Any Regrets about Normandy?

I went to Normandy with my high school class and honestly it was amazing. My grandfather was among those Paratroopers that landed at St. Mere Eglise on D-Day. So seeing all of those historical places, including the WWII Cemetary was just awe inspiring. I'd say that if you're a WWII guru, you'll spend a lot of time there.

Mont St. Michel was also a great day trip! Only if you have any extra time though.

Know thyself. What you regret is really about your priorities and interests.

Many perfectly reasonable travelers people (like my wife) are underwhelmed by MSM.

I think of it as a very fine medieval sight, in a stunning location, marred somewhat (as those kinds of places are) by crowds and tacky souvenir stores. I think the crowds and tackiness would be worse for someone who only had time to see it on a day trip.

You can have a very satisfying visit based in Bayeux along the lines that you describe--mostly WWII visits with a look at the tapestry and the cathedral where the tapestry first hung.

I hope that helps you to make up your mind--only you can decide what you like.

I like Adam's answer, another one of his thoughtful answers! Because you describe yourself as a big WW2 buff, I'm guessing you'd prefer to focus your time on WW2 stuff in Bayeux, Caen and of course the beaches and cemeteries. And I'm assuming that when you say 2.5 days in Bayeux, you mean including tours such as Battlebus or similar tours that take you to the beaches and cemeteries to the north, northeast, and northwest of the town of Bayeux? Being a WW2 buff, you'll always remember the American Cemetery above Omaha Beach. Looking at the sculpture of "The Spirit of American Youth Rising From the Waves" might just bring a tear to your eye as you think of all the young men of various nationalities who "gave the last full measure of devotion" that day and in the days that followed. France honors the war dead with a monument that says: "A grateful French nation thanks the Mothers of America for the sacrifice of their sons on this beach in June 1944.The perfect place to have a little cry and think about what some of the WW2 generation were picked to do.

By all means, go to the Mont. You will be able to see all the WWII sights in the time indicated. I assume you are going to the cemetery, to Arromanches and the like. End all that tribute and sorrow with a another sight you are never going to forget. It is a short drive, go early, crowds later in the day make the walk frustrating.

The only thing I regret about my trip to Normandy is that I didn't have enough time. I could have spent at least a week there. We did a 1 day tour with Battlebus Tours (GREAT COMPANY!!). We also stayed in Bayeux at a B & B. If anyone needs a good B & B contact me!!

We went to Normandy and stayed in Arromanches, rented a car in Caen and spent three days driving around....sometimes lost, but that was a great experience! What I found extremely moving was to go the the American Cemetery, then down to the beach and imagine being 18, loaded with supplies, and people trying to kill you. To stand at the water's edge and look upward to the bluff, for me, was a moving experience also. Still gives me goosebumps. Point du Hoc is also a neat visit, but maybe for an hour or two. I do regret not going to MSM...but that gives me reason to return there someday.

I was so disappointed in the museum at Caen. My husband is a museum professional, and we both thought it was extremely expensive and poor. My favoriate part (I hate to admit this) was the floors, which are cool.

My recommendation--stay in Bayeux. It has better access to the things you will really want to see. We spent two weeks there and barely got through everything we wanted. Try Juno and Gold beaches, as well as the American one. Pont de Hoc is great, too. Cemetaries are fanttastic and try to catch a German one--very intense. There is so much to see--don't forget the Bayeux Tapestry!

For another perspective: I really enjoyed my visit to the Peace Museum in Caen and think you should go. (Disclosure: I am not a museum professional.) It makes a good rainy-day alternative if you are flexible about exactly when you can visit.

I think the best thing about Mont St Michel is seeing it from the distance, from a side road on the way..and not actually being there...unless you are lucky enough to visit in january when you have the island to yourself....I think you will not regret not going...especially since you don' have a car and the focus of your visit it "Normandy/ww2"....
The focus of the Caen Museuem is Peace...Not WW2...
For me the most important sites were the American cemetary, Pointe du Hoche and StMere L'Eglise (sorry, i'm NOT trying to spell correctly...)....We were there in October....and went in NONE of the museums...but all quite meaningful despite.....

Regrets...We didn't go see the Bayeux tapestry...I'm stll not feeling bad about that....

We really liked the WWII museum in Bayeux. We thought it was very well done and thorough but not so big that it was overwhelming like some of them.

We stayed on Mt. St. Michel at a place where Monty and Ike stayed, le Mere Poulard. All kinds of WWII pics etc there. But not to miss: Omaha and Utah Beaches, Point du Hoc and the American Cemetary. Wow. Incredible. Also really enjoyed the tiny non-professional museum at St Mere Eglise. This is a great place to visit.

I was disappointed by the war museum in Caen, also. There are so many other WWII sites to explore in Normandy (plus the beautiful villages) I would skip the museum. One piece of advice ... bring a coat. I was there in August 2007 and the beaches were FREEZING! The wind was awful and it was raining. Thankfully our guide, Roal from Victory Tours, had extra coats in his van for the unprepared (me!) Have fun!

I've spent a total of 7 days over 2 trips to Normandy, almost exclusively devoted to WWII historical sites. And I'm planning a return visit of about a week (among other destinations) and wish it could be longer. If you are truly a BIG WWII guru, you will not be satisfied with 2.5 or 3 days - that's just a teaser!

