We're going to be in France in late May and will be driving from Bayeux to Paris. Right now we're hoping to go through Honfleur on the way to Paris. Any recommendations on a scenic route or small towns worth seeing/driving through on the way to Honfleur and if possible from there to Paris? From Bayeux to Honfleur I'd prefer to go through the countryside rather than along the coast since we'll have spent a lot of time along the coast already, I'm a photographer so scenic towns and photogenic landscapes are big in my book vs larger cities.
Posted by
Pensacola
9110 posts
Inbound to Honfleur it's the freeway, the D27 through the spud and cabbage fields, or the coast. The first is long, the second dull, and the third gets it out of the way in a hurry.
There's hope for the outbound leg. How much time do you want to spend?
Posted by
OP
Kansas City
454 posts
Dropping the car off at Orly and then hopping a cab to our hotel close to the Tuileries Garden. So theoretically all day - basically head out of Bayeux early in the morning enjoy the morning in Honfleur and then head onwards. BTW: we have absolutly no interest in seeing Monet's gardens in Giverny if that makes a difference.
Posted by
Pensacola
9110 posts
Ouch! I was thinking two days.
That's four and a half hours of road time using every freeway available, IF you don't get snarled in the stinking traffic on the southwest quadrant of the peripherique. I'd look into dropping the car at Nord.
Honfleur will take a couple of hours.
You can't deviate much more. Maybe cross the river to Rouen for the Joan of Arc burn site and Lionheart's sarcophagus in the cathedral - - they're a ten minute walk apart. If there's still time, stay on the right bank and run the ridge down to Les Andelys and Chateau Guillard just above it. Good views of the Seine and it's the only castle Richard I built in France (although he spent most of his life on the continent and only a couple of years in England). After that, you'd have to get back across the Seine and haul tail.
If you hustle, you might get it all done by dark that time of year.