D-day and Mt St Michel

Not to rain on your parade, but I think you're in a pickle. I've never heard of one outfit that does both and actually gives you time to see anything, at least in conjuction with each other. It just doesn't make sense. I know the area and it takes me an hour and a half to get from the Caen city center to MSM - - a lot more if that last ten miles after you get off the freeway is clobbered. I'm not a train person, but I know how the tracks run up there. Odds are you going to have to go way up north and then come back down to Pontorson on a milk run of at least a couple hours. I've seen what look like shuttle buses (not tour busses) at the MSM end of the causeway - - I can only guess that they come from Pontorson. There is no way you'd need a guide to see MSM. The Battlebus crowd is still around, just with a different name - - which I don't know. But they require you to be in position the night before. My suggestion would be to book a tour for the WWII stuff, then rent a car the next day to scoot over to MSM and back. The car will be less than a hundred bucks and the drive is straight-forward. Gas would stiff you around thirty dollars or so. My druthers would be to stay in Bayeux rather than Caen, but you're pretty well stuck with where the tour originates. As I see it, you're going to have to go to Normandy by one nightfall, spend the next one (after the D-day tour), go to MSM and back and spend one more. Maybe you could start heading back as soon as you return from MSN, but I have no idea how you're planning to get to Amsterdam.

@ Ed- thank you for all of the insight! We're kind of in a time crunch so we may have to settle for one of the half-day afternoon D-Day tours on day 1 (in order to get from paris -> bayeux and then check-in to the hotel), then do day two mt st michel. It almost seems criminal to cut it to a half day but, like you said, we're kind of in a pickle. Another option might be one that I've read by another traveler- TVG from paris to rennes then taking the bus to Mont St. Michel.* Spending the day there then taking the train to Bayeux and spending the night there and seeing the D-Day beaches (1/2 day) the next morning. @ Michael - I saw at least a couple that originate in Paris and include train tix into Bayeux or Caen, then go from there; those are the half-day D-day tours, iirc. * This begs the question - what do we do with our luggage? lol!

@ Michael- you may want to look into doing this 2-day trip. I would have loved to do that one but they don't do it in March. http://www.viator.com/tours/Paris/2-Day-Normandy-Saint-Malo-and-Mont-St-Michel-Tour-from-Paris/d479-2050PM2 or http://www.normandy-travel.net/outstanding-packages/shortbreak-in-normandy-2-days.htm Here is a 1 day trip from Paris - http://www.viator.com/tours/Paris/Mont-Saint-Michel-Day-Trip/d479-2050MS

The Churchill hotel in Bayeux has a shuttle to Mt St Michel that is quite convenient. The shuttle leaves fairly early so you would need to stay in Bayeux the night before. Ask them if the shuttle is guaranteed if it is just the two of you. I reserved in advance and got a reply indicating that I was confirmed on the shuttle. When I arrived at the hotel, they told me that they would not be able to run it because the other couple had cancelled and it was not economical to just take one person. Needless to say, I was not too happy as it was too late to make alternate arrangements. Fortunately, another couple signed up that evening and they did run it for 3 of us. Once you arrived, you had about 3 hours on your own to tour Mt St Michel and I thought this was plenty of time. I also did the battlebus 2 day tour and Dale Booth was my guide. I thought he was fantastic and he is doing tours now on his own since Battlebus has stopped operating. His website is www.daleboothnormandytours.com. Unfortunately, it looks like he is now only doing private tours. If I had only had time to do one or the other, I would have chosen the Normandy tour over Mt St Michel.

Okay, you two. Here's my last shot. It's a bastardization of what I've done for folks a couple of times. It stinks, but it'l work. Keep a couple things in mind. 1 - I know most of France as well as I know my little chunk of Florida - - toss me out without a map or gps at one end and I'll get to the other - - bike, car, or walking. But not trains or buses - - it's something I just don't do. I don't know how many times I've crossed the border into France, but I'd guess a bit less than a couple hundred. 2 - I've never taken any kind of tour anywhere in the country. I snooped around a few minutes ago and some exist. One even had stuck in St Malo as well, in two days from Paris. Five hundred bucks a head makes my head spin. I ain't about to champion or even mention something I've never done.

Get to Caen/Bayeux the night prior. Take the full day tour. Drive to MSM and back. Go on to the next place that night or first thing the next morning. Optionally, you could somehow hire a driver or hornswagle a taxi in to doing it - - you're going to be pooped anyway. I can do it since it's a no-brainer for me and I would have probably sneaked in a nap of the tour since I've spent so much time in the area. If the tour takes eight hours (I have no idea), you need three hours of road time to MSM and back. You need an hour and a half on the mont. That's a twelve-hour day, but you'e done it. MSM at night is my favorite time and that's the way I try to show it to people and then move them on. It's super-expensive to eat there and the food is horrible with similar high prices. Once the buses leave it's great. The view of the lighted mont from the causeway knocks your socks off. Go in, walk the one little street to the top and then walk down the eastern wall. That took twenty minutes. Do it again. Then once more and watch the waves. You've missed the abbey (no big deal), the throngs, and the junky tourist shops. I have no more brain cells to contribute.

Ed's plan gets my vote. I thought that MSM was most impressive from a distance; the interior was nothing exciting ...

erin, If you can arrange the time, Ed's suggestion provides the best solution. Travel to Bayeux the previous night, staying at a Hotel reasonably close to the centre of town (the Churchill is an excellent choice). Pre-arrange tours of the D-Day sites with whichever company is able to provide them at that time of year. While BattleBus is no longer operating under that name, the principals of that firm are still providing tours. You could have a look at: > ddayhistorian.com > dalebooth tours > Elwood von Siebold > Overlord Tours > Caen Museum Tours The tour will normally take the entire day. For your visit to Mount St. Michel, you could either use the Churchill Shuttle as suggested in a previous post, OR rent a Car in Bayeux for the day (might be an idea to pre-arrange or get your Hotel to set it up, as in my experience the rental folks there didn't speak much/any English). If you did the Mount St. Michel trip the first day and the tour the second day, you could hop the train back to Paris at the end of the tour (the Hotel should be willing to store your luggage for the day). Of course, you'd get into Amsterdam quite late. There are several possibilities, depending on your time and budget. Good luck and happy travels!

I agree with Ed that MSM at night is a beautiful sight to see. If there is anyway you could arrive late afternoon when the crowds are leaving you could go inside for a short visit and after dark view it from the causeway and take some memorable photos. Here is another thought but it would require renting a car and doing a self tour of the D-Day beaches. Your mind may be closed to this plan but it is just a suggestion. You could take the train from Paris to Caen or Bayeux and pick up a car there if you did not want to pick it up in Paris. After picking up the car you could drive on to MSM which should put you there late afternoon when the day crowds are leaving. Enjoy MSM for a while, take in the night views from the causeway and then drive back up to one of the towns close to Utah Beach and spend the night. Begin your tour the next morning from Utah Beach and work your way back to Point du Hoc/Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword beaches. From there turn your car in at Bayeux and train on to Amsterdam. The problem or reward with this depending on how you look at it is that it would require some research to do the self D-Day tour. Maybe study the areas that interest you the most and hit those high spots.