Ideally, you should rent a car to be able to visit very out-of-the-way places and set your own schedule. The flexibility you gain is huge. (If you rent a car, bring a GPS with routing capability, Normandy is full of tiny roads to help you get lost!) Think of little out of the way museums (in Quineville, for instance), blood-stained church pews, trails along the assault beaches, visits with locals over some cider,...

We visited Mont St. Michel, and it is a beautiful place, but I agree with an earlier poster that it impresses best from a distance. It's quite out of the way from the D-Day areas. If you must choose, my vote would be to pass on Mont St. Michel this time.

We spent last week in Normandy. Mont St. Michel was the highlight of the week, and in fact the highlight of our 3 week European vacation. Our timeshare was unfortunately just about as far south in Normandy as you can get so we actually left it vacant one night in order not to have to make three 2.5 hour trips north. Our first foray north took us to Rouen and Honfleur, then "home" for the night. The next day we did Bayeaux, arrived late in Mont St. Michel and stayed overnight on the island. The third day we did the abbey in the morning and Arromanches and the American cemetery in the afternoon. Weather all three days was cold and rainy. Staying at a hotel on Mont St. Michel, being able to walk the street and ramparts after the crowds were gone and just being in a place with such a long history was fantastic.

We did Caen yesterday and arrived in Bayeux today for 4 nights. Hubby is a WWII history buff. We weren't especially thrilled with the Caen museum. We found it took a lot of time and was hard to do in sections in order to take a break between. The one thing I liked was the timeline format which helped me hold in context the world events that led up to the war. We would skip it on retrospect and spend more time at the beaches and those museums. We've also just done a one-day overview of the beaches with our river boat tour and now we have two tours booked with Battlebus. We can't wait for a little more personal experience with them.

We did not go to the Caen museum, as we'd just spent the previous day at the Military Museum in Paris, so can't comment on that.

I would mention, though, that the memorial at the American Cemetary is wonderful, and you'll want to allow time to go through it thoughfully. Not only have they presented the history, but included short bios of some of the people who died and who survived. It was very impressive.

I'd also mention Point du Hoc (walking up the path and realizing that that hole in the ground is a 60+ year old bomb crater). Also visiting the German cemetery was very poignant.

I hope you get a good tour, so that you can get around to the best sites. We were very glad we stayed in Arromanches (right by "Port Winston"), though we had a car.

As for M-S-M, it's hard to get there by train. If you had a car, you could go spend a few hours. Also, you can always change your plans and take a day trip if you find you get through the WWII sites faster than expected.

We were there in October 2007. We left Paris mid-morning and took the train to Bayeux. We stayed at the Churchill(?). Spent the afternoon exploring the town and seeing the tapestry. We had a fabulous meal at one of Rick's recommended restaurants. Unfortunately, we left our book behind so I don't have the name. The next day we did a one-day American Highlights tour with Battlebus. I can't recommend it highly enough. Book early as they fill up quickly. Our guide (Sean?) was great. The weather turned bad in the afternoon, so we got to the cemetary in a bad rainstorm. It was still beautiful and moving. Our hotel helped us arrange a car rental for the next day to go out to Mont St. Michel. I agree that it's best seen at a distance. We quickly hiked to the top and back down then drove to Brittany for a wonderful lunch of crepes with scallops and mushrooms. Yummy. After a leisurely drive back to Bayeux, we returned the car and took the early evening train back to Paris.

My wife and I just returned from a trip to France and Germany. We took the two- day Battlebus Tour from Bayeux. It was excellent, and worth the extra money!

Being a WW-II guru, you will really enjoy the Normandy area, and find that there is never enough time... If you rent a car, be sure to use a GPS. We got along very well trusting our Garmin GPS! Also, we found Bayeux to be very interesting, and would like to return some day. Have a great trip...

Steve

I was just in Bayeux for 3 days and took an organized tour of the D-day beaches tour (Battlebus) - I wish I had taken more of the tours (took a 1 day American Experience tour).

Bayeux was a great town and really nice, cute, small.

I didn't see Mont St Michel but the Churchill Hotel has a shuttle for a fee that takes you there and returns.

Just returned and did MSM and Normandy. If you can't do both, I would skip MSM. We did the Battlebus tour, and found it to be exceptional and extremely informative. It was an incredible day (Dan was our tour guide). MSM is beautiful on the drive-up, and the abbey is interesting, but if you are a WWII guru, I think you would be much happier doing the Normandy D-Day sites. I hear the Overlord tour is good also. You would probably want to see some areas not covered in the 1-day Battlebus tour.

We got back last night from our 3 1/2 week trip and our 4 nights in Bayeux were well worth it. We took the Battlebus tour for Band of Brothers and the one day American Experience tour. We want to go back and do more tours with them and spend more time in the Normandy area. It's the personal stories that bring it all to life. Wow. My husband and I both enjoyed the tours and the area. When you realize that it is the separate little villages that maintain most of the churches with monuments and still celebrate DDay, it makes you realize how much these folks went through. It was the one area of the trip that I felt I could enjoy as home. We hope you enjoy it, too.

Stay in Bayeux because it is smaller and easy to walk around. We were in Normandy for a week looking at everything although we did a two day side trip to Belgium, that was wonderful too. Just remember you can always go back. We considered going to MSM but focussed our priorities on war site. Anyway, have fun.