for suggestion to plan the trip in detail

We ( family of 4 ) decided to spend 6 days in Paris. Then thinking to rent a car to drive to D-day for 7th day, then spend 8th day in Mont St-Michel. Then drive back to Paris ( may stop in Givverny or Caen or Honfleur on the way in 9th day ) Then we will either take a train or airplane to Nice/Monaco for another 5 days.

My questions is
1) Where is the best place to rent hotel ( or airbnb ) for my 7th, 8th night? Bayeux? Caen? or Honfleur? Would love to stay in B&B but with budget in mind
2) rent a car and drive around the D-day, Mont st-Michel area.. Is it a good idea? Will that be hard to find parking?
2) Not sure it is a good idea to go back to Paris in 9th day and take a train or airplane to Nice. I wonder there is a better route?
3) How toll road work in France?

many thanks in advanced

Posted by
11153 posts

Stay in Bayeux for D/Day beaches and Mt. St-Michel. Make sure you see the Bayeux Tapestry as well. The D-Day sites have very good signage if you want to drive. We did the British and Canadian beaches on our own by car and the American beaches and D-Day sites on a small tour.
Honfleur is a beautiful historic town too.
We flew from Paris Orly to Nice one time and another time we drove. With four people and luggage, flying may be easier than using trains.

Posted by
8369 posts

Stay the night on Mont St Michel itself. You will have a completely different experience than the day trippers. Arrive around 4, leave by 11 the next day.
Hotel Blanche Croix is good as long as you don't mind stairs.

Posted by
768 posts

Bayeux is a very good place to stay. We rented an AirBnB there, which had 2 bedrooms and was great. I don't remember the address, but roughly North of the Hotel Churchill.

I know you want to be budget-minded, and I'm with that. I'm probably more frugal than you are. So when you visit the D-Day areas, I urge you to take a tour rather than drive yourself. A good tour guide is totally worth the price. With a guide you'll learn the strategies, the use of the land formations you are seeing, the names of soldiers and where they ran to, the emotions of the men on both sides, etc. Drive yourself and you'll see some beaches with sunbathers walking around. We used Alan Bryson of FirstNormandyBattlefield tours and he was great. You can find him and others in Rick Steves' France book or via Tripadvisor's top picks for DDay tours.

Now if your kids are too young, then this might not apply, but if they are age 10 or older, a tour is a great investment in them.

Posted by
734 posts

I agree with Carol, stay on thr Mont, a magical experience.

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