Abbey San Michel

Some travelers combine a visit to Mont St Michel with touring the Normandy D-Day Beaches. There are guided tours to both places from Bayeux, which is a good place for lodging. MSM is just 1½ hrs from Bayeux and a tour costs about €55 - €60. With 2 nights in Bayeux (Hotel Churchill is recommended) you'd have time to take both tours plus see the Bayeux tapestry. Direct trains from Paris to Bayeux go from Gare St Lazare.

Don,, yes the big tour bus daytrips from Paris are very expensive, but if you are willing to stay the night and take a train yourselves,, you can spend about the same ( all in, hotel food and train) but have a much better( and longer then a few hours like on a daytrip) experience.
How many days in advance of tour are you going? If its only 2, then perhaps its best to put it out of your mind. Remember the first day or so you are jet lagged, and part of the advantage of arriving a few days before the tour is to get over travel fatique and jet lag so that you are all ready to go !! Where does tour end? If it ends in Paris might be better to go then, after the tour you will feel more relaxed about venturing off on your own..

We will be arriving 3 days early. I am thinking of spending first night in Paris to get over jet lag and then going to san Michel. I presently have reservations at the hotel the tour will use, but am considering a change. Where would you spend a first night in Paris to recover from jet lag and be ready to go the next day

Don, if you are determined to do this you might consider spending your first night in Bayeux (visit tapestry, cathedral, walk around old town to de-jetlag), second at Mont St. (not San) Michel, third Paris. You might also weigh this against logistically less challenging options, such as spending the time in Paris, where there is lots to see.

I'll come down on the side of suggesting you stay in Paris. For a first trip to Europe, it will be disorienting trying to figure out the metro, train and Mont Ste Michel extension all while getting hit with jet lag. I'm assuming your My Way tour is only spending a couple nights in Paris and then you'll move on. A full day in Versailles is a great and easy day trip from Paris. Any packaged tour will also not let you hit all of what Paris has to offer.

Thanks for all your replies. I think you have convinced me to stay in Paris. We will take a day trip to Versailles.