I have 10 days (8 travel days) in France in late July. I fly into Paris and wish to see Versailles, Paris and the D-Day beaches. What is a good travel schedule and route?
Posted by
Honolulu/Seattle, HI/WA, USA
2787 posts
Do you have RS Paris Guide Book yet? If so, good. If not, I would suggest you get one as soon as possible as it is full of useful information that we used when visiting Paris and out side day trips. RS also has a France guide book but for your short stay, the Paris book will be sufficient. Another place to get some information is to go to the Tours section of this web site and click on the 7 Day Paris Tour then look up its daily itinerary.
Posted by
OP
maryville, tn, usa
2 posts
thanks. I do have the RS Paris and the France guidebook. I was not sure whether I should go to Normandy first and then tour Paris.
Posted by
Cincinnati, OH, USA
768 posts
Sharon: I suggest you visit Versailles on a weekday. Due to a last minute schedule change my wife and I could only visit on Saturday, so we knew the crowd would be large. Large, hardly described what we experienced. The line to enter the Chateau, after purchasing a ticket, was almost 3 hours, we settled for visiting only the gardens. Note the fountains are only turned on for a period of time around noon and again mid afternoon. We had lunch in the outdoor café in the Gardens; the food was good and not over-priced. We visited the D-Day beaches as a day trip from Paris. The tour was informative and we saw Utah and Omaha Beach, Sainte-Mere Eglise, Pointe du Hoc, the Airborne Museum and the American Cemetery. However, if you have a full day and night (or more) for Normandy do so. Doing this as a day trip makes for a very long day. We took the 07.07 train from Paris St Lazare arriving Carentan at 09.29. After the tour we were dropped off at the train station for the 18.16 return train to Paris arriving 20.45. By the way, the weather in Normandy may not be at all like it is in Paris. Take a couple of extra "layers" of clothing just in case.
If you're in Paris on a Sunday, a very inexpensive and memorable day could include a visit (wearing appropriate attire) to Ste-Marie Madeleine for Mass (the service and music were beautiful), followed by a picnic in Jardin des Tuileries, then on to the Musee du Louvre or Musse d'Orsay. Have a great visit